The excellent Erik Mouthaan of RTL had an interview with Hillary Clinton, former first lady and the only one able to lose an election against Donny Trump (such poor choices for the US almost a year ago, time flies – well not really).
One of the things that stood out from the half an hour interview was how she also indicated that her loss to Trump and the turn of events since (aka his idiotic regime) made it clear for Dutch voters that a far-right candidate might not entirely be the best way to go.
Here’s the segment, talk about that starting at 0.51:
Anything else? She stated that ‘we knew’ who the Russians backed in the Dutch elections (are there any leads or indications on that matter?) and being the apt politician she is, she never mentions Geert Wilders by his name.
She also mentioned that she might very well move to Amsterdam if things just got too much stateside.
Only 3 weeks ago Mayor Van der Laan took a step back as mayor with a powerful and emotional letter to all ‘Amsterdammers’ and now the sad news has arrived that he has passed away.
According to his spokesman, he died “at home in peace”. Van der Laan had been seriously ill for some time, suffering from lung cancer. On September 18, he informed the inhabitants of his city that he had been treated, this wasn’t working and that he, therefore, resigned his duties. He wanted more time for his family and all his duties were taken over by Mayor Kajsa Ollongren, who had already taken up several of his tasks since his diagnosis in early 2017.
Everybody feels the loss
The municipality of Amsterdam reports that the city council and the employees of the municipality are saddened by the loss of their beloved mayor. The same can be said for its citizens:
When he wrote his goodbye letter 1000’s of people gathered outside his home, to give him a standing ovation and show him support and love. His wife came outside to thank the people, saying that Van der Laan would have loved to stand there himself, but was too ill to come outside. One photographer managed to take a picture of him looking at the crowds:
The King just visited him on his sickbed, a photo of them of a few weeks back with Willem-Alexander gently supporting the sick Van der Laan touched many of our hearts.
The story of Eberhard van der Laan
Van der Laan was born in Leiden and studied law in Amsterdam at the VU – graduating cum laude in 1983. He then went on to work as a lawyer, being the co-founder of the firm Kennedy Van der Laan.
In 1976 he became a member of the PvdA and in the 1980s he worked as a political assistant of the Amsterdam Governor Jan Schaefer. Between 1990 and 1998 he sat for the PvdA in the Amsterdam Council. In 2008 he succeeded Ella Vogelaar as Minister for Housing, Neighborhoods and Integration. Since 2010 he was the much-beloved mayor of Amsterdam.
He truly made Amsterdam and the world a better place.
The dreaded letter you never want to see from an airline.
Gambling on Airfares
For once, I had planned ahead in March of this year to book my travel for American Thanksgiving holidays. For those unfamiliar with American travel habits, the day before Thanksgiving is among the busiest travel days of the year in the U.S. So, planning ahead seemed like a smart thing to do in the Spring, since this year’s Thanksgiving will be the first time I travel from overseas for it.
In March, I was only starting to learn about which European airlines operate from which airports, and offer what services and for how much. Fortunately, from the south of The Netherlands, there are numerous options for long-haul international travels:
Brussels-Zaventem is less than 1.5 hours by train or by auto
Düsseldorf is 1.5 hours by auto, 2.5 hours by train
Frankfurt Airport is 2.5 hours by auto, 3.5 hours by train
For comparison: Amsterdam Airport Schipol is 2.5 hours by auto or by train (or 3.5 hours by train/bus, when there was construction ongoing)
Naturally, my early instinct was to jump on cheap flights first, and especially the non-stop ones. So, using my normal go-to booking tool, google.com/flights and its tracking feature, I discovered AirBerlin and its cheap flights, which I ended up booking. But then I learned all too late by May this year — after I had already booked more with AirBerlin, one short-haul European flight and another summertime long-haul flight to New York — that AirBerlin was already in deep water with its finances as of the end of 2016. So all I could do in the summer was hold my breath and wait.
Bye-bye $$$
Plane Crashes of a Different Kind
Once I received the first warning signal from AirBerlin — they started changing my November flight schedule (May), then added a stop (August), culminating in its complete cancellation (October) — I started to seek more information to understand my chances of losing my Thanksgiving itinerary — and money, of course. As it turns out, I made a terrible investment. AirBerlin was already reportedly in a downward spiral from 2014-2016, racking up over 1.2 billion euros in losses, well over its 68 million euro valuation.
