People living in the randstad in the Netherlands, tend to underestimate the rest of the country, as it just is not the Randstad.
Anything beyond the large urban conglomerate spanning from Amsterdam to Utrecht and Rotterdam is not up to speed, and less developed.
I’m not in favor of this snobbish attitude towards (17-7)/17*100 = 59% of the Netherlands, but today I’m beginning to rethink my opinion…

I know I’m not allowed to generalize, nor am I allowed to make assumptions based on just one occurrence; yet an idea posed by a Council member in Leeuwarden tends to lead me to doing just that.

A man called Sieds Brouwer is completely fed up with the nuisance of premature fireworks, and has suggested the offenders who are caught lighting fireworks before10PM on the 31st of December will not only be punished for this the regular way, but will receive additional punishment as well.
Regular disciplinary actions are "task sentences" which commonly imply cleaning the streets on January 1 to clean up the mess others have made during the New Year festivities. The proposal is not only to let the offender do tasks like the one named before, but to also throw in a cap which should be worn whilst doing the task which reads the text: "I’m being punished".
Apparently, the Council members thinks this public disgrace will discourage potential wrongdoers from actually committing the crime.

Not only will it probably not work: getting caught lighting your fireworks prematurely has a very slim chance these days, publicly humiliating the offender is just not a measure belonging to the 21st century. We like to believe we live in a civilized community, but this belief is disrupted by this proposal. Public humiliation is something commonly accepted in the Middle Ages, but not in these times.
I actually think the cap will become a collectors item: any potential bad-boy would like to have a cap that reads the owner definitely is a bad boy.

My advice to the Council member: if you are that fed up with fireworks, try wearing earplugs next time and put more police on the streets. A higher chance of getting caught illegally lighting fireworks definitely will put off potential offenders.

If you are Dutch, you most certainly know them: SGP. The abbreviation stands for "Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij", a very strict party of reformed Christians.

Recently they made all the headlines as the state-funding of the party was cut off, due to the fact women cannot be a participating member of the party, nor will they ever be as party-regulations clearly state so.
Women-rights groups and people-rights groups officially filed complaints about this and even sued the party to allow women to actively participate in the politics of the party. This lawsuit attracted a lot of attention, the judge ruled the SGP was discriminating women based on their sex and lead to the financial cut-off.

Wednesday, the Dutch Counsil of State, overruled the lower court and allowed the funding of the SGP. The Counsil argued the Dutch Constitution allowed both the freedom of organisation and the freedom of speech to co-exist. In short: the SGP is allowed to keep women from political functions as these women are allowed, and able, to create their own party similar to the SGP but with their own regulations.
The groups responsible for the lawsuit have appealed to this ruling, the second half of January the appeal is due.

I sincerely hope the ruling on that appeal will be the same as the ruling of the Counsil, as our constitution is clear oneough on this matter.
Every individual is allowed to start their own political party, and has thus the rights to state-funding on a few conditions: at least 1000 members are needed, and the party has to have participated in the last elections, where they were awarded one or more seats in the "Eerste" or "Tweede Kamer". The rules do not state anyting on the intentions or regulations of that party, and as long as there are enough people willing to become members and vote on the party, almost everything is allowed. Yes, that is democracy.

Please not that I absolutely do not agree with the political and ethical views of the SGP, nor am I member of that party, nor have I ever voted or even though of voting for them.
I strongly disagree with the standpoints of the SGP regarding abortion, gay-marriages and euthanasia. I think they are severely outdated: but it is their right to think so and say so, and I respect that.
As anyone should.