Scroll down for Dutch related news items and articles, in Dutch and in English (like the paper).
30/09
The government has allocated €40 million for special projects to combat loneliness, which will include help for local council initiatives and more research. The need to combat loneliness is increasingly urgent, junior health minister Martin van Ooijen said in a briefing to MPs. ‘The coronavirus period has made us extra aware of the fact everyone can feel lonely,’ he said. ‘The need to “feel part of something” and “to matter” are a basic need.’ Research published by national statistics agency CBS on Thursday showed that four in 10 people over the age of 15 reported feeling lonely or very lonely at some point last year. The figures, based on a survey of 7,000 people, reflect a rise of seven percentage points on the pre coronavirus pandemic era in 2019, when one third of people said they sometimes felt lonely or very alone. Youngsters were most likely to feel lonely last year with 13.5% saying they felt extremely lonely at times – up from just over 8% in 2019. Schools and colleges were closed for much of the period and gatherings were banned. However, the over-75s, who were most likely to feel very lonely in 2019, actually felt less lonely during the pandemic. In 2019, almost 11% said they were very lonely, but this fell to 9.4% last year. Older pensioners were the only age group to feel less lonely during the year, which included several months of partial lockdown.
03/10
A postcard delivered 40 years to late
Forty years ago, a family on a camping holiday in Brabant sent a postcard to a relative in Nieuw-Vennep. Yesterday, PostNL returned it to the vacation park, saying it was ‘undeliverable.’ ‘I think it is very special to receive this card,’ Ludwina Verhoeven, now 64, told Omroep Brabant. Her sister, Veronica, together with husband Jan and son Matthijs mailed her the card in 1980 from the Bosbad Hoeven campsite. The returned postcard. Photo: Molencaten Park Bosbad Hoeven The card, which is correctly addressed according to Verhoeven, never arrived. Yesterday, it turned up in the post at the campsite. A sticker from PostNL says that it was ‘Undeliverable due to incomplete/invalid address.’ PostNL could not say where the card has been for the past four decades. ‘Because in the past more work was done manually in the preparation of mail, a card was sometimes lost,’ a spokesperson told NOS. It is also possible it was delivered to the wrong address and was only recently returned. Verhoeven is very pleased to finally receive the card. Her husband Piet, to whom the card is also addressed, and her brother-in-law Jan have since passed away. The campsite indicated it would send it on to her in an envelope so it would arrive without damage.
5/10
Up to 600 farms will have to go to kick start nitrogen cutbacks BusinessPolitics
The government should make sure between 500 and 600 factory farms and other major polluters close to environmentally sensitive areas either change or close down within the next year in order to kick start the process of cutting nitrogen emissions, the cabinet’s negotiator Johan Remkes said on Wednesday. Remkes, who was drafted in to mediate following this summer’s farmers’ protests, said that closing down major producers of nitrogen was the ‘lesser of two evils’ and was crucial to meet legal requirements. ‘Measures have been delayed for so long that there is no other way,’ Remkes said at the presentation of his report. Farmers could either change their ways of working, move to a new location or close down with the help of ‘generous’ compensation, Remkes said. And while closures should be voluntary, there is no choice other than to intervene if farms do not meet the deadline, he said, avoiding the politically sensitive concept of compulsory purchase.
8/10
Erotic centre
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema has delayed plans to announce three locations where a new ‘erotic centre’ could be built because of local resistance. The mayor had been due to say which three parts of the city were on a shortlist this month, but has now put off the decision until January after borough councils said they had major misgivings about the plans, the Parool reported on Friday. The plan, launched in 2020, is one of a string of measures being looked at to both reduce budget tourism in the city centre and tackle exploitation and forced work within the sex industry.
The Dutch state has been ordered to take steps to bring accommodation for asylum seekers up to international standards after it was taken to court by refugee agency Vluchtelingenwerk. The district court in The Hague ruled that all refugees have the right to a roof over their heads, ‘at least 4 square metres of space, a door that can be locked and a window that can be opened,’ as well as sufficient food, drinking water and clean sanitation. Vluchtelingenwerk brought the case after up to 700 people a night were left to sleep on the grass outside the facility over the summer because of chronic overcrowding.
12/10
Dozens of children report being beaten, abused in foster family village Society October 6, 2022 Dozens of children who were taken into care and placed with families in a special village in the 1980s and 1990s say they were physically and sexually abused during their time there, local broadcaster Omroep Gelderland reported on Thursday. The De Glind ‘youth village’ near Barneveld, has places for 120 children and has been used to try to give children from troubled families a normal childhood for over 100 years. Omroep Gelderland spoke to 40 former foster children who spent time in the village and 29 of them said they had faced physical and mental abuse. Six also reported being sexually abused by their carers. The most recent complaint dates from 2019. Some of the interviewees said they had told the village authorities about the abuse but that little had been done about the reports. ‘Everyone chose to look away and that really hurts,’ one victim told the broadcaster.
12/10
The average house sold for 5.8% less in the last financial quarter than between April and June, according to figures from estate agent association NVM. Its agents’ third quarter results are the first solid indication that the Dutch property market is taking a downturn, after months of fierce growth. Figures from the CBS Dutch statistics office, which measures all sales on completion, indicated a 0.1% price drop from July to August. The quarterly drop in prices registered by the NVM is the steepest it has ever measured in such a short period. At the end of 2021 the NVM, which monitors homes sold by its accredited agents, said house prices were growing year-on-year by 21.5%. That year-on-year growth has now plummeted to 2%.
15/10 Amalia
Princess Amalia, the 18-year-old heir to the Dutch throne, cannot leave her parent’s home in The Hague amid security concerns, the king and queen have confirmed. Willem-Alexander and Máxima, speaking to the press during a state visit to Sweden on Thursday, were subdued as they were asked what it’s like to not have the princess living at home any longer. She is studying at the University of Amsterdam, where she planned to live in student housing in the nation’s capital. ‘She hasn’t left the house,’ queen Máxima responded. ‘That has enormous consequences for her life. That means that she doesn’t live in Amsterdam and can’t really go outside. It’s not a student life for her like other students have. I’m really proud of her how she keeps up with all that. I honestly say.’ The king added that the situation is ‘very difficult’ and said he ‘cannot describe’ what threats against his daughter mean to him as a father.
