Photos of the Dalai Lama are on most front pages this morning. De Telegraaf reports that his security was tightened after internet threats from the “Chinese corner”. De Volkskrant stresses that the Buddhist spiritual leader’s visit is not a political one.

In a press conference the Dalai Lama played down Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s refusal to meet him calling it “no problem”. He will meet Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen and make an appearance in parliament. The paper quotes the Nobel Prize winner clad in red and yellow robes, “I’ve only come to sell my smile.”

Trouw takes on the Dalai Lama’s critics who say Buddhists are not totally non violent, the Dalai Lama is anti-homosexual and negative about women. The paper asks Buddhist scholar Rob Hogendoorn to dispel some of the criticisms. Mr Hogendoorn points out that the criticisms are based on clichés. “His tradition has conservative views, but as a person he is progressive.” The final criticism is that after 50 years in exile he has done nothing for the Tibetans. Theologian Freek Bakker tells the paper that although the Dalai Lama may not have achieved his goal of more autonomy in Tibet, he has certainly brought the plight of Tibetans to the attention of the world and promoted Buddhism in the West.

Wilders expected to do well in European elections
Today the European elections are being held in the Netherlands. AD prints photos of two members of the public holding up a white circle in a black square symbolising the Dutch voting slip. One is filled in with red pen, the other is blank. The paper asks people in a shopping centre whether or not they intend to vote. Helpfully the paper gives an overview of what the Dutch parties stand for, the European parliamentary factions, and the structure of the European government.

Apparently Geert Wilders won in a mock election held in secondary schools up and down the country in the past two days. Most of the established parties lost votes in the mock election, only the Animal Rights Party and the Democratic D66 gained slightly on the 2004 result.

Trouw points out that voters for the European elections are particularly inconsistent. Losses are expected both among the coalition and the opposition. So today’s result is unlikely to affect national politics. However, support for Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party will show whether the party has grown as much as some polls have predicted recently.

If it has there is good news for the anti-Islam populist party. The Lower House has voted in favour of changing parliamentary rules so that small parties can win more than 30 seats. The Freedom Party now has nine seats in the Dutch parliament, but would win 32 if a national election were held now.

Shocking crime figures reveal ethnicity
Criminology professor Frank Bovenkerk calls figures which show that 55 percent of Moroccan-Dutch men between the ages of 18 and 24 get into trouble with the police “shocking”. De Volkskrant reports that Rotterdam has compiled statistics on the ethnicity of criminals in the city. Up to now there has been a taboo on such statistics in the Netherlands. And although it was already known that migrant groups were overrepresented in crime statistics, the stark reality was softened by the fact figures were only compiled over the space of a year.

Since 2002 Rotterdam has compiled data from police, youth care organisations and family health care organisations. “That is revolutionary.” The figures also show that 90 percent of Moroccan youths re-offend compared to 60 percent of native Dutch youths.

Nevertheless the professor resists the temptation to put criminal behaviour down to ethnicity. He cites a low social-economic position and lack of social control as major contributors to the high crime rates in these groups. And because of this he is against taking ethnicity into account when tackling crime. When Dutch police officers visit Morocco to learn about the Moroccan culture, they are told these “boys are not Moroccan, they are the product of northern European cities.”

Mondrian paintings to be restored
Modern art lovers around the world will be disappointed to hear that aging paintings by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) will not be loaned out for the time being. According to de Volkskrant 20 paintings from the Mondrian collection in The Hague’s Municipal Museum are too fragile for transport, most of them are early paintings. The collection is the world’s largest and includes 169 works by the modernist painter.

Meanwhile a restoration project has begun. The museum hopes to restore 100 works within five years. Conservator Hans Jansen says, “This is an elderly collection, it is not surprising that a little restoration is needed here and there.” He puts the condition of the works down to aging, fragile layers of paint, folds in the canvas and warped frames.

Piet Mondrian is best known for his compositions using red, blue, and yellow geometric shapes within straight black lines on a white background.

Childless men are happier than fathers
Childless men are happier, claims sociologist Renske Keizer who is affiliated to the Dutch Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute. Trouw asks the sociologist five questions. The first is don’t children make people happier? Well apparently that only applies to women, because children are important to their identity. Up to now not much research had been done on fathers. Now it turns out that childless men and men whose children have left home are happier because they have more time and less stress. It is more important to a man’s happiness to have a partner. This funnily enough is different for women. Having a partner is less important to their sense of joie de vivre.

But there is good news for fathers. On average they earn more than childless men. Why? It’s anyone’s guess really. Maybe women are just more attracted to more successful men.