This week Feedback highlights some of your letters and queries, and a couple of the most popular articles drawing your attention.

We don’t actually have a “Letter of the Week”, but if we did, the following mail from Carolyn Hayes would definitely qualify [edited for space]:

“I am a listener in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. My son and I love your programs. Earlier today, on Radio Books, I listened to The Distance penned by Jeroen Theunissen. It brought tears to my eyes, such a wonderful story! Here's my request. My son is a Chef and, at only 18 yrs. old, one of the
world's youngest... His second love, after food of course, is CBC Radio and RNW. It's all he listens to during his long hours of prep. Earlier, at the end of David's beautiful reading of The Distance, I ran into the kitchen to ask Luke how he had enjoyed it, only to discover that he had been downstairs, gathering ingredients. He was crestfallen to learn that he had missed it. So my request is this - is it possible to get a transcript/ copy of The Distance?"

Radio Books producer, David Swatling, was very happy to respond to such literary enthusiasm:

“Unfortunately, due to copyright restrictions I can't offer you a transcript/copy of the story. We only have rights for broadcast. However, that does include keeping them in our Radio Books archive on our website. So Luke can listen to the story whenever he has a bit of free time from the kitchen.

Simply go to www.rnw.nl/english and click on Radio Books from the programme list in the "Listen On Demand" box. Click on the story you're interested in and the article about the author will appear - as well as an icon for the audio of the complete program.

 
Thanks again for your kind words & continued good luck to Luke in his gastronomic pursuits!”

 
The next listeners query took a bit of tracking down, but as usual, there are always experts in almost any field to find here at RNW. This time the question was on the origin of our theme tune in the 1960s. Phil Smith wrote [edited for space]:

“I used to listen to your service on short wave from Bermuda when I was a young man in the 1960s. You had a very fine call sign that was a carillon played on church bells. Many years later I was in Antwerp briefly and I think the tune came from Antwerp Cathedral. Am I correct? If so what is the carillon and tune called please?”

 
It took the combined memories of Karien Guinee of the Music department and Martien Sleutjes of the Strategy department to come up with the final answer:

First, Karien Guinee responded:

“I guess it will be 'Merck toch hoe sterck' from Valerius' Gedenck Clanck, it might have been played on the Carillon of the Martinitoren, Groningen, but I'm not sure.

 
Martien Sleutjes has written about the tune in his blog.

There is also an electronic version that can be heard on the page.”

And, from Martien Sleutjes, we learnt:

“There are different versions from different towers. I don't which one is mainly used but at least its is certain that it's not a tower outside the Netherlands.”

 
Thanks to all of the RNW colleagues who put their heads together to answer that one. Sometimes collaboration is the key, and certainly in the first article that had you responding recently, it is the combination that was a bit of a surprise.

The news article New Israel-Kurd magazine surprises Arab world by Mahnaz Murad was quite a bit of a surprise, not only in Kurdistan, where the second issue over the Jewish Iraqi community is already on the local news stands, but also abroad.

According to the article:

“Dutch journalist Judit Neurink, who gives media training in the city of Sulaymaniyah, says, “I was a bit surprised when I saw the magazine. It means that freedom of expression in this part of the world has improved and is making progress...”

To read or join in the debate, please see the forum at the end of the article.

And finally, another news article caught your attention and your comments recently, Amsterdammer tackles Fox News by RNW English section highlighted a 25 year old Dutchman’s response on YouTube to comments made in The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News that “Amsterdam is a cesspool of corruption, prostitution and crime”.

According to the man, Robert Nieuwenhuijs:

"I just couldn't accept Amsterdam being be portrayed in such a negative way."

Not surprisingly, we have a number of responses (available on the forum), including Anonymous 4:

“Aaaaahhh....something Republican pundits aren't accustomed to...THE FACTS! Signed, An Embarrassed American.”

And, anonymous 1, who wrote:

“You see what you want to see. Two men looked out from prison bars; One saw mud, the other stars.”

How poetic and how inclusive.