14/10
Princess Amalia, the 18-year-old heir to the Dutch throne, cannot leave her parent’s home in The Hague amid security concerns, the king and queen have confirmed. Willem-Alexander and Máxima, speaking to the press during a state visit to Sweden on Thursday, were subdued as they were asked what it’s like to not have the princess living at home any longer. She is studying at the University of Amsterdam, where she planned to live in student housing in the nation’s capital. ‘She hasn’t left the house,’ queen Máxima responded. ‘That has enormous consequences for her life. That means that she doesn’t live in Amsterdam and can’t really go outside. It’s not a student life for her like other students have. I’m really proud of her how she keeps up with all that. I honestly say.’
14/10 Housing
Housing minister Hugo de Jonge has reached broad agreement with the 12 Dutch provinces about where over 900,000 new homes will be built in the coming eight years. Most – 235,460 – will be built in Zuid-Holland province, while Drenthe in the east will add just 13,631 homes to its housing stock.
15/10 gasconsumption down
Private customers are turning down the heating and cutting back on showers, with gas consumption down by between 20% and 25% since September 1, energy company Eneco said on Friday. The company has some two million customers. Of them, 230,000 have a smart meter and they show that the central heating has been put down in many homes by one or two degrees, Eneco said. ‘Of course we don’t know if this will continue when it gets colder,’ a spokesman told the Volkskrant. The three other big energy firms, Essent, Vattenfall and Budget Energie, did not have figures available, the VK said
12/09
the Dutch front pages were full of images of British Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday afternoon.
The NRC wrote about a queen who outlived everyone else by keeping her silence, who had wanted a brother as a child so that she would not have to be queen – but in the end saw her role as God-given.
The Volksrant called her a beacon of steadfastness in a changing world, coupling an old-fashioned sense of duty with a kind of imperturbability that made her the anchor of a changing nation. In Trouw, Queen Elizabeth’s life was described as a one full of a ‘deeply felt sense of duty’, but also one full of anecdotes that revealed a certain twinkle in her eye. The Telegraaf front page remembered a ‘monarch of the world’ on its front page, citing her ‘trademark discretion’ but calling Charles III – who is now British King – her polar opposite. The AD said ‘the Brits have lost a part of their soul’, after losing a queen who had reigned longer than ever before and with such a sense of duty. She was known, the paper said, for both sides of her personality: being both sunny and friendly and also sometimes stubborn and demanding. The Parool headlined with the tribute of Mark Rutte, that a ‘beacon of calm and stability’ has fallen, saying that she was stately and cold-blooded but also surprising and sharp-witted. It quoted Amsterdammers such as former director of the Amsterdam Museum Pauline Kruseman recalling her visits, her ‘easy way of communicating, asking questions and being interested’, a manner that demanded respect. The late Queen Elizabeth II could also, added the Parool, change the spark plug of an engine without batting an eyelid.
12/09
Proposed plans by junior justice minister Eric van der Burg to limit family reunification to reduce asylum seeker numbers came under attack from all sides during a parliamentary debate on Thursday. Currently, relatives of asylum seekers are allowed to enter the Netherlands if the asylum seeker has been granted residence status, which could take longer than a year. But under the new proposals, asylum seekers – even those with a residence permit – must have a home first. If a refugee still doesn’t have a home 15 months after submitting an application for family reunification, the family may then come over. But that could mean a wait of up to two and a half years, MPs said. Criticism Left-wing parties called the cabinet’s plans ‘inhumane.’ Denk leader Farid Azarkan called them a ‘dirty compromise’ that breaks international law. Sylvana Simons (BIJ1) accused the cabinet of ‘cold-blooded political unwillingness and a total lack of humanity.’ GroenLinks MP Suzanne Kröger spoke of disgrace for the Netherlands.
6/09
Less is more
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which will for the first and last time unite 27 paintings by Johannes Vermeer, has used the most modern techniques to see how the craftsman discovered that ‘less is more’. An analysis of The Milkmaid, one of the Dutch master’s most famous works, has shown bold, dark underpainting on the canvas, and revealed that he honed down the work to paint out a jug holder on the wall and a large ‘fire basket’ – the 17th century equivalent of a portable radiator, filled with hot coals. ‘Vermeer’s overpainting of the objects has a number of consequences,’ said Dr Gregor Weber, head of fine arts at the Rijksmuseum. ‘The milkmaid now stands in front of us in a much more monumental way, like a free standing sculpture. This step had consequences for his whole work. ‘He learned less is more, which became a sort of motto for Vermeer’s art: simplicity, strong images, not many distracting details, but concentration on the essential.’ Careful simplicity
29/08
house values
Official house values used for taxes have risen by a record 8.6% in a year, according to Dutch statistics office CBS. The average house had an official value of €315,000 on January 1 this year. Although sale price indicators suggest that the housing market is now cooling off after European Central Bank interest rate rises, the values reflect the past year’s heated market. There was a huge diversity in price rises around the country, the CBS said. In the municipality of north-east Friesland, house prices rose most, by 19.5% on average. However in Dutch capital Amsterdam, where prices were already highest, they only rose by 2.1% Cities with the greatest increases included Rotterdam (11.4%) and Utrecht (9.8%).
