Vote for Gundogan does not improve

letter of the day

In the parliamentary elections I voted for the Volt party. I also checked the red box next to the first woman on the list, just as my feminist mother used to teach me. With that, my vote went to Nilüfer Gündogan.

It seems that Gündogan interpreted this as a preferred voice for her person. Her performance shows that she considers her own ego more important than the importance of a new party in Dutch politics.

So I might as well have voted for Thierry Baudet. My mother was wrong that choosing to be a woman over a woman would lead to an improvement.

Margaret NoordhuizenRotterdam

healthcare

A missed opportunity, the interview with Minister Ernst Kuipers (Saturday, 19/03). It is about streamlining care, making regional agreements and providing specialist care in centers of expertise. So it’s only about clinical care, about care for people who are already ill.

But healthcare is so much broader and the real gains can be made in prevention: ensuring that people do not get sick and that no more than one in six people will work in healthcare. Why is there no attention for that? How much of the available budget is for prevention? What are the principles of policy in that area? How is that policy implemented? What are the intended results?

The interview would have gained momentum if Kuipers had been asked about this. And it would have been even more convincing if the minister himself had drawn attention to this. You don’t need a bed manager, but someone who tries to prevent many more people from ending up in a hospital bed than necessary.

Ben SimmesUtrecht

Refugees

A big compliment to everyone who is busy finding emergency accommodation for Ukrainians forced to flee for their lives. The stakes are heartwarming.

We all hope for these Ukrainians that they can return to their homeland soon. In that case, we also have a solution for the emergency accommodations for Afghans that were nowhere to be found just a few months ago.

Simon WaleyOudehaske

Difference

On March 18, 2016, Mark Rutte told refugees to stay ‘home’ and not to cross the road, because they would be at the bottom of the ladder. On March 20, 2022, the King of the Netherlands offers part of his palaces to accommodate refugees. And Mark Rutte gives them 135 euros per person per week pocket money. Am I that stupid, or..?

Sity de BoerPlatanos, Greece

Orange

The royal couple receives Ukrainian refugees in Het Oude Loo castle (First, 21 March). What does our pawn prince, Bernhard van Oranje, do?

Pierre DaanenAmsterdam

vet

The first female veterinarian in the world was a Ukrainian: Marie Kapsevich (1864-1917). She became a veterinarian in Maisons-Alfort near Paris in 1897. She lived for years on the French west coast, but was executed in 1917 during the Russian revolution. L’histoire se repète?

Erik Jan Tjalsmaveterinarian and veterinary historian, Emmeloord

overmarch

Again cross-border behavior by Marc Overmars. He just goes to Antwerp.

Ruud Friend, Amstelveen

Private jet

Ubbo van Dijk expresses his irritation about the attention for multimillionaire Max Verstappen (O&D, 22/3). He goes a bit too far in his prejudices. That Verstappen ‘drives laps everywhere’ is already clear, but he certainly does not fly from Monaco to Nice with his private jet. Monaco has no airport, the closest is Nice. So to get to his jet, Max simply has to go in the Aston Martin or with a helicopter. Being a millionaire also faces earthly choices.

Gerard PostHeemskerk

To win

Suppose Putin “wins” (of course there are no real winners in wars). Then he will have a land of cities that have been bombed and a people that are against him and will always be. What have you ‘won’ then? So pointless, and at the expense of so many people.

Coen van den Heuvel, Eindhoven

Strollers

There are 109 empty prams in Lviv, indictment of the children who died in the Russian attack on Ukraine. It reminded me of Sting’s song ‘I Hope The Russians Love Their Children Too’.

Bart SmeenkThe Hague