The Netherlands is the first country where a Party for the Animals has been elected to parliament. Today’s newspapers reflect this growing concern for animal welfare with many giving ample coverage to a report released by the animal welfare organisation Varkens in Nood (Pigs in Distress).

De Volkskrant writes that in the overwhelmingly industrial breeding stables and factory farms over five million pigs die before they are ready to be butchered. According to Leon Varitimos of Pigs in Distress, the artificial increase in the number of piglets born per litter plays a role in the increasing number of piglets who die at birth. “A wild boar gives birth to five piglets. The sows in factory farms have been bred to such an extent that they now give birth to 30 piglets per year. The sector even wants to raise the number to 40 per year. While the sows already have too little milk to feed their piglets.”

 
Trouw says that out of over 30 million piglets born annually “two million are stillborn and three million die in the first month”. Figures released by Rendec, a firm which specialises in transporting and destroying animal cadavers, show that the number of pigs who die prematurely has risen from 4.8 million in 2003 to 5.05 million in 2007.

AD writes that in addition to the dead piglets, 500,000 pigs and 60,000 piglets die prematurely. In a commentary, AD’s editor-in-chief Jan Bonjer writes that the Netherlands has a flourishing bio-industry and that the large number of deaths among piglets is a “by-product”. “The answer can be found in a person’s ethics. It is a choice between filling one’s sandwich bag with a ham sandwich or a vegetarian filling.”

 
Swing in migration trends
Today’s de Volkskrant reports “an abrupt swing” in migration trends. On Tuesday, Immigration Minister Eberhard van der Laan presented figures to parliament showing that - for the first time since 2003 – more people entered the Netherlands than left the country. There was a record immigration of 140,000 people.

The paper writes that “This group includes a growing number of ‘import brides’. Measures against this ‘love migration’ from countries outside the European Union – particularly from Turkey and Morocco – have long had success. They are losing their effect because of the scale in which partners are being brought from new countries of origin such as Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan, and, according to Van der Laan ‘not always by emancipated gentlemen’. The ministry also has the impression that foreigners have found ways to circumvent the rules by, for instance, first bringing a partner to another EU country. Van der Laan says the Netherlands can not possibly integrate all these newcomers.”

 
De Telegraaf reports that the number of “import brides” increased by 32 percent last year to 15,330. The paper writes that minister Van der Laan “wants to end the inflow of unskilled marriage candidates because it negates all the energy and money invested in integration”. De Telegraaf says the Christian Democrats cheered the minister’s hard tones and that they gave the opposition conservative VVD party hope that the cabinet would “finally see the relationship between large-scale immigration and unsuccessful integration”.
 
 

New public transport smart card boosts fare dodging  
The headline in today’s De Telegraaf. “Fare dodging is booming with public transport smart card.” The paper says that transport companies are reporting an enormous increase in fare dodging in buses, trams and some trains. Confidential memos speak of “large-scale fraud”. De Telegraaf writes that this is remarkable since the main purpose of introducing the public transport smart card – known as the OV Card - in the first place was to prevent fare dodging.
 
 

Police want to introduce ‘preventive’ breathalysers
De Volkskrant writes that police chiefs are lobbying for the introduction of preventative breathalysing in order to “prevent excessive drinking amongst youth”. This follows similar proposals in parliament. “At present only drivers can be compelled to take a breathalyser test.” The council of police chiefs reports that: “Now we can only wait before we can take measures and then the situation escalates. A pro-active attitude would prevent a lot of trouble and a preventive breathalyser would be a big help.”

MPs conscious of their image
Trouw writes that it has long been known that voters are less likely to vote for a politician who hides his or her face, which perhaps explains why there are so many short-sighted politicians in The Hague who listen to their PR advisers and wear light-framed glasses.

However, of the 150 MPs whose photographs appear on the parliamentary web-site, only 54 are wearing glasses. Of course in reality many more wear glasses, but the MPs’ vanity tends to obscure reality.

Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers refused to wear glasses. During parliamentary debates he would hold papers a few centimetres from his face. Trouw also writes about the "eyeglasses incident" in 2006, when MP Gonny van Oudenallen continuously complained about a minister who was not there to answer her questions. He was, but she just could not see him because she did not want to wear glasses.