29/08
First time that the emergency organisation “Artsen zonder grenzen” had been asked to act in its own country
Several hundred asylum seekers faced 11 degree temperatures at the weekend, sleeping outside Ter Apel centre where their claim needs to be registered. Local and international media reported ‘shaming’ situations on Friday night. Artsen zonder Grenzen, the Dutch arm of Médecins Sans Frontières, has been offering crisis first aid on the ground and sending several people for hospital care. Director Judith Sargentini had said it was the first time that the emergency organisation had been asked to act in its own country, after around 700 people were forced to sleep outside, with unhygienic toilets and no showers due to a lack of beds. An investigation is ongoing into the overnight death of a three month old baby, who was reportedly sleeping with its mother inside the centre last week. On Monday, the municipality of Het Hogeland pledged to house between 500 and 700 asylum seekers at the Zoutkamp former military barracks to relieve pressure on Ter Apel. An emergency local situation was declared last week and smaller tents cleared after there were some fights among the huge numbers sleeping outside, waiting to register their asylum claim. Ter Apel, a remote village in Groningen, is the first point of call for asylum seekers. The problem is thought to stem from the fact that asylum seeker residential centres were closed during the pandemic, and the current housing crisis means that people whose claims are accepted have nowhere to go. The Dutch government has said it will back out of an agreement with Turkey to take 1,000 asylum seekers a year and only allow entry to refugees’ families when they have found an actual home. Concern However, the political scheme has caused concern in government party the ChristenUnie, some of whose members have called the plans ‘legally and morally bankrupt’. Refugee organisation Vluchtelingenwerk has said it is planning to take court action against the government. The COA (Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers) told the NOS that temporary beds were offered for Sunday night in various locations around the Netherlands, so no asylum seekers were ‘forced’ to sleep outside. Earlier in the summer, Utrecht said it would give refugees priority for emergency housing for six weeks, in exchange for a government deal to build social housing.
The government has allocated €40 million for special projects to combat loneliness, which will include help for local council initiatives and more research. The need to combat loneliness is increasingly urgent, junior health minister Martin van Ooijen said in a briefing to MPs. ‘The coronavirus period has made us extra aware of the fact everyone can feel lonely,’ he said. ‘The need to “feel part of something” and “to matter” are a basic need.’ Research published by national statistics agency CBS on Thursday showed that four in 10 people over the age of 15 reported feeling lonely or very lonely at some point last year. The figures, based on a survey of 7,000 people, reflect a rise of seven percentage points on the pre coronavirus pandemic era in 2019, when one third of people said they sometimes felt lonely or very alone. Youngsters were most likely to feel lonely last year with 13.5% saying they felt extremely lonely at times – up from just over 8% in 2019. Schools and colleges were closed for much of the period and gatherings were banned. However, the over-75s, who were most likely to feel very lonely in 2019, actually felt less lonely during the pandemic. In 2019, almost 11% said they were very lonely, but this fell to 9.4% last year. Older pensioners were the only age group to feel less lonely during the year, which included several months of partial lockdown.
03/10
A postcard delivered 40 years to late
Forty years ago, a family on a camping holiday in Brabant sent a postcard to a relative in Nieuw-Vennep. Yesterday, PostNL returned it to the vacation park, saying it was ‘undeliverable.’ ‘I think it is very special to receive this card,’ Ludwina Verhoeven, now 64, told Omroep Brabant. Her sister, Veronica, together with husband Jan and son Matthijs mailed her the card in 1980 from the Bosbad Hoeven campsite. The returned postcard. Photo: Molencaten Park Bosbad Hoeven The card, which is correctly addressed according to Verhoeven, never arrived. Yesterday, it turned up in the post at the campsite. A sticker from PostNL says that it was ‘Undeliverable due to incomplete/invalid address.’ PostNL could not say where the card has been for the past four decades. ‘Because in the past more work was done manually in the preparation of mail, a card was sometimes lost,’ a spokesperson told NOS. It is also possible it was delivered to the wrong address and was only recently returned. Verhoeven is very pleased to finally receive the card. Her husband Piet, to whom the card is also addressed, and her brother-in-law Jan have since passed away. The campsite indicated it would send it on to her in an envelope so it would arrive without damage.
5/10
Up to 600 farms will have to go to kick start nitrogen cutbacks BusinessPolitics
The government should make sure between 500 and 600 factory farms and other major polluters close to environmentally sensitive areas either change or close down within the next year in order to kick start the process of cutting nitrogen emissions, the cabinet’s negotiator Johan Remkes said on Wednesday. Remkes, who was drafted in to mediate following this summer’s farmers’ protests, said that closing down major producers of nitrogen was the ‘lesser of two evils’ and was crucial to meet legal requirements. ‘Measures have been delayed for so long that there is no other way,’ Remkes said at the presentation of his report. Farmers could either change their ways of working, move to a new location or close down with the help of ‘generous’ compensation, Remkes said. And while closures should be voluntary, there is no choice other than to intervene if farms do not meet the deadline, he said, avoiding the politically sensitive concept of compulsory purchase.
8/10
Erotic centre
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema has delayed plans to announce three locations where a new ‘erotic centre’ could be built because of local resistance. The mayor had been due to say which three parts of the city were on a shortlist this month, but has now put off the decision until January after borough councils said they had major misgivings about the plans, the Parool reported on Friday. The plan, launched in 2020, is one of a string of measures being looked at to both reduce budget tourism in the city centre and tackle exploitation and forced work within the sex industry.
The Dutch state has been ordered to take steps to bring accommodation for asylum seekers up to international standards after it was taken to court by refugee agency Vluchtelingenwerk. The district court in The Hague ruled that all refugees have the right to a roof over their heads, ‘at least 4 square metres of space, a door that can be locked and a window that can be opened,’ as well as sufficient food, drinking water and clean sanitation. Vluchtelingenwerk brought the case after up to 700 people a night were left to sleep on the grass outside the facility over the summer because of chronic overcrowding.
12/10
Dozens of children report being beaten, abused in foster family village Society October 6, 2022 Dozens of children who were taken into care and placed with families in a special village in the 1980s and 1990s say they were physically and sexually abused during their time there, local broadcaster Omroep Gelderland reported on Thursday. The De Glind ‘youth village’ near Barneveld, has places for 120 children and has been used to try to give children from troubled families a normal childhood for over 100 years. Omroep Gelderland spoke to 40 former foster children who spent time in the village and 29 of them said they had faced physical and mental abuse. Six also reported being sexually abused by their carers. The most recent complaint dates from 2019. Some of the interviewees said they had told the village authorities about the abuse but that little had been done about the reports. ‘Everyone chose to look away and that really hurts,’ one victim told the broadcaster.
