Face mask deal? Just waiting for Deloitte

As easy as the face mask deal with Sywert van Lienden came about, it seems so difficult to find out what actually happened there. This while the most involved are still just walking around and can tell.

But no, it is not allowed or possible in political The Hague that simple, fast and above all cheap. They go for quality and Deloitte, the largest international organization in the field of financial and business services, according to their own website, which was commissioned in the summer of 2021 to map out the deal precisely. The report comes later than planned and will cost some money, but apparently money is not an issue.

incomprehensible.

But unfortunately, that’s how we do it in The Hague with its new political governance culture.

Hans AkveldBerkel and Rodenrijs

ducklings

The editor who wrote the caption for the article ‘Never feed ducks with grandpa and grandma again’ should only spread bread with Kees Moeliker to brush up on his bird knowledge. Because ‘A man feeds the ducks on the Heemraadssingel in Rotterdam’ does not seem appropriate for someone who is surrounded by pigeons, an Egyptian goose and exactly one duck at his feet.

Marijke de VriesThe Hague

Shakespeare

That Shakespeare is one of the best, if not the best writers who ever lived, is happily shared by the stage editors who were allowed to shed light on the importance of his work. But where does that irrepressible urge to mutilate those beautiful poetic texts beyond recognition come from?

Othello must become a supporter of Black Lives Matter, there are too few gay characters in it Midsummer Night’s Dream† Romeo and Juliet should be flatter, et cetera. It reminded me of: God created man in his image, and Max Factor is trying to improve that.

Joel Coen late in his Tragedy of MacBeth see how it can be done: showing the language of Shakespeare to its fullest in a beautifully stylized film.

Pieter VeenboerOuderkerk a/d Amstel

Bad luck

The Netherlands is pretty much the richest and happiest country in the world, but everyone is complaining. The generation complainer is strikingly new. Each generation makes its own cost-benefit assessment, focusing more on its own costs than on its own benefits. This thinking has also penetrated the current students, because they now call themselves the ‘unlucky generation’. José van der Hoeven includes it in the Letter of the day for them.

I myself (born in 1956) am part of the so-called ‘lost generation’ and because my triplets are now in their third year of study, I can rightly call myself the most packed Dutchman. Yet I pay for their studies fairly effortlessly and because you know that the majority of students come from more affluent families, many more parents should be able to afford this. For example, the majority of parents have a house that has risen sharply in value. Moreover, the labor market has never been better and education still leads to a better income. With Peter de Waard (29/3), I conclude that solidarity is over and that everyone has come to see the government primarily as an ATM.

Ton van RietbergenUtrecht

Historians

When in doubt about the scientific usefulness of historians, I had to think of what a colleague of mine said at the lunch table: ‘If all historians die tomorrow, another day of history will be added the day after tomorrow. But if all engineers die tomorrow, nothing nice will ever be made again.’ It goes without saying that said colleague was an engineer.

Wim AdriaansensApeldoorn

Antwerp

In his column, Max Pam explains the name Antwerp from a 15th-century saga depicted in the Brabo fountain with a statue of the Roman warrior Silvius Brabo throwing a large hand. ‘Antwerp’ is said to have been derived from: throwing a hand.

The name Antwerp, however, rather comes from the name given to the site of the first settlement Anda verpa. This is an Old Frankish designation for silted soil, for example in a bend of the river. In the Vita Eligii from the early 7th century, the words Andoouerpenses and Andouerpis appear as an indication of Antwerp. All uncertain statements, but a more likely explanation than the one from the aforementioned saga. It did, however, produce a beautiful fountain.

Rudy SchreijndersMaarssen

AH

For years, small foundations and other charities have been given the opportunity at the AH supermarkets to mention their charity for a month when returning the empty bottles. People can then deposit their empty bottle voucher in a special box instead of getting their deposit back at the cash register. This often provides the foundations with a nice amount of money, needed to meet their financial obligation towards those they care for.

I have such a small foundation. In this way I can provide about 400 school children at a primary school in The Gambia with a hot meal every day. However, from March 4, AH will make this option available for Giro 555, the Ukrainian refugees, for an indefinite period of time. That seems nice, but it ignores the foundations that already had a commitment to be the charity for a certain month. Those pledges have simply been postponed or withdrawn.

Ukraine is needed, but fortunately, a lot of money has already come in for that. Can there please be some left over for the other, much smaller, but equally important charities? Due to this AH promotion, I cannot fulfill my monthly commitment for a daily hot meal.

Geri de Lange-MesKinderdijk