The DSB saga has been gripping the newspapers for at least a week. Now the drama draws to a close as time is running out for self-made man Dirk Scheringa.

AD reports that Mr Scheringa begged Finance Minister Wouter Bos for 100 million euros to save the bank in a letter at the weekend. After US company Lone Star Fund pulled out of negotiations for a takeover on Sunday, “plan B” was announced, in which customers, who stand to lose their money anyway could turn part of their savings into shares. Under the scheme the bank could make 25 million euros in profit within a year.

That’s if account holders don’t take out all their money as soon as the bank reopens, points out De Telegraaf cynically. The mass circulation paper quotes the conclusion drawn by Mr Scheringa at midnight “Unfortunately we have not succeeded.” Trouw is equally pessimistic about the future of the bank. Its headline reads: “End of DSB bank inevitable”. To add injury to insult for the bank’s customers, Trouw reports that both Mr Scheringa and the bank’s chief operating officer withdrew their own money from their accounts at the beginning of October after the Dutch Central bank told them they would have to stand down. Talk about rats leaving the ship!

Wilders campaigns against government retirement plan
After his brief trip to London, Geert Wilders went for a walkabout at a market in Rotterdam on Saturday. De Volkskrant reports he handed out leaflets with the text: “Join the Freedom Party, and save the pensions!”

Shoppers were somewhat bemused by the scene as Mr Wilders was not only accompanied by other Freedom Party MPs, but was also escorted by security personnel, police, journalists, photographers and cameramen. There were even riot police at the ready. One passer-by tells an MP from the anti-Islam party, “I wouldn’t vote for you, but it’s a good thing that you’ve got a second issue to campaign about.”

Freedom Party MEP Barry Madlener explains the party’s motive for the campaign, “It will take a little time before the legislation is put before parliament, by then the general election will be close. If we get big enough we will throw out this legislation.”

Trouw points out that the government retirement plan means that everyone who turns 50 this year will have to work two years longer, rather than just one year extra as suggested by Social Affairs Minister Piet Hein Donner last Thursday. For anyone who is unable to follow the complex calculations which back the paper’s findings, there is a simple flowchart which starts with the question: “In which year were you born?”

The Netherlands is “the biggest tax haven in the world”
But we could all retire early apparently, if the Netherlands finally closed the loopholes which allow multinationals to get away with paying tax on their profits. De Volkskrant reports on the findings of documentary programme Zembla, which was broadcast on Dutch television on Sunday evening. According to tax law expert Geerten Michielse, the Dutch treasury misses out on 16 billion euros in revenue every year. Based on figures from Statistics Netherlands, well-known Dutch companies such as Shell, Akzo Nobel and Philips only pay six to seven percent tax on their profits, whereas they should pay 25.5 percent. He concludes that the Netherlands is a tax haven. In May, the Netherlands was included on a list of tax havens compiled by the White House. The accusation was hastily withdrawn, however, after fierce protest by the Dutch Foreign Ministry.

In a government report this year, Norway called the Netherlands “the biggest tax haven in the world”. Several foreign companies also use Dutch addresses to get around paying tax. They include multinationals like Boeing, Walt Disney and US Steel. According to Zembla, 8,000 billion euros are processed through the Netherlands to avoid paying tax. That is a tenth of world trade.

The reason for the loophole is that tax laws were made in the 1920s and do not take globalisation into account. The Socialist Party has called for a debate on the issue. Labour Party MP Paul Tang says, “It is a public secret that multinationals have been let off paying tax for many years.”

Silver medal for Zonderland
In spite of the stiff competition, Dutch gymnast Epke Zonderland won a silver medal on the high bar at this weekend’s World Championships in London. De Telegraaf prints a photo of the overjoyed athlete hugging his coach. And he should be pleased, NRC.next reminds us of the disappointment when Mr Zonderland lost his grip on the bars at last year’s Beijing Olympics. He has also had to deal with a shoulder injury and disappointment after the medic failed to make it into a US university team.

This time his spectacular performance was almost flawless. When he went into the final he was brimming with confidence and was convinced he would win a medal. “I knew exactly what I had to do.”

His family were in London to celebrate, Epke’s two brothers are also gymnasts. Now he is looking forward to next year’s championships in Rotterdam “Then it will be gold.”

And the darkest and dirtiest place is....
....thankfully not in the same place according to nrc.next. The island of Schiermonnikoog has been proclaimed the darkest place in the Netherlands. This is not altogether surprising as the Wadden Sea island off the northern Dutch coast only has one village and a lighthouse and most of the land is actually a nature reserve.

But if you want to know where the dirtiest place in the Netherlands is, it is a street in south-eastern suburb of Amsterdam, just off the ring road. The Dutch environment group Friends of the Earth measured levels of nitrogen dioxide in 700 locations. The Johannes de Blookerweg in Duivendrecht beat them all, with the Prins Hendrikkade in Amsterdam's city centre coming in second. But there is hope, De Telegraaf reports that the Dutch capital is about to introduce a 30-kilometre per hour speed limit. The snail's pace for traffic has not only been introduced to improve air quality, it will also bring down the number of accidents in the capital's notorious black spots.