Further, AirBerlin wasn’t the only company to file for bankruptcy. Alitalia of Italy filed in the summer also, and Monarch Airlines of the U.K. just filed as well. In fact, both AirBerlin and Alitalia were financially supported by Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi. When Etihad withdrew its investments in both carriers, that’s when Germany’s 2nd largest carrier and Italy’s largest carrier both quickly floundered. The loss of financial backing became the so-called “final nail in the coffin” on these airlines it seems, in the context of already having difficulty competing with numerous other European airlines offering super-low fares.
Three European airlines (AirBerlin, Alitalia, and Monarch) went bankrupt in the last 6 months.
So what now?
Even though AirBerlin claimed to continue their scheduled flights, the letter I received clearly indicates that it’s no longer possible. This is in spite of the possibility that Lufthansa might buy out part or some of AirBerlin.
For victims of Monarch’s abrupt stoppage of operations, there are fortunately some immediate resources available for people who have been left stranded, including some detailed instructions on how to contact the U.K. Government and Civil Aviation Authority, for example. It seems doubtful that this would remedy those in my type of situation, who have booked in advance of the actual travel though. For Monarch and Alitalia, perhaps the same is true as for AirBerlin, i.e. to await the opportunity to apply for reimbursement once legal proceedings move forward.
One other possibility is to make a claim through travel insurance. If you purchased travel insurance, whether you purchased it with your reservation, or externally through another entity (e.g. your bank or other Dutch insurer, credit card company, etc.), now would be a good time to read all that fine print. While the probability is low that there would be a clause for covering financial insolvency or “scheduled airline failure,” it’s still worth a shot to see if you have some independent avenue for getting your money back. I plan to pursue all of my possible options to claim my hundreds of euros spent on tickets for a now non-existent flight.
Take-home messages: Don’t buy airfare from an airline that’s on the brink of bankruptcy, no matter how cheap the flights are. It seems like of all industries, when it comes to air travel, there’s an above average chance that prices are too good to be true.
She was already under pressure for a couple of days since last week an extremely harsh report about the death of two peacekeepers in Mali was published. After a few clumsy media-appearances and accumulating criticism, Jeanice Hennis finally resigned after last nights parliamentary debate.
Interview gone wrong:
The Mali Report
On the 6th of July 2016, two soldiers died in Mali due to a non-functioning mortar. The report following this tragic accident mopped the floor with the ministery of Defence and their procedures. Safety procedures weren’t in order, medical treatment was under par and tons of other mistakes were made. This report came together with tons of other critical remarks coming from the armed forces against Jeanine Hennis, a #hexit was the only thing to do for her – the commander of the armed forces, General Middendorp, also resigned.
Jeanine Hennis was one of Mark Rutte’s closest political allies and seemed sure to be in a new cabinet as well, a cabinet which shouldn’t take more than month to be seated now (about time!). We guess if the new cabinet wants to make a decent start they can’t include Hennis in this one – but let’s never make assumptions about the decency of politics.
The real problem of the Dutch defense
Money! It might be the only thing Trump is right about, we don’t spend enough on our armed forces. We’re only spending 1.14% of our BNP, way lower than that 2% we agreed upon with NATO and also lower than the 1.43% average of all NATO members.
How can we properly tell Russia and Turkey to go to hell and do it without Trump if we aren’t up for spending the money that is needed to do that?
In a long line of screw-ups, the NVWA has just issued that the Vegetarian Butcher needs to change the names of their vegetarian products, according to a Volkskrant report on Tuesday. The NVWA (Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority) stated that some names would be misleading and confusing. According to the NVWA, labels such as fishfree tuna, chicken pieces, and smoked speckjes are confusing and misleading, which goes against the law.
WARNING! Tigerbread doesn’t contain actual tiger folks!
Why the NVWA is wrong
A NVWA spokesperson stated that the action is a “purely administrative treatment” but co-founder of the Vegetarian Butcher, Niko Koffeman, speaks of a “politically-motivated” action driven by the meat lobby.
I hear you thinking: Big deal, DutchReview, nobody is right or wrong in this matter probably…
Well don’t know who is right, but the NVWA is wrong – dead wrong (or just corrupt). See, this action against ‘misleading’ labels came after the complaints of one customer, only one! And then there is the argument that it’s unfair that only the Vegatarian Butcher has to change their product names because there are hundreds of misleading food labels out there.
