I was surprised to see national coach Louis van Gaal speak to journalist Jeroen Stekelenburg of the NOS this week. Mr Van Gaal’s insulting attitude disgusted me, and now the attitude of the national coach towards the press can no longer be regarded as an incident. When asked by Stekelenburg – please note, the NOS has to drive unmarked vans due to intimidation – whether it might be that Depay’s position change was an order from him, he got the response that ‘he was talking’.
In a society where insulting, or worse, journalists has become an everyday occurrence, it seemed to me that the KNVB, the national coach, the face of Dutch football, would call out for this, or at least apologize. would offer for such behaviour, but nothing could be further from the truth. Apparently we have a union that likes to legitimize sentiment against the press.
Wouter van EwijkRotterdam
Pension
Dirk Bezemer and Bernard van Praag, two (former) professors of heavy caliber, explain in a clear speech (O&D, 15/6) that pension funds hoard money unnecessarily and thus withdraw it from the economy. They note that in our country we have a very good pension system with returns that ensure that the money is actually not enough. Their conclusion: the premiums can be reduced and pension money can be paid out generously to stimulate the economy. Our current pension system is so well designed that this is perfectly possible, they say.
Have we been fooled for years? It’s very similar. I read between the lines that the ‘hard necessity’ sold to the people to set up a new pension system is total nonsense. Because why would you tear down a solid system that pays well and can cover everything well and replace it with something else? Who has an interest in that?
I wonder who has the guts to question the implementation of Wouter Koolmees’ pension reform plans again. It is logical that agreements are broken open before the baby is thrown out with the bathwater and market parties start to dig into the pension pots. Losing face is less serious than unnecessarily destroying a good pension system.
Hans vander Linden, Nuenen
Pension (2)
Weird that in an article about more than 20 percent loss of purchasing power among pensioners since 2008 (O&D, 15/6) you print a photo of two clearly elderly campers in Appeltern, who in March 2022 are sitting in front of a huge caravan.
Gré Schilder-ShockerVolendam
Ge-you-bake
I would like to ask Sander Schimmelpenninck (14/6) and Auke Tabak (Letters, 15/6) to stop pointing at the other generation. This creates division. Can the generation-you-bake stop?
Sven SchellekensAmsterdam
energy giant
Heleen Mees writes that Russia’s days as an energy superpower are numbered (O&D, 15/6). It is certainly true that Western countries, the EU foremost, are looking for alternatives to gas and oil supplies and are unlikely to return. Mees does, however, focus one-sidedly on Western buyers. In other parts of the world, Ukraine is far away and there too there is a need for energy, which Russia is only too happy to supply.
For example, the Russian ambassador to the Philippines this week had a conversation with Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (the future president of the country) about the supply of gas and oil. An interesting customer with 117 million inhabitants. Although there is no stove to be found here, every cubic meter is welcome for the production of electricity (air conditioning) and household gas. So don’t get too excited I’d say.
Jan EikenboomCebu City, Philippines
peasant protest
The (disapproving) reactions from politics to the visit of a group of farmers with tractors to the house of Minister Van der Wal are compared by BBB and SGP with the actions of, for example, Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion and the visit of a group of farmers to the house. by Rob Jetten. The pity card is also played in that comparison: there is far too much attention for the farmers’ protests. This condones the visit to the private domain of a political office holder.
Any nuance of the actions of the farmers from the political perspective is unacceptable: the mere fact that the farmers indicate that they ‘know where her house lives and where her bed sleeps’ is already intimidating and whether they then speak politely with two words to the then it doesn’t matter much. As if the minister should be happy that they haven’t parked their tractors in her garden as well.
Nico de MillianoNijmegen