Sometimes I think that complaining is the Dutch national sport. Most of us moan about the weather -it's either too hot or too wet in the summer and it's either too cold or there's not enough ice in winter. We also moan about being forced to spend money - electricity bills are too high, parking is too expensive and real estate prices are just ridiculous. Another favourite subject is transport - there are too many traffic jams and not enough trains. But today's papers seem to indicate that a change is on the horizon.

Plasterk: time is ripe to reform higher education
The new academic year started yesterday, and during his opening address at the University of Twente Education Minister Ronald Plasterk dropped a bombshell: the whole higher education system needs reform. AD quotes the minister as saying "the current difference between higher vocational education and universities is out of step with the times and has to be changed". Minister Plasterk has instituted a committee that will conduct a six-month investigation into the pros and cons of the Dutch system as compared to the education system in other countries.

Mr Plasterk said, "Our system is bursting at the seams. We are trying to force an increasingly diverse student body through a system that offers just two very narrow options".

Housing corporations building fewer rental homes
"Construction of new homes stagnates" is emblazoned across the front page of this morning's de Volkskrant. The paper writes that public housing corporations are going to build far fewer homes over the next five years than was earlier predicted. The paper's report comes from an investigation by the Central Foundation for Public Housing (CFV), which reveals that the number of new rental homes scheduled to be built between 2009 and 2013 is 12 percent lower than earlier estimated, and the number of new sale properties scheduled for construction has dropped by 20 percent.

A CFV spokesperson tells the paper that the simple reason is that Housing corporations have less money to invest. "Their assets are tied up in bricks and mortar and in order to generate income they have to sell existing properties. However, the economic crisis has made things very difficult".

Lights out: phase one of incandescent light bulb ban starts today
The first stage of the European Union ban on incandescent and halogen light bulbs goes into effect today and Trouw headlines: "greedy bulbs to disappear first." The initial stage of the EU-wide law bans shops from buying any more bulbs of 100 watts or higher. However, shops are allowed to sell their remaining stock of energy-greedy light bulbs.

Trouw writes that not everybody is happy with the ban; energy-efficient light bulbs start slowly and don't give the same warm, friendly glow as incandescent bulbs. Many people say the light generated by the new bulbs is "cold and unfriendly". They are also extremely expensive when compared to incandescent bulbs.

The Protestant paper interviews the owner of lighting shop in Amsterdam who says that while most of his clientele are environmentally-conscious, many "have a huge problem with the price of energy-efficient bulbs and LED lights. A 60-watt incandescent bulb costs one euro and 75 cents; a comparable energy-efficient bulb costs more than 10 euros. It may work out cheaper in the long run but most people don't think like that."

Bart Melis-Dankers of Visio - an expertise centre for blind and partially-sighted people - says the new lamps won't be a problem for most people, although Visio has noticed that some partially-sighted people are stocking up on incandescent bulbs for the toilet; "energy-efficient bulbs need time to warm up; by the time the bulb is at full strength most people have finished. Not very handy".

Dutch Rail pleased with rush-hour train experiment
De Volkskrant and AD both reports that train commuters on the Eindhoven to Amsterdam route were more than content on the first day of a test project running either an intercity or a local train once every 10 minutes during the rush hour. The test is being run as a joint project by Dutch Rail (NS) and ProRail (the company that manages the rail infrastructure) to ascertain whether it is feasible to run trains outside of the standard timetable on more routes. The Eindhoven-Amsterdam route was chosen, as it is the busiest in the Netherlands.

AD writes that most of the passengers were extremely happy with the new once every 10 minute service. The extremely tight schedule means that conductors are no longer allowed to wait an extra 30 seconds if they see a passenger sprinting for the train. However, most passengers aren't too bothered, as the next train will arrive in just 10 minutes.

Municipalities making major profits on parking
Several papers report on the huge amount of money generated by parking revenues. AD and Trouw have virtually identical headlines: "councils expect to earn 533 million from parking," while the populist De Telegraaf goes with "parking is money machine for councils". De Telegraaf, quoting from an investigation by Statistics Netherlands (CBS), writes that some municipalities earn so much from parking that a significant proportion of their annual budget is based on projected parking revenues.

The populist tabloid writes that the city of Amsterdam - the most expensive place in the world to park an automobile - estimates 2009 revenues from parking will amount to a staggering 131 million euros. Around 25 percent of Amsterdam's tax-generated income comes via parking meters.

AD reports that the projected 2009 income from parking is 10 times the amount generated 20 years ago. And it's not only large Dutch cities that are profiting from parking; small tourist towns are also milking the cash cow and free parking is almost unheard of in the Netherlands these days.