Also called ‘spekjes’ in lots of Dutch stores
It dates back to complaints of a Christian Democrat in 2012, in what is now known as ‘Schnitzelgate’. Jaco Geurts of the CDA complained that meat substitutes must have meaty names – so the Vegetarian Butcher changed their ‘Gehakt’ to ‘Gehackt’ and, you know, their packaging said VEGETARIAN.
The products (source: https://www.thevegetarianbutcher.com/)
Vegetarian Butcher vs The Mighty Meat Lobby
So what’s really going on here? Well, despite the idea you might get from lovely promo movies, we the Dutch are a dirty, meat-industry country. Frequently farms (or more like meat factories) burn down with 10.000’s farm animals burnt to death every time. And the last screw-up by the NVWA was just this summer, when they completely messed up the whole Fibronil-egg situation. This situation was the by-product of this whole bio-industry, where farmers have to cut corners everywhere to meet those low-low prices for food in our supermarkets.
And guess what? Instead of trying to regulate a market that is sickly out of control, the VVD and CDA are always helping out the mighty meat lobby, which even earned Sybrand Buma the nickname ‘Stalbrand Buma’ (‘Stablefire Buma’) in the process. Here’s a clip from Arjen Lubach on the matter (brilliant, but Dutch):
There’s much more to be said about this whole situation, but I do hope that I explained a little bit now why the Dutch authority for food issues is cracking down on the Vegetarian Butcher instead of our giant animal industry.
PS. Don’t share this post on Facebook to tell people why you’re a vegan, nobody wants to hear about that
Euthanasia in the Netherlands: what’s the deal with assisted suicide and what else you need to know…
The Netherlands legalized euthanasia for people with “unbearable suffering” in 2002, narrowly the first country to do so. Belgium was second, in the same year. At that time, the majority coalition in The Netherlands included the Labour Party (PvdA), Democrats 66 (D66), and the still-leading People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) — a political cocktail with just enough liberalism to pass a euthanasia law.
A recent medical journal publication describes the 15-year Dutch experience, showing that physician-assisted death occurred in 4.5% of all deaths in which an end-of-life decision preceded death. Dutch neighbors, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Luxembourg also have laws legalizing some form of euthanasia as well, although they might not call it that in their laws. In the United States, each state can make their own laws on the issue, but only 15 actually have, and of those, only 6 states and Washington D.C. legalize assisted death.
What is euthanasia? How is euthanasia is different from assisted suicide or death with dignity?
One of the most confusing parts of understanding euthanasia is that it’s often referred to synonymously with other terms with varying degrees of political and moral negativity; for example, euthanasia might also be commonly called assisted death, assisted suicide, death with dignity, or even mercy killing. But these are not actually all the same, and many countries avoid using the term euthanasia, and they definitely avoid mercy killing for obvious reasons, because of persistent negative associations, or simply because it really is just too broad a term.
In an effort to provide some clarity on the definitions as a bit of background, I’ve tried to simplify the definitions in the flowchart below (with all due respect and apologies to ethicists and others who may disagree, and to everyone else who might have to zoom in to see the small print).
A primer on euthanasia. Yes, I know, is this a blog post or an ethics homework assignment?
The issue of euthanasia has many sides.
Euthanasia is, as always, fraught with arguments that are shaped by the personal belief sets of individuals and the social (or religious or political) groups to which they belong. And, as expected when it comes to issues of life and death, the spectrum is wide and almost all grey.
Life is the highest priority and must be protected, no matter what.
The most conservative beliefs maintain that taking a life in any way, including your own, is sacrilegious and entirely unacceptable, whether this is founded on religious, spiritual or, more simply, personal beliefs. Adding a healthcare professional to that decision-making in this view likely worsens the morality of the deed — someone professionally trained and socially entrusted to heal our most vulnerable populations must absolutely not violate that social contract by facilitating the death of a human being.
Countries that lean towards this frame of thinking explicitly have laws that make euthanasia illegal, and political parties in this school of thought are the primary drivers for such laws. Consider, for example, the Dutch Reformed Political Party (SGP) position, one of the oldest political parties and with a conservative ideology, including opposition to women’s rights to vote, gay marriage, and, naturally, euthanasia. The SGP leader recently emboldened their conservative stance against euthanasia by publishing a plea in The Wall Street Journal for international support of the party’s position.