12/10
The average house sold for 5.8% less in the last financial quarter than between April and June, according to figures from estate agent association NVM. Its agents’ third quarter results are the first solid indication that the Dutch property market is taking a downturn, after months of fierce growth. Figures from the CBS Dutch statistics office, which measures all sales on completion, indicated a 0.1% price drop from July to August. The quarterly drop in prices registered by the NVM is the steepest it has ever measured in such a short period. At the end of 2021 the NVM, which monitors homes sold by its accredited agents, said house prices were growing year-on-year by 21.5%. That year-on-year growth has now plummeted to 2%.
15/10 Amalia
Princess Amalia, the 18-year-old heir to the Dutch throne, cannot leave her parent’s home in The Hague amid security concerns, the king and queen have confirmed. Willem-Alexander and Máxima, speaking to the press during a state visit to Sweden on Thursday, were subdued as they were asked what it’s like to not have the princess living at home any longer. She is studying at the University of Amsterdam, where she planned to live in student housing in the nation’s capital. ‘She hasn’t left the house,’ queen Máxima responded. ‘That has enormous consequences for her life. That means that she doesn’t live in Amsterdam and can’t really go outside. It’s not a student life for her like other students have. I’m really proud of her how she keeps up with all that. I honestly say.’ The king added that the situation is ‘very difficult’ and said he ‘cannot describe’ what threats against his daughter mean to him as a father.
14/10
Princess Amalia, the 18-year-old heir to the Dutch throne, cannot leave her parent’s home in The Hague amid security concerns, the king and queen have confirmed. Willem-Alexander and Máxima, speaking to the press during a state visit to Sweden on Thursday, were subdued as they were asked what it’s like to not have the princess living at home any longer. She is studying at the University of Amsterdam, where she planned to live in student housing in the nation’s capital. ‘She hasn’t left the house,’ queen Máxima responded. ‘That has enormous consequences for her life. That means that she doesn’t live in Amsterdam and can’t really go outside. It’s not a student life for her like other students have. I’m really proud of her how she keeps up with all that. I honestly say.’
14/10 Housing
Housing minister Hugo de Jonge has reached broad agreement with the 12 Dutch provinces about where over 900,000 new homes will be built in the coming eight years. Most – 235,460 – will be built in Zuid-Holland province, while Drenthe in the east will add just 13,631 homes to its housing stock.
15/10 gasconsumption down
Private customers are turning down the heating and cutting back on showers, with gas consumption down by between 20% and 25% since September 1, energy company Eneco said on Friday. The company has some two million customers. Of them, 230,000 have a smart meter and they show that the central heating has been put down in many homes by one or two degrees, Eneco said. ‘Of course we don’t know if this will continue when it gets colder,’ a spokesman told the Volkskrant. The three other big energy firms, Essent, Vattenfall and Budget Energie, did not have figures available, the VK said
12/09
the Dutch front pages were full of images of British Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday afternoon.
The NRC wrote about a queen who outlived everyone else by keeping her silence, who had wanted a brother as a child so that she would not have to be queen – but in the end saw her role as God-given.
The Volksrant called her a beacon of steadfastness in a changing world, coupling an old-fashioned sense of duty with a kind of imperturbability that made her the anchor of a changing nation. In Trouw, Queen Elizabeth’s life was described as a one full of a ‘deeply felt sense of duty’, but also one full of anecdotes that revealed a certain twinkle in her eye. The Telegraaf front page remembered a ‘monarch of the world’ on its front page, citing her ‘trademark discretion’ but calling Charles III – who is now British King – her polar opposite. The AD said ‘the Brits have lost a part of their soul’, after losing a queen who had reigned longer than ever before and with such a sense of duty. She was known, the paper said, for both sides of her personality: being both sunny and friendly and also sometimes stubborn and demanding. The Parool headlined with the tribute of Mark Rutte, that a ‘beacon of calm and stability’ has fallen, saying that she was stately and cold-blooded but also surprising and sharp-witted. It quoted Amsterdammers such as former director of the Amsterdam Museum Pauline Kruseman recalling her visits, her ‘easy way of communicating, asking questions and being interested’, a manner that demanded respect. The late Queen Elizabeth II could also, added the Parool, change the spark plug of an engine without batting an eyelid.
12/09
Proposed plans by junior justice minister Eric van der Burg to limit family reunification to reduce asylum seeker numbers came under attack from all sides during a parliamentary debate on Thursday. Currently, relatives of asylum seekers are allowed to enter the Netherlands if the asylum seeker has been granted residence status, which could take longer than a year. But under the new proposals, asylum seekers – even those with a residence permit – must have a home first. If a refugee still doesn’t have a home 15 months after submitting an application for family reunification, the family may then come over. But that could mean a wait of up to two and a half years, MPs said. Criticism Left-wing parties called the cabinet’s plans ‘inhumane.’ Denk leader Farid Azarkan called them a ‘dirty compromise’ that breaks international law. Sylvana Simons (BIJ1) accused the cabinet of ‘cold-blooded political unwillingness and a total lack of humanity.’ GroenLinks MP Suzanne Kröger spoke of disgrace for the Netherlands.
6/09
Less is more
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which will for the first and last time unite 27 paintings by Johannes Vermeer, has used the most modern techniques to see how the craftsman discovered that ‘less is more’. An analysis of The Milkmaid, one of the Dutch master’s most famous works, has shown bold, dark underpainting on the canvas, and revealed that he honed down the work to paint out a jug holder on the wall and a large ‘fire basket’ – the 17th century equivalent of a portable radiator, filled with hot coals. ‘Vermeer’s overpainting of the objects has a number of consequences,’ said Dr Gregor Weber, head of fine arts at the Rijksmuseum. ‘The milkmaid now stands in front of us in a much more monumental way, like a free standing sculpture. This step had consequences for his whole work. ‘He learned less is more, which became a sort of motto for Vermeer’s art: simplicity, strong images, not many distracting details, but concentration on the essential.’ Careful simplicity
29/08
house values
Official house values used for taxes have risen by a record 8.6% in a year, according to Dutch statistics office CBS. The average house had an official value of €315,000 on January 1 this year. Although sale price indicators suggest that the housing market is now cooling off after European Central Bank interest rate rises, the values reflect the past year’s heated market. There was a huge diversity in price rises around the country, the CBS said. In the municipality of north-east Friesland, house prices rose most, by 19.5% on average. However in Dutch capital Amsterdam, where prices were already highest, they only rose by 2.1% Cities with the greatest increases included Rotterdam (11.4%) and Utrecht (9.8%).
