Yet another suspected terrorist picked up at Schiphol, tomorrow’s budget day is just for show as Christian Democrat squabbling over the coalition talks continues, and an Elvis-impersonating war hero faces drugs charges after all.

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Schiphol terrorist arrest: big news or business as usual?
“Somali ‘terrorist’ intercepted at Schiphol.” For the populist AD and De Telegraaf it deserves a front-page headline. As far as the rest of the papers are concerned, the incident is worth no more than a few lines tucked away in the inside pages.

For the details, we turn to De Telegraaf. A British man of Somali origin was arrested on “suspicion of involvement with a jihadist terror organisation”. He was travelling from Liverpool to Entebbe in Uganda via Amsterdam Schiphol airport on Sunday, and was picked up on the plane just before take-off. The arrest came after a tip off from the British authorities, AD adds. The Dutch police are now investigating whether the suspect has links to the Somali radical Islamic organisation, Al-Shabaab. It’s only a matter of time before Somali terrorists strike in the UK, warns British intelligence agency MI5.

Both AD and De Telegraaf remind us it’s the second time in just a few weeks a terrorist suspect has been picked up at Schiphol. At the end of August two Yemeni men were arrested on a flight from Chicago, suspected of being on a practice run for an al-Qaeda-linked bombing. After a lot of fuss in the popular press, they turned out to be innocent tourists with a curious way of packing their luggage. This might explain why most papers are sticking to a few lines on the latest arrest until they find out whether the story is worth any more ink.

Budget day speculation – for form’s sake
“Budget day is just for show,” says AD. Tomorrow is the third Tuesday in September, the day when the Queen unveils the government’s budget for the coming year. But this year there’s only a caretaker government, as negotiations over a new coalition rumble on. And the papers are groping around to find something to say about it.

There won’t even be the usual budget debate in parliament this year. Not surprising, parliamentary historian Charlotte Brand tells AD: tomorrow’s version of the budget “will be changed and expanded on by the new cabinet within a couple of weeks.”

De Volkskrant’s budget day angle is police fears about expected cutbacks. “The police forces can’t cope with any more cuts,” say police chiefs. To discover the gritty truth about an overstretched police force for its lead story, the paper sends a reporter out following officers on the beat. They spend a night dealing with punch-ups and sufferers from “Heineken disease”.

De Telegraaf uses the upcoming budget as a roundabout opportunity to stand up for motorists and bash environmentalists. Its editorial starts off with a warning against frittering away taxpayers’ money on reports by advisory bodies. Apart from making savings, this would prevent “syrupy decision-making” and force the government to “take responsibility itself instead of passing it on to others”.

But in the second half of the editorial it becomes clear that the paper has a particular report in its sights – one by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency that comes down solidly in favour of road pricing. This “megalomaniac project is unfeasible” the paper fulminates. It goes on to praise the transport minister for grasping the bull by the horns and laying kilometres of new tarmac. This despite delays caused by an organisation which “frustrated every necessary modernisation with a demagogic fanaticism”: the “pathetic environmental organisation Friends of the Earth Netherlands.”

Christian Democrat coalition squabbles continue
Today’s dose of cabinet formation news centres on yet another broadside from a senior Christian Democrat against his party’s proposed cooperation with the far-right Freedom Party. CDA economist Herman Wijffels accuses his party’s leader Maxime Verhagen of having “tunnel vision” in pushing through a rightwing coalition, and of snubbing the string of Christian Democrat elder statesmen who have expressed qualms about dealing with anti-Islam leader Geert Wilders.

AD explains Mr Wijffels’ analysis: “Maxime Verhagen wants a rightwing coalition to prevent more voters from switching to the Freedom Party,” but the cooperation will produce a “no-win situation” for the CDA, as the Freedom Party will pick up any credit going while the Christian Democrats take the flack.

Rightwing de Telegraaf is quick to put Mr Verhagen’s side of the story. In a “fragmented political landscape” he says he merely wants to make a “decent contribution to the government of the country.” But Mr Wijffels thinks the approaching rightwing coalition will be a “rickety construction”, says Trouw. In fact, he wonders whether the entire Dutch party political system is past its sell-by date: “It doesn’t produce decent government any more.”

War hero’s drug trial to go ahead
“A good old war hero with an Elvis wig,” is how de Volkskrant describes Captain Marco Kroon, decorated by the Queen in person for his courage fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. He was the first soldier in 55 years to receive the Military Order of William. But “sources” have revealed that the public prosecutor has decided to go ahead with a case against him for dealing drugs and weapons in his café in Den Bosch. Captain Kroon was shocked to read the news in Saturday’s de Volkskrant, the paper reports.

It was at Café Vinny’s that the former commando wore his Elvis outfit behind the bar on theme nights. And allegedly presided over dealing in drugs and electroshock weapons. However, according to regulars, this amounted to no more than the usual drug-taking in the toilets, says de Volksrant, and Captain Kroon claims he merely gave away a couple of the electroshock weapons to his friends and brother. Harmless enough?

De Volkskrant looks on the bright side. Even if he is found guilty, Marco Croon faces less than a 12-month jail sentence. And that means he’ll be allowed to hang on to his Military Order of William.

Headscarves in the boxing ring
Moroccan girls in pink gloves are taking to the boxing ring, de Volkskrant reports. To illustrate the point, the paper prints a cartoon of a Muslim girl in pink gloves and headscarf, delivering a brutal kick to her opponent’s jaw

Kickboxing is already popular among Moroccan boys, but now a growing number of girls are taking up the sport. Cultural anthropologist Jasmijn Rana, a kickboxer herself, is studying the phenomenon. She says the tough Moroccan girls put paid to the stereotypical image Dutch people have of submissive Muslim girls, forbidden to leave the house without permission.

The world Thai boxing champion is a Dutch Moroccan girl, the celebrated Soumia Abalhaja. And in 2010, for the first time women’s boxing is to be included at the Olympic Games. What’s more, the competitors will be allowed to wear headscarves. This will allow Muslim sportswomen to aim for the very top while holding onto their Islamic identity, says Ms Rana. After all, she argues, “In the Qur’an it says you should look after your body properly. And you can do that with kickboxing.”