Today’s edition of de Volkskrant reports that the main coalition partners, the CDA (Christian Democrats) and the PvdA (Labour Party), are in favour of a plan to maintain a Dutch presence in Afghanistan in the form of a training mission when the current military mission to the province of Uruzgan ends at the end of this year.

In an article published in the Saturday edition of de Volkskrant, British NATO Brigadier General Simon Levey suggested a training mission in a number of Afghan regions as an alternative for the current Dutch military mission to the province of Uruzgan. The issue of what to do when the current mission ends has been the focus of much political wrangling between the CDA and the PvdA for months.

In a televised debate between party leaders, PvdA Chair Mariëtte Hamer called a training mission “an interesting option”. Ms Hamer said “We want to end the combat mission, but we won’t leave the Afghans in the lurch”. In a separate radio debate, CDA leader Pieter van Geel said that training the Afghan army would “fit excellently” in a follow-up mission, but hinted that that should not be all. The CDA, with Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen in the lead, wants the Netherlands to continue to play an active military role in Afghanistan.

In his column, Volkskrant journalist Bert Wagendorp argues that General Levey came up with a cunning plan to make it impossible for the Dutch to refuse to stay on. “He specifically told de Volkskrant the training mission would involve teaching army doctors, engineers, logistical experts and security services personnel.

So emphatically no shooting instruction, training courses, man-to-man bayonet fighting or waterboarding Taliban fighters, but first aid for army doctors, camouflage and Excell for dummies. Anyone opposed to that, is just heartless”. Yep. Either that or just plain smart enough not to fall for General Levey’s ploy. As Mr Wagendorp points out, what are the chances of success for a training mission when a Taliban fighter gets paid 20 US dollars compared to just six for an army recruit?

Judge rules against DSB Bank marketing tactics
De Pers reports, in what could prove to be a landmark case, that an Alkmaar judge has ruled that DSB Bank violated its duty to properly inform its clients.

The case involved a couple, who in 2005 applied for a 50,000 euro loan, but left the DSB Bank, not just with a loan, but also with an investment policy and no less than five lump-sum life insurance policies for a total amount of 75,000 euros.

The Alkmaar court ruled that DSB failed to inform the couple about the disadvantages of these policies. The judge said that if the bank had acted correctly, it would not have recommended them to its clients and they would not have taken them out.

De Pers writes that this ruling may mean a breakthrough for tens of thousands of other DSB customers who, in the words of Finance Minister Wouter Bos, were saddled with the “idiotically” expensive policies which were included in mortgages.

DSB Banks sold hundreds of millions of euros worth of lump-sum life insurance policies. However, DSB Bank went bankrupt last year, after a media campaign in which activists called on savers to withdraw their money from the bank. This means that if courts award damages to duped DSB customers, they will simply join a long line of creditors, but lawyers are fairly confident they will be able to persuade judges to subtract the damages from their debt to the Bank.

A cunning plan...
De Telegraaf reports that the fundamentalist Christian Party (SGP) has come up with a cunning plan to continue denying women their political rights.

The party intends to put the names of a large number of women on their list of candidates, only to have them give up their seats to a man lower on the list when a woman is actually elected. A party spokesperson has confirmed that a number of women have been approached on the issue.

At present, the party bars women from all political positions, including membership of parliament. However, when the Supreme Court hands down its ruling on the issue in a few weeks, it is almost guaranteed to rule that the SGP must grant women their constitutional rights.

This explains why the party is working on alternatives to avoid being forced to go “underground” as SGP members call it. After a series of court rulings condemning these SGP practices as discriminatory, the party has, since 2007, granted women full party membership, but continues to reserve council and parliamentary seats for men. Makes you wonder whether we should spend some money on educating our own people before attempting to educate the Taliban.

Energy label for houses proves failure
AD has a story on the compulsory energy labelling for homes which was introduced in 2008. Last year only one in eight homes had the label, which is not really surprising given the fact that it costs between 200 and 400 euros to obtain one, while there is no penalty if you don’t.

So Housing Minister Eberhardt van der Laan is considering measures to make the energy label less noncommittal and pull it back from the brink of extinction. For one, he has introduced improvements, including a digital complaints service. The energy label now includes the standard electricity and gas consumption per type of home.

The minister says that “Now that the label better meets home owners’ requirements, we expect an increase”. Maybe, ‘to pray for’ is the verb that the minister was looking for, because it still sounds very noncommittal to me. Let us just hope that the housing minister’s ‘decisiveness’ on energy issues is not emblematic for the whole cabinet, or is it?

Long-awaited news
And finally, De Telegraaf has the society news I just know you all have been dying to hear: “Ayaan has lover”. The paper, in its never-ending quest for the lowest common denominator has devoted nearly a third of its front page to three photographs, two of which feature former Dutch MP and Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali with her lover British historian and TV host Niall Ferguson, The third is of Mr Ferguson’s wife, because, obviously, the report wouldn’t have made the front page of De Telegraaf if he wasn’t married.

After an alleged eight affairs, Mr Ferguson has reportedly now left his wife for Ms Ali, who currently lives and works in the United States. Ms Ali reportedly hasn’t had a boyfriend for years, mainly because she lives under permanent surveillance because of death threats made by Islamist groups. Or in the words of the person who introduced the two lovebirds: “She is gorgeous, but it’s not easy finding a man with a fatwa on your head”.