29/08
First time that the emergency organisation “Artsen zonder grenzen” had been asked to act in its own country
Several hundred asylum seekers faced 11 degree temperatures at the weekend, sleeping outside Ter Apel centre where their claim needs to be registered. Local and international media reported ‘shaming’ situations on Friday night. Artsen zonder Grenzen, the Dutch arm of Médecins Sans Frontières, has been offering crisis first aid on the ground and sending several people for hospital care. Director Judith Sargentini had said it was the first time that the emergency organisation had been asked to act in its own country, after around 700 people were forced to sleep outside, with unhygienic toilets and no showers due to a lack of beds. An investigation is ongoing into the overnight death of a three month old baby, who was reportedly sleeping with its mother inside the centre last week. On Monday, the municipality of Het Hogeland pledged to house between 500 and 700 asylum seekers at the Zoutkamp former military barracks to relieve pressure on Ter Apel. An emergency local situation was declared last week and smaller tents cleared after there were some fights among the huge numbers sleeping outside, waiting to register their asylum claim. Ter Apel, a remote village in Groningen, is the first point of call for asylum seekers. The problem is thought to stem from the fact that asylum seeker residential centres were closed during the pandemic, and the current housing crisis means that people whose claims are accepted have nowhere to go. The Dutch government has said it will back out of an agreement with Turkey to take 1,000 asylum seekers a year and only allow entry to refugees’ families when they have found an actual home. Concern However, the political scheme has caused concern in government party the ChristenUnie, some of whose members have called the plans ‘legally and morally bankrupt’. Refugee organisation Vluchtelingenwerk has said it is planning to take court action against the government. The COA (Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers) told the NOS that temporary beds were offered for Sunday night in various locations around the Netherlands, so no asylum seekers were ‘forced’ to sleep outside. Earlier in the summer, Utrecht said it would give refugees priority for emergency housing for six weeks, in exchange for a government deal to build social housing.
Migratie “moves”
In de prachtige ambassadeurswoning van de Australische ambassadeur in Den Haag werd op woensdag 8 juli j.l. op feestelijke wijze de expositie Australia the Netherlands People Movement Stories geopend.
Deze tentoonstelling is een van de evenementen die dit jaar ter gelegenheid van 80 jaar diplomatieke betrekkingen tussen Nederland en Australië wordt georganiseerd. Het is een hybride tentoonstelling. Dat betekent dat men hem ter plekke/in levende lijve kan bekijken, maar ook online kan bezoeken.
De fysieke tentoonstelling reist binnenkort naar o.a. Perth en Canberra. Mogelijk is hij daarvoor ook nog te zien op enkele centrale locaties in Nederland. De online variant is natuurlijk 24/7 vanuit de gehele wereld bereikbaar!
Het onderwerp dat erin uitgelicht wordt is de migratiebeweging tussen beide landen. Via talloze persoonlijke verhalen en diverse interessante documenten krijgt men een gedetailleerde indruk van anekdotes, aangrijpende gebeurtenissen en herkenbare sentimenten (zoals heimwee) die bij de overstap van Nederland naar Australië komen kijken. Een ding moge duidelijk zijn: migratie is niet altijd makkelijk, maar biedt ook kansen en avontuur.
Neem vooral een kijkje op de website https://migrant.huygens.knaw.nl/ en lees de getuigenissen van o.a. Dianne Biederberg, Karien Dekker, Fred Feddes, Frances Larder, Helena Meinema, Matthew Meinema, Elly Spillekom & Dick Koelewijn, Adrian Strik, Jennifer Tucker, Kurt van Wijck en Johnny Young. Het is de bedoeling dat de historische datebase in de toekomst groeit; ook uw (familie-) geschiedenis kan er deel van uitmaken. Mogelijk heeft u aanvullende informatie naar aanleiding van de informatie die er aangeboden wordt? Bovendien worden nog vrijwilligers gezocht om dit geweldige project verder vorm te gaan geven.
Initiatiefnemers dr. Nonja Peters (recentelijk opgenomen in de 2022 WA Women's Hall of Fame) en dr. Marijke van Faassen, onderzoeker bij het Huygens Instituut, kennen elkaar reeds vanaf 2006. Dat was het jaar waarin 400 jaar vriendschap tussen Australië en Nederland werd gevierd en tevens het jaar waarin dus de kiem werd gelegd voor het idee. Studenten van de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen en de Universiteiten van Utrecht en Leiden hielpen mee bij de voorbereidingen en inspireerden het team met vernieuwende ideeën. Zo is bijvoorbeeld aan ieder gepresenteerd verhaal een unieke QR-code toegevoegd, die de bezoeker naar extra achtergrondinformatie op het internet leidt.
Reacties over de tentoonstelling kunt u sturen naar: nonja.peters@curtin.edu.au en marijke.van.fassen@huygens.knaw.nl
Adinda Slingerland
Op 22 juni (en acties blijven ook nu doorgaan) was er een grote demonstratie
van boeren in Nederland, Stroe. Dit heeft het nieuws zelfs in Australiё bereikt
en ik kreeg verschillende appjes of het echt zo was dat deze actie gebeurde.
Deze actie was dichtbij de plek waar ik verbleef en ook ik moest mijn plannen aanpassen.De meeste mensen die ik in Nederland sprak tijdens mijn vakantie zijn niet te spreken over de acties. Heel het land staat namelijk letterlijk stil.
