As Ratko Mladic arrives in The Hague to face trial, cucumbers are acquitted. Christian Democrats are worried about their coalition partner’s plans for a Dutch online Las Vegas, Priscilla is proudly towed into a shaft under Amsterdam’s central station, and there’s good news for herring connoisseurs.

Cucumbers are innocent

‘Cucumber time’ is what the Dutch call the summer silly season. It seems to have come early, as salad continues to make the front pages. All the papers actually have good news for the cucumber. It’s off the hook as the culprit in the EHEC bacteria outbreak. Tests in Germany found the suspect cucumbers not guilty.

But the hunt for the real culprit goes on. Nine Dutch people are ill with the potentially deadly bacteria. There’s “fury at the German false alarm”, says De Telegraaf, with cucumber growers facing a 30-million-euro loss.

Avoiding cucumbers was “hysterical nonsense” anyway, says de Volkskrant. If you wash your salad properly, you’ve got nothing to worry about. “But the shock reaction reflects the unease of a consumer who has no idea where his food actually comes from.” What’s worse is that the authorities apparently haven’t a clue either, the paper concludes.

More on the EHEC outbreak

New hobby opportunities for Mladic
“Pottery, chess, darts and playing the guitar.” That’s how Ratko Mladic can look forward to passing his time now he’s arrived at his new home, a cell by the sea in The Hague, nrc.next reports. They missed out table football, as we see from the pictures in de Volkskrant.

Other than that, the papers have to make do with photos of black cars and helicopters which may or not contain a genocide suspect. The authorities took care to keep Mladic out of the public gaze – much to the frustration of a group of former UN Dutchbat soldiers who’d turned up to see their old nemesis put behind bars, AD reports.

“Screwed again,” moans one ex-serviceman. “Bloody government.” What’s bothering de Volkskrant’s front-page columnist is a sense that the Dutch feel sorrier for their traumatised ex-Dutchbat soldiers than they do for the murdered Muslims of Srebrenica.

It’s an ‘intriguing environment’ Mladic has arrived in, according to former detainee Ljube Boskoski, quoted in de Volkskrant. In the Hague jail, Croats, Muslims and Serbs, once bitter enemies, all get along fine. Making the most of a multi-ethnic hobby club.

More on Ratko Mladic arriving in The Hague

Coalition betting row
“Modernisation” is how Deputy Justice Minister Fred Teeven sees his plans for the Dutch betting industry, de Volkskrant reports. What it comes down to is making it legal to play poker on the internet and in cafés, instead of just in the state-owned Holland Casino.

The VVD party deputy minister used to be a fierce opponent of internet gambling, says de Volkskrant. But then he realised it was practically impossible to put a stop to it. So if you can’t beat them, legalise them, he’s decided.

But his Christian Democrat junior coalition partners aren’t too happy about the plans, de Telegraaf reports. The party is worried that legalising internet poker will spark an epidemic of gambling addiction. “Modernisation of gambling policy is fine,” the party says. But wide-reaching liberalisation, no way!”

Pride in Priscilla
Priscilla is 136 metres long, weighs 20 million kilograms and floats. And on Tuesday she was towed into place ready to be slid along a shaft under Amsterdam’s central station.

Trouw, de Volkskrant, and AD all feature aerial photos of the colossal concrete tunnel, curiously dubbed Priscilla, which is will form part of the capital’s new North-South metro line. For once the news isn’t just about delays, overspending and amateurism. In fact, the diagrams and figures can’t disguise a touch of pride in Dutch engineering, as they explain the ins and outs of hauling the tunnel into position.

But why Priscilla? Trouw has the answer. The tunnel was named after the building contractor’s secretary. Apparently she wasn’t there to watch. “She’s a modest woman.”

Vintage herring
It’s going to be a good herring year, de Telegraaf is pleased to report. “Just as you have good wine years, you have good herring years,” the former head of the Dutch fishing board tells the paper. This year, thanks to the fine weather, the Netherlands’ favourite fish have been pigging themselves on plankton. They’re “round and fat”, and they’ll be in the shops from Tuesday, the official opening of the ‘new herring’ season.

AD is full of herring facts and figures. Fish factories are working seven days a week at this time of year, and a skilled filetter can deal with up to 300 herring an hour. They’ve got enough to get through, as the Dutch alone eat 85 million herring a year. As for the flavour, AD is reserving its judgement. We have to wait for the paper’s “traditional herring test” on 9 July.