The lifebuoy that Sjaak gets thrown in the swimming pool of the Spanish campsite in the last episode of We are almost there!. Somehow I thought that was an excellent picture for the Prinsjesdag of 2022. Sjaak, a good-natured former teacher, with pills against gout, sugar and high blood pressure, was this summer with wife, camper and a whole bunch of senior couples on an organized holiday trip through Spain. Five weeks, thirteen campsites and Martine van Os as a traveling commentator of the mini-society that emerged over time. Men patiently helping each other to maneuver the caravan backwards onto the camping site. Women on the sidelines, who giggle that they can only scream when things really go wrong. The binoculars and cameras with which nature is admired, the stew with fish fingers, the comfortable folding chairs, the well-deserved glass of wine, the carefully prepared lecture about Ukraine by tour guide Gert. Sjaak wasn’t drowning by the way, that buoy was a joke. He always thought swimming pool water was too cold, so swimming was a “verbal disaster”.
Sjaak reminded me of the part of Dutch citizens that manages to keep afloat on their 22 billion extra corona savings and the equity of the mortgage-free house. But cold is annoying and heat expensive, so there will be a swimming pool of 15 billion. Maybe the Sjaken will stir up the water with it, and the people who are up to their lips with the chilly water, well, they might just not drown. So, are we all really happy about that? Well no.
Prime Minister Rutte traditionally gave an interview at the end of the NOS broadcast about Prinsjesdag about how he had experienced the day. He repeated that he himself also suffered “every day” from “the major problems in this country” and rushed through the list: purchasing power, asylum, the energy bill. And on to the good news: the extra bag of money, made possible in part by the energy suppliers. But NOS interviewer Xander van der Wulp kept pushing him under with Frans Bromet-like questions and intonation. “Can you turn the tide?” “Isn’t it all too late?” (3x) “Are you still the one who can solve it?” And then a few more variations. Rutte kicked and came upstairs.
A royal dress of 107 euros
Did we mention the King’s and Queen’s clothes? From RTL Boulevard and HLF8 I remember that Princess Amalia’s emerald green dress cost 107 euros, not bad for a student. Máxima’s dress was by designer Mohamed Benchellal from Lelystad, also sympathetic. Sigrid Kaag’s purple suit was talked about all day, and she also had to say twelve times that her goal was never to become the first female finance minister, but that “set an example”, watch out for swallowing the word ‘good’ (2x) in the predicate.
Only when he joined Unheard of News, immediately after the Prinsjesdag registration, I noticed how subtly Thierry Baudet had managed to adapt to the occasion. Inverted Dutch flag as a brooch on the lapel and a farmer’s handkerchief as a pocket square. The same Dutch theme and color palette returned to the two presenters and the expert: red-blonde-blue. Oh, and by the way, the presenters cast aside suspicions of racism, and if anyone felt “needlessly hurt” by their previous broadcast, know that wasn’t the intent. And on to the bad news. It’s going to be a terrible winter, did you know that? A poll among the members of Ongehoord Nederland showed that 97 percent think that Rutte will not keep us warm through the winter. Baudet predicted that it will be “bald, barren and terrible”. It would make you cold.