Good news is not news, it is said. Well, we think so! Read here the weekly overview of the sweetest, nicest, most hopeful and funniest news from Groningen and Drenthe. With matching songs.
Can the voice from the region still be heard on national radio? Of course. Even more emphatically. Take Anton Griep (36), who comes from the Pekela’s. He has been appointed as a regular sidekick in Domien Verschuuren’s afternoon show on Qmusic. Griep had been a newsreader for Qmusic for a few years and, in addition to Verschuuren, is now allowed to give a personal view of less urgent current affairs. It just depends on where your ambition lies. Make your voice heard Anton !
Trains at a nice price, who wouldn’t want that? The NS is flying the flag this week, because travelers will soon be able to travel from Groningen to Utrecht and back with a 60 percent discount. A discount of up to 60 percent is anticipated. That saves a sip on a drink. Would you say.
But of course the NS has attached some conditions to the cheaper ticket. You should choose a quiet train. They mean: you have to choose a train with a low passenger occupancy. Are they still available on the overcrowded Dutch railway network? And then there is another catch in the grass. The fewer passengers on the train, the higher the discount. So that discount can sometimes be limited to a few percent. And you have to buy the ticket a day in advance.
Hmm, it is not made easy for the impulsive traveler. However, NS has had good experiences with the flexible discount during trials on the The Hague-Eindhoven route. In any case, you can travel a little cheaper, if you put in the effort .
Numbers don’t lie. Especially when the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) sends the figures to the world. Although, of course it all depends on how you interpret statistics. More on that on another occasion.
Statistics Netherlands has calculated that Groningen will have an excellent year in economic terms in 2021 in terms of exports. The province then peaked with exports. In fact, Groningen experienced the largest export growth of all provinces. No less than 17 billion worth of products from Groningen were exported abroad. Exports in Drenthe lagged far behind. But in this province no gas is sold and there is no chemical industry on the scale of Delfzijl.
It depends on how you look at the numbers, but it remains a good report for the time being .
A true friend is someone you earn something from. This somewhat opportunistic proposition has been mentioned several times in this section and the Friends lottery was probably also the subject of discussion at that time. This lottery donated almost 6 tons to the Groninger Museum in Groningen this week and almost 4.5 tons to the Drents Museum in Assen. They can use that with the upcoming renovation. The Experimental Colony in Frederiksoord also received another four hundred thousand euros from the lottery. That’s nice weather, more than one and a half million euros have been invested in culture in Groningen and Drenthe. A lottery bet can be invested worse .
The Liberation Festival in Groningen is still free of charge this year. The province and municipality of Groningen have drawn the grant to avoid having to pay an entrance fee, just like last year. And that’s good news.
But will it also be a fun festival? Director Ebel Jan Dijk gloomy this week that there are fewer toilets, fewer artists are booked, there are fewer lectures and the price of the drinks is being looked at. Well, visitors, that will be expensive beers, wines or glasses of soda.
Little consolation, the singers Froukje, Tabitha and Meau are taken by helicopter to the various liberation festivals. It may cost a bit, because freedom is not self-evident and therefore not free. But buy a ticket…. Fortunately, that is not necessary this time .
What’s your good news? Do you see a tweet or an Instagram post with fun or remarkable news? Let us know at [email protected] stating good news and you will read it – with a bit of luck – not much later in this column.