Individual choice and relief of suffering are the highest priorities.
More liberal beliefs support individual choice about death, especially when the choice involves a patient with a terminal or imminently life-ending illness to choose to control the manner and timing of his/her death. This forms, in part, a basis for more euthanasia-supportive laws. In a classic scenario, the reasoning is that a patient with an end-stage metastatic cancer or any other terminal illness that is causing incurable physical suffering, despite the best efforts of healthcare professionals and perhaps even alternative medical specialists in managing them, should be able to choose the nature and time of their own death.
Exchanging a few terms above can significantly widen the scope: What about any incurable illness, not just the terminal ones that would lead directly to imminent death? What about any kind of suffering, like emotional or other personal suffering, and not just physical suffering like pain? These questions make the cancer case seem far more straightforward, as the foreignness of cancer, an unwelcome invader of one’s body, and its consequences can understandably strip an individual of control over self and symptoms.
The final step in the classic case is to consider “death with dignity” as a means to return that control (and dignity) to the patient to have a choice to ease their suffering in the final phases of life before death. The New York Times published an extended and poignant piece describing The Death and Life of John Shields from Canada, where euthanasia is legal. Then, of course, the responding Letters to the Editor demonstrated the large grey spectrum of beliefs on the issue.
“In The Netherlands, the Doctor Will Kill You Now”
Lest you think that the countries who have legalized assisted death have closed the doors on the issue, this is far from true. Before the 2002 Dutch legislation, in 1996, the Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) sought to understand Dutch physicians’ views on euthanasia and physician-assisted death, and concluded that it was “an exceptional but accepted part of medical practice.” Then, just this week, the KNMG announced one aim of an existing commission on euthanasia, intended to focus on even more ethically murky cases, such as assisted death in the setting of advanced dementia with or without a prior written directive. Adding another dimension to the issue, until I started writing this piece, I also had no idea that The Netherlands also has something called the Groningen Protocol, a directive (not a law) that provides specific criteria for healthcare professionals to follow in potential cases of euthanasia for infants.
Further, since October 2016, there were further steps to push forward a more controversial, and some might say also a more liberal stance, to the dismay of some. The liberal D66 party is proposing to allow older people to seek assistance to die if they deem their lives to be ‘full’ in the almost benign-sounding Completed Life Bill. Actually, this movement was the motivator for the SGP party leader to publish in The Wall Street Journal this summer. But, the SGP won’t be a part of the majority coalition in The Netherlands. A likely majority coalition in the Dutch parliament could be made up of the VVD, D66, plus Christian Democrats (CDA) and Christian Union (CU). But on the issue of euthanasia, the D66 and the Christian Union explicitly expressed starkly different stances this topic, as well as others, to the extent that the D66 had initially declined to form a coalition with the CU.
So what will happen if the coalition government does end up including this group of very diverse political stances on euthanasia? The D66 wants to expand current law, the CU opposes current law and of course also its liberalization, the CDA wants to limit current law also, and the leading party, the VVD, seems to support current law without any statement of support or opposition of expansion or limitation of it in the future. If nothing else, this coalition makeup will spark further public moral and political discussions about euthanasia, even if the reality might end up being maintenance of the status quo. Or, will euthanasia law become a political bargaining chip for one of the constituent parties, leading to a shift in its legality in The Netherlands?
What do you think of Euthanasia in the Netherlands?? What do you think is going to happen to the 15-year-old Dutch euthanasia law?
A party will be organized in the bicycle tunnel of the Rijksmuseum by Audio Obscura on the 20th of October, just like last years ADE. Who will perform is still unknown, the organizrs promises to announce this on October the 44. And yes just like the previous edition, when the American DJ Maceo Plex played for 4 hours, the event is free!
You do need to subscribe however, more info on the whole thing is to be found here.
I’ve been calling Holland home for 3 years and a half. And before you come at me for calling The Netherlands Holland when that’s not exactly correct, let me tell you I know the difference between Noord Holland and Zuid Holland, but he Netherlands always sounded a tad bit too formal for my taste. So it’s actually a sign of affection that I call it Holland, a term I use more and more as I become Dutch.
Now that that’s out of the way, I’ve been observing subtle signs which indicate I’ve become Dutch over the years. And a lot of the changes are actually really good for me. Let me tell you how you too can become Dutch in 5 easy peasy steps.