Maar is dit nou niet juist de bedoeling vraag ik me af?
Er moet toch aandacht zijn voor dit probleem?
In Australiё worden de boeren juist geholpen met allerlei subsidies en initiatieven om ze te
steunen in het boeren maar in Nederland wordt er gewoon van boeren verwacht, ter wille van
het stikstof probleem, dat natuurlijk ook door andere sectoren veroorzaakt wordt (denk aan Tata Steel, Schiphol, Dow Benelux, Chemelot, Shell Nederland, RWE Eemshaven Holding bv, BP Rotterdam, Esso Nederland, Rijnmond etc. etc. ), om maar even hun werk neer te
leggen.
Deze sector heeft al jaren aanpassingen moeten doen om aan het klimaat mee te werken
en veel boeren zijn organisch gaan boeren. Vaak zijn juist deze boeren nu weer de klos, want zij zitten naast dat natuurgebied wat door stikstof overspoeld wordt. Ik vroeg mijn vroegere vriendin Karolien Hupkes, die een eigen boeren bedrijf heeft , voor meer uitleg en ze liet me toe tot haar facebook waar verschillende uitleggen stonden van het probleem en vanuit een perspectief van de boer.
Een van haar reacties op een artikel in de Gelderlander is:
Wie kan nog boer worden en zorgen voor jullie eten? Ook voor de volgende generatie ga ik
vandaag demonstreren. Welk perspectief is er nog voor hen als deze plannen doorgaan?
Met een collega heb ik een spandoek in het weiland gezet langs de snelweg A12 met de tekst: Heeft u de oplossing? #Hoedan? We hebben een melkveebedrijf met zeventig koeien. Maar om als boer een goede boterham te verdienen, zouden we eigenlijk meer koeien moeten hebben.
Een ander argument dat tegen de actie voor de boeren is is dat er 2/3 geёxporteerd wordt door
de boeren en maar 1/3 in Nederland blijft. En ik denk ook al is dat waar. Je moet dan toch nog steeds die 1/3 hebben? En wat nou voor de mensen buiten Nederland die dan opeens die 2/3 missen. Hebben die dan niet opeens ook een voedsel probleem?
Carole Overmaat
Radio Pinguin
Allow me to introduce Pinguin Vintage radio. Pinguin radio is a Dutch internetradiostation and the largest in Europe.
Since February 1st Vintage radio is aired and plays 24/7 songs from the fifites, sixties and seventies (no news, no commercials) with a lot of attention to the forgotten hits, albumtracks, Billboard Hot 100 and unknown songs you’ll wonder why they didn’t make it and including a lot of Dutch bands and singers. Of course the chartbusters are played as well, but it is a nice mix of music and something diffferent from the usual. A trip down memory lane as well as an exploration of great music. In addition jingles from those era can be heard. We aim to relive the time of the piratestations at sea (such as Veronica, Noordzee, Mi Amigo and Caroline).
You can find Pinguin Vintage here: https://pinguinradio.com/player/pinguinvintage
We would be honoured if you could inform the Dutch members of the club on this possibility to enjoy the music from the past.
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09/07
Baggage Unclaimed baggage is piling up at Schiphol airport, reports the NOS. The broadcaster, citing five anonymous sources in baggage handling, claims that ‘around 16,000 suitcases’ have been left at the airport, following weeks of travel chaos. ‘There are so many that some piles of suitcases are even outside,’ one told the broadcaster. Another reportedly said that the problems with baggage had not been so large for years. Super fast delivery The ‘boisterous’ growth of super-fast delivery companies is beginning to stagnate, according to market analysis by ABN Amro. The bank has analysed transaction data to show that although the four start-ups Gorillas, Getir, Zapp and Flink did huge amounts of business – peaking in the January lockdown – the number of daily transactions has since declined. The companies, which are funded by venture capital, promise to deliver all kinds of shopping within minutes, often using electric bikes and city-centre locations as warehouses for everything from fresh food to dog food. Lockdowns According to ABN Amro, they were taking just a few transactions a day in January 2021, but peaked in popularity in the weekend of 21st January this year. ‘They benefited from the lockdowns,’ ABN Amro economist Gerarda Westerhuis told NOS. ‘During the mandatory closure of bars, restaurants and cafes, a relatively large amount of snacks and alcoholic drinks were ordered from fast delivery companies.’ The amount spent per order is estimated to be an average of €16.88 per customer. Market researcher Gfk has predicted that the fast delivery firms will take €500 million in turnover this year, and the FoodService Instituut Nederland expects that the market for delivery will grow by 5% to 10%. Gas Gasunie subsidiary Eems-Energy Terminal has come to an agreement with two energy groups to deliver liquified natural gas (lng) to the Netherlands, limiting Dutch dependence on Russian gas. Once converted, the amound of lng Gasunie is buying from Czech group CEZ a.s. and Anglo Dutch Shell Western LNG Ltd, should create a total of seven billion cubic metres of ‘normal’ gas, which will then be pumped into the gas network. The liquified gas, which is frozen at a temperature of minus 160 degrees, takes up less space than the gas from, for example, the Groningen field. It will be stored in two floating terminals in the Groningen port of Eemshaven, The two terminals have a joint capacity of eight billion cubic metres. Gasunie has said a deal to cover the remaining one billion could be on the cards soon. Farmers Farmers have once more blockaded a Jumbo food distribution centre in Woerden, The farmers are protesting at government aims to reduce nitrogen compound emissions by 50% by 2030, and by 75% in protected nature reserves known as Natura 2000 areas. The latest demonstrations were sparked by a government announcement suggesting some farm closures were inevitable in June and a detailed map suggesting which areas needed reductions from 12% to 95%. 