Contradictory financial inquiry leaves top banker reeling, Dutch church abuse scandal grows, party leaders pull no punches in pre-election debate, election slip-ups for beleaguered TON party and Nijmegen takes New York by storm... 

Top banker Gerrit Zalm: damaged goods?
The collapse of the DSB bank comes back to haunt the Dutch financial sector in today's papers and one man in particular: Gerrit Zalm former finance minister, former DSB administrator and now head of largely state-owned bank ABN AMRO. Mr Zalm has been under investigation for his role at DSB, a bank which gained notoriety for saddling many of its customers with debts they could never repay, a practice which ultimately contributed to its downfall. The results of the investigation are now in, and on the surface it looks like good news for Mr Zalm. "Zalm withstands DSB investigation" is Trouw's headline, while De Telegraaf notes in its editorial that "after thorough investigation ... Gerrit Zalm can stay on as the head of ABN AMRO".

That's only one side of the story though: de Volkskrant leads with "Divided advice weakens Zalm's position", noting that "two contradictory judgments on his performance are threatening to undermine his position". The problem for Mr Zalm is that while financial watchdog DNB has ruled that he can stay put, in doing so it had to override a report by its advisory body the AFM calling for him to go. That AFM report has since been slammed as "insufficiently substantiated" and the body has been criticised for "overplaying its hand" and "speaking out of turn". 

But the damage has been done. De Volkskrant quotes one observer as saying "this is a deeply unfortunate outcome that is fatal for Zalm and the head of the AFM". The paper notes that parliament now has no idea what to believe. "This is a painful affair" sighs De Telegraaf, which nevertheless takes Zalm's side "He has now been tarred with the brush of a negative investigation that has been made public ... that's not fair to Zalm and it's bad for ABN AMRO ... So far there are only losers in this case." Meanwhile free sheet newspaper De Pers warns that the outcome of the investigation "only raises more questions about the monitoring of the financial world in the Netherlands". 

Dutch Catholic abuse scandal spreads
Several of today's papers pick up on a sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic church in the Netherlands. The accusations are levelled at a range of institutions and concern incidents that took place between 40 and 50 years ago. But the story seems to be gathering momentum, as de Volkskrant reports it received ten reports from victims on Monday giving accounts of rape or sexual assault. The paper says "the call for a major investigation into abuse in the Catholic Church is growing ever louder". 

The personal accounts from the victims printed in de Volkskrant reveal anger and tragedy. One victim asserts "It is very important that cases like this are coming to light now. It's insane that the Catholic Church is refusing to give communion to homosexuals while the church itself is rotten to the core". Others emphasise the emotional damage and isolation suffered by the victims. One contributor, recalling the plight of his abused elder brother, states "his terrible loneliness stemmed from the fact that all this happened at a time when a 12-year-old boy was not allowed to utter a word about such matters, not even to his parents. It stayed with him his entire life." 

Party leaders trade pre-election blows
All of today's papers take a look at yesterday's big TV debate between the main political parties ahead of tomorrow's municipal elections. The performance of the party bigwigs has become even more important now that national elections will follow in only a few months' time. AD focuses on the face-off between Labour leader Wouter Bos and anti-Islam Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders. Under the headline "Wilders sticks the boot in but Bos doesn't flinch" it describes the head-on confrontation in boxing jargon, complete with "verbal upper-cuts" and "knockout punches". 

De Volkskrant points out that "the viewers give Wilders the victory". NRC.next wonders why and employs an expert analysis from Hans de Bruijn, who has written a book on Wilders' debating skills. He reveals that Wilders is the master of the 'frame': imposing his own view of reality. He describes one of Wilders' frames as "we are losing the Netherlands to mass immigration and the Moroccan scum who go through life swearing, spitting and beating up innocent people." His main tip to Wilders' opponents is never to step into one of his frames. Responding by arguing that not all Moroccan boys spit and swear means you've accepted the problem as sketched by Wilders but you're not taking it seriously, which in turn means you've already lost the debate in the eyes of the wider audience. 

TON campaign marred by election gaffes
One party not invited to the big debate was TON - (which stands for 'Proud of the Netherlands') - the party founded by former hard-line immigration minister Rita Verdonk. At its launch, TON was riding so high in the polls it looked like a new political phenomenon had been born. However, lack of policies and disastrous PR saw its star wane to the point where now it would be hard pressed to win a single seat in parliament.

The upcoming municipal elections were seen as a way for the party to put itself back on the map. But the cracks in the campaign are already showing. TON has had to withdraw two candidates who turned out to have extreme right-wing sympathies. Under the headline "Verdonk chokes on extremism" Trouw reports how one even went so far as to twitter the rhetorical question "When are we going to finally gun down Muslims who are anti-Jewish and anti-Israel?", several bridges too far for even the most rabid of anti-Islam politicians in the Netherlands. Needless to say the "shocked" party has dropped the offending candidate like a hot brick, but as Trouw comments "there are definitely dangers attached to a party trying to grow too quickly".

But TON's woes don't stop there, as AD reports that Rita Verdonk "doesn't even know her own candidates". When asked by a local TV reporter what she thought of main candidate Tonnie van den Berk, Rita waded in with "He's a great guy! He and his team are going to turn Eindhoven upside down." After a puzzled pause the reporter continued "But isn't the main candidate in Eindhoven a woman?" "No, he's a man!" asserted Rita in her trademark resolute style, only to look around and see that standing behind her was one Tonnie van de Berk, quite clearly of the female persuasion.

Nijmegen wows New York
Trouw reports that Dutch noblewoman Catherine of Cleves is currently taking the Big Apple by storm "over 530 years after her death". Catherine, or rather the actress who plays her, has been attracting rave reviews in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal for her appearances in full regalia - "blood-red mantle trimmed with 265 pieces of imitation ermine fur" - at the Morgan Library and Museum.

Indeed Catherine is only one of around 30 actors flown in with the help of Nijmegen City Council to mark an exhibition that centres around the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, a manuscript ornately illuminated by an anonymous Dutch artist in around 1440 and previously exhibited in Nijmegen's Valkhof Museum.

The Mayor of Nijmegen, Tom de Graaf, was also on hand in the hope that all the publicity will encourage more Americans to visit his city. Never one to overestimate his audience, he began his presentation by pointing the city out to his US audience on the map "as you may never have heard of it".