1. Look out for your money
One of my favorite anecdotes comes from a true story. A bunch of us were going for a coffee outside the office during lunch time. Being open-minded people as we are, one of us invited an extra colleague to join us. Him being as Dutch as he is simply said “I come to work to make money, not to spend money.” Now, I think its simultaneously half funny and half impressive. To be so focused on moving forward and to simply choose to have a free coffee in the office kitchen instead of splurging on a 3 euro flat white got me thinking. All these little things add up quickly and it sure doesn’t hurt to make wiser choices with my money.
2. Keep things simple
I’ve always been an overachiever to the point where I’ll forget about anything else to get things done to the max. Dutchies have taught me that good life is in simple things. A snack on a park bench, a bike ride over the border with Belgium, a couple of beers on the backyard terrace. This sense of being present and getting together to do certain activities has being quite eye-opening.
The 3 weeks in advance planning for a coffee date? Not so much my thing, but I do have quite a bit of Latin blood going on, so I just brush it off when my friends want to book having a home dinner at their place 1 month and a half in advance.
3. Get fitter
So here I am, on a Sunday morning, getting out of bed at 9 am and out the door before 10 am, on a mission to get to my body pump gym class. As I mentally high-five myself for making it in time and nailing it in life, I realize there’s barely any space left in the big gym room. That’s because ALL the Dutchies are scoring at life or so it seems. I squeeze in between some blondies and get all the equipment together for the workout but I also see that this is not extraordinary, but just a normal Sunday morning for most of them.
4. Believe in yourself
I’ve been blown away by enthusiastic 20 year-olds countless times in Holland. It’s impressive how they’re brought up to believe they can do anything they put their mind to. Is it because kids
start working while they’re still in highschool? Is it the strong sense of independence? Or the fact there’s a well-oiled support system society offers young people? A mix of all of these aspects above and some more creates energetic, creative and ready to fulfill their potential youngsters.
And yes, I might have smiled ironically every time a student has told me their bachelor thesis will change the company’s business strategy. But I’m also in awe at their confidence, that’s for sure.
5. Aim for the stars
Dutchies hustle. Most of the Dutchies I know juggle school, internships, hobbies, sports, weekend shifts at the supermarket, tons of social obligations, work, travels and so on. It sounds fun and hard but it also set an example to keep moving forward. So find your rhythm and jump right on it. Or bike to it, whatever creams your biscuit.
There you go, did you become Dutch already? Got any other tips? Leave a comment!
It takes a special kind of stupid to openly state your crime to the public. But one smart drug dealer did exactly that. Police in Geertruidenberg, a small municipality in the province of Noord-Brabant, arrested a Pablo Escobar-wannabe during a regular patrol – and it wasn’t too hard to pick him out.
As the man drove by, the police noticed a set of stickers on his rear windshield – one read “Keta” and the other was even less revealing: “I love Ketamine!”. Needless to say, this was the cue for the police to halt the driver and have a little talk. As soon as the officers approached, he promptly handed them four bags of white powder – perhaps he was under the impression that they wanted to buy some, but that turned out quite differently.
Upon closer inspection of his vehicle the police found not only more Ketamine but also three-hundred (300!) XTC-pills.
After their discovery the man’s house has also been searched, but results have not yet been made public, but due to the sheer volume police is convinced that the man is indeed a legit drug dealer. The case has now been handed to Narcotics for further research.
Ketamine – A popular drug.
Just for good measure, we don’t recommend drug use much here at Dutch Review, but Ketamine in particular is a bad drug and one that is often stolen from people and places that have better use for it.
Ketamine is really an anesthetic used for emergency surgery, on children or as a strong painkiller for people after surgery as well as for use in animal clinics.
Unfortunately, it has become very popular as a “club drug” for exactly it’s anesthetic qualities – it also tends to heighten the effects of other drugs, alcohol and medication. However it also a dangerous drug that has caused many clinical issues and death. What’s more it is often stolen from (pet) clinics, pharmacies or patients – you wouldn’t want to be part of that scene, would you?
In other words, Ketamine or the people who offer it to you are not your friends!
Thanks to Donald Trump we now are no longer ignorant and met the country of Nambia. Nambia greets us as well and what better way than with a video just like the Netherlands launched first… to be second (well, more or less)