07/07 Inflation Inflation eased slightly to 8.6% in June, but households continued to feel the pinch as food prices went up by 11.2% in the past year, official figures show. The statistics agency CBS said inflation was down from 8.8% in May and a peak of 9.7% in March, mainly because gas and electricity prices are rising less quickly than they were 12 months ago. The cost of food went up by 11.2%, continuing a trend that began in September last year. Meat and dairy products were the fastest risers, but bread, oil, fish, fruit and vegetables also increased in price. -Advertentie- Fuel was a major driver of inflation, with the average cost of a litre of petrol going up from €2.19 to €2.35 while diesel increased from €1.99 to €2.14. Inflation also fell slightly according to the European Union’s measure, which excludes housing costs. The Netherlands still has one of the highest rates in the EU at 9.9%, down from 10.2% in May, but this is against a rising trend across the 27 countries, where the average rate of inflation went up from 8.1% to 8.6% in June. Jobs agencies to be licenced from 2025 to protect foreign workers 5/07 jobagencies The government is working on a licencing system for jobs agencies to weed out exploitation of EU workers. A licence for bona fide agencies is one of the recommendations made in a report by former SP leader Emile Roemer to protect foreign workers in 2020. . ‘It is too easy to set up a staffing agency and there are too many dodgy companies,’ Roemer said at the time. Only jobs agencies which follow the rules around pay and the provision of accommodation will be eligible for the licence. The move comes after years of complaints about illegal practices by agencies, such as health insurance rip offs, substandard accommodation, irregularities surrounding pay, and intimidation. Certified agencies will need to have a statement of good behaviour and pay a guarantee of €100,000. Any accommodation they offer will also need to be certified. Spot checks of wages and tax payments will also be made and any agency found to deviate from the rules will have its licence revoked. ‘Too often foreign workers are treated like second rate citizens,’ social affairs minister Karien van Gennip said. ‘Too many jobs agencies do not look after their workers properly and make them sleep and work in dire circumstances. That is not acceptable. People who come here to work have a right to proper living and working conditions, like you and me,’ she said. The new licencing system is expected to become operational from 2025. There are currently around 15,000 jobs agencies in the Netherlands. 1/07 Bank apologised for slavery President of the Dutch central bank DNB Klaas Knot has apologised for the bank’s historic role in slavery at Friday’s Keti Koti ceremony to commemorate the end of slavery in the former Dutch colonies. Knot had said earlier the bank would make ‘a gesture that would have lasting value’, NOS reported. ‘Apologies to all descendants of enslaved people in the Netherlands, in Suriname, on Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba, on Aruba, Curaçao and Saint Martin island,’ he said. ‘Apologies to all people who were reduced to a skin colour due to the personal choices of my predecessors.’ In February the bank reported on its own investigation into its founders, who were found to be closely involved in Dutch slave trade practices in the former colonies of Suriname and the Antilles. Knot said at the time he ‘deplored’ the bank’s role but stopped short of an apology at the time. Other banks are also investigating their colonial past. ABN Amro apologised in April for its share in the fate meted out to enslaved people while the ING’s investigation is ongoing. |
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Verban de ongezonde levensstijl
Natasia Boom - psychotherapist, Nederland De Nederlandse overheid neemt het voortouw in Europa als het gaat om het verbannen van de ongezonde levensstijl van haar burgers. Met eerst het demotiveren van het roken, overgaand op een voorgesteld alcoholverbod, zijn ze nu de strijd aangegaan tegen de ongezonde voeding. De oorlog tegen de suikers, additieven en fastfood is verklaard. Geweldig, zou je denken, en zeker de ideologie erachter is fenomenaal. Maar het werkelijke probleem zit zich in de miljoenen mensen die jaarlijks ziek worden en zelfs sterven door een ongezonde levensstijl. De verlenging en kwaliteit van leven neemt af, naar mate men een ongezonde levensstijl er op na blijft houden. De zorgkosten rijzen de pan uit, en de druk op de zorg wordt alsmaar groter. Prima zou je denken, dat begrijp ik, maar waarom gaat de overheid zich er nu ineens dan mee bemoeien? Na de niet zo een succesvolle, antirook campagne, wordt heden de alcohol aangepakt, kroegen sluiten eerder, er mag na 20:00 geen drank meer verkocht worden in supermarkten en horeca, maar dat is niet genoeg, een algeheel alcoholverbod is het wat men op tafel legt, aangemoedigd door WHO, RIVM, Politiebond en minister de Jonge van volksgezondheid. Het idee erachter is het model van Zweden en Noorwegen. Vandaag is de censuur naar de ongezonde voeding gelanceerd. De Nederlandse kranten staan bol van de artikelen over gezonde voeding, angst-zaaierij naar de vleesindustrie toe en de sterren geven hun interview over hun succesvolle strijd tegen de kilo’s door middel van gezonde voeding en beweging. En zo wordt de mens gehersenspoeld door de media. Ja, het is begonnen...de strijd tegen de suikers … Begrijp mij niet verkeerd, als transformatie coach en psychotherapeute ben ik groot voorstander van deze veranderingen die we, ineens allen moeten doorgaan. Ik stimuleer mijn cliënten dagelijks een motiverend appje. Hieraan moedig ik ze aan te blijven bewegen, op hun dagelijkse voeding te letten zodat we gedrag en patronen blijven doorbreken. Want laten we eerlijk zijn, wie wil er nu niet oud worden? Maar iedereen wil wel gezond oud worden, niet aan de zuurstof hangend een rollator vooruitschuivend oud. Iedereen wilt gezond oud worden, maar niemand wilt ervoor werken. De werkelijkheid echter is dat wij jarenlang door de voedingsindustrie zo volgepropt zijn geworden door suikers, additieven, zouten etc. Dat ons lichaam al zijn oorspronkelijke functie is gaan verliezen. Denk aan de kracht van zelfgenezing door het lichaam, door de vele verkeerde ingrediënten die het lichaam te verwerken heeft dagelijks, blijft er geen energie meer over om te functies die juist van belang zijn uit te voeren. De links tussen een ernstig beloop van een coronabesmetting en leefstijlziekten zoals overgewicht, diabetes en hart- en vaatziekten wordt steeds duidelijker. Uit RIVM-cijfers blijkt dat meer dan 70% van de patiënten die overleden zijn aan het coronavirus, een of meer onderliggende aandoeningen had. Die zogehete leefstijlziekten worden met name veroorzaakt door ongezonde voeding, te weinig beweging, te veel stress en onvoldoende slaap. Uit studie blijkt * dat de corona, leefstijlziekten, weerstand, obesitas, diabetes type 2 en hart –en vaatziekten de stofwisseling ontregeld. Als die ontregeling langdurig is, veroorzaakt dat een chronisch ontstekingsproces. En dat veroorzaakt een uitputting van het immuunsysteem. Dat de mens uit zichzelf niet erg goed is, in slimme keuzes maken, blijkt uit de vele aanbiedingen die ons in de supermarkten om de oren vliegen om vooral maar ongezonde voeding te kopen. Het resultaat van de ongecontroleerde manipulatie door de voedingsindustrie zijn heden ten dage duidelijk zichtbaar. 3 van de 5 mensen heeft overgewicht, 1 van de 5 extreme obesitas en onze kinderen worden alsmaar dikker. Het probleem ligt er ook vooral in dat de laatste generaties, zo geïndoctrineerd geworden is door de voedingsindustrie dat zij deze slechte gewoontes hebben doorgegeven aan hun kinderen. Het is dus niet zo verwonderlijk dat de huidige moeders hun kinderen meeslepen naar mc Donalds, ze volproppen met snoep, chips, pizza en cola. Ze hebben het gewoonweg niet van hun moeders geleerd, want laten we eerlijk zijn, er is, net zoals met het roken, veel te laat een signaal af gegeven door doctoren en overheid dat dit levensgevaarlijk is bij overmatig nuttigen van o.a. suikers. De verslaving van deze suikers is een punt waar dan ook naar gekeken dient te worden. Want net zoals met elke verslaving, is het ontzettend moeilijk om er los van te komen, sterker nog in het geval van alcohol en drugs moet het onder medische toezicht gebeuren, anders kan zelfs acuut stoppen fataal zijn. Prachtig dat de overheid nu ineens met verboden komt, wat een hele impact op de mensen is, ze vergeten wel de psychische aspecten van deze ingrijpende verandering. Veel ouders zijn niet in staat tot het presenteren van een gezonde maaltijd voor hun familie. Veel alleenstaanden zijn niet in staat tot koken en leven al jaren van de kant en klaar maaltijd uit de supermarkt of van de snackbar op de hoek. Hoe ga je deze mensen dan begeleiden? Hoe gaan deze mensen begeleid worden in hun afkickproces van suikers additieven, koolhydraten en vetten? Dit is geen gemakkelijk proces, dit gaat niet iedereen zomaar even doen. En nog erger, hoe leg jij aan je overmatig suikerverslaafd kind uit dat de pret met de liters cola en zakken snoep voorbij is? Een gezonde levensstijl opbouwen gaat gepaard met omdenken, doorbreken van patronen en gewoontes,stimuleren en motiveren. Samen kunnen we de strijd aan tegen een ongezonde leefstijl!! * Referentie: Het nederlandse innovatiecentrum voor leefstijlgeneeskunde. www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/voeding/gezond-voeding/minder-zout-verzadigd-vet-en-suiker-in-voeding |
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Stop met afpakken Nederlandse Paspoorten
Paginagrote advertentie van SNBN in NRC; Dankzij een succesvolle stille crowdfunding heeft de SNBN, met steun van vele Nederlanders wereldwijd, een paginagrote advertentie in NRC kunnen zetten met een oproep aan de premier en de politiek. De tekst spreekt voor zich: zie hier de advertentie en het persbericht dat vandaag is uitgegaan. Overigens is deze advertentie pas het begin: donaties voor een succesvol vervolg blijven welkom. Doneren kan hier. Voorzitter Eelco Keij gaf op BNR radio een interview over de advertentie, dit is hier terug te beluisteren. Source: https://www.nederlandersbuitennederland.nl/persbericht-snbn-help-ons-nederlander-te-blijven/ |
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Mobiele Paspoort Aanvraag Stations (MVA)
Stichting Grenzeloos Onder Eén dak In een groot land als Australie waar Nederlanders overal verspreid zijn en lange afstanden moeten afleggen voor paspoort vernieuwing zijn de MVA’s zeer belangrijk. Daarom is frequentie op verschillende locaties, met voldoende waarschuwing belangrijk. In het algemeen wordt een MVA pas uitgezet, als er behoefte aan is. Dat wil zeggen, wanneer men van verschillende mensen hoort (klacht ingediend) dat de afstand om een paspoort te vernieuwen te ver is. Als voorbeeld de ambassadeur in het VK reageerde op de vraag, waarom niet meer MVA’s in het VK? Quote: ‘Wij hebben van niemand gehoord dat daar behoefte aan is’.Als men dus niks hoort verandert er ook niks. Soms worden MVA’s alleen uitgezet als de ambassade ergens toevallig moet zijn. Er zit uiteraard een kostenplaatje aan vast en ze moeten nu eenmaal bezuinigen bij Consulaire Zaken. Buitenlandse Zaken heeft ook doorgegeven dat per zoveel Nederlanders er 1 x een MVA wordt ingezet. Het ligt dus ook aan het aantal in een regio. de stichting GOED heeft een enquete op gezet omdat er sinds Covid-19 veel meer problemen zijn geweest met het vernieuwen van Nederlands paspoorten. De beloofde MVA konden dus niet doorgaan. Omdat nu ook de grenzen dicht zitten is het voor veel mensen moeilijk om hun paspoort te vernieuwen. En voor sommige zelfs onmogelijk door de lockdown in Melbourne. Een onderzoek kan de wens/behoefte/noodzaak aangeven. Daarom vraag ik jullie om deze enquete in te vullen zodat de stichting GOED hiermee aan de slag kan gaan. En als het mogelijk zouden jullie deze post ook kunnen delen met jullie Nederlandse vrienden die in Australië wonen. https://stichtinggoed.typeform.com/to/YHxUwvFd |
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