Parliament’s Upper House shows its teeth over a tax increase on theatre tickets. Eindhoven police raid a trailer park in connection with murder and organised crime. A century of change is reflected in statistics. Increase in anti-Semitism on Dutch internet sites is down to the Dutch and not Muslims. Early snow confuses hedgehogs.

Upper House shows its teeth
The Dutch parliament’s upper house showed its teeth last night during a debate over the government budget and in particular over an increase in value-added tax (VAT) on theatre and concert tickets, according to Trouw. The senators – as the members of the Upper House are known - threatened to throw out the whole government budget if the cabinet refused to budge on the issue of raising VAT on tickets from the low six-percent rate to 19 percent. They even went as far as to request that Prime Minister Mark Rutte return from holiday to explain the government’s position.

The government had already ignored calls by the Upper House to rethink the measure. Today’s nrc.next explains that senators considered the increase in VAT bad governance because theatres had not had the time to prepare for the price hike.

In the end, and following a number of hasty phone calls, the measure was postponed for six months. The Upper House was particularly critical of the powerful position of the Freedom Party, which is not in government, but supports the minority conservative VVD- Christian Democrat government in parliament.

Now instead of VAT on tickets increasing in January, this will not happen until June. Hans Engels of the democrat D66 party said “The Upper House was already strong, but now that [strength] has become manifested.”

Generally the Upper House passes any legislation that has been approved by the Lower House. However, the VVD-Christian Democrat government does not have majority in the Upper House either, and there are no Freedom Party senators at all to help them out. This could change in June when new senators are installed after being indirectly elected via provincial elections in March.

Eindhoven police raid caravan camp
More than 200 police officers raided a caravan site (or trailer park if you prefer) in Eindhoven on Tuesday. De Volkskrant writes that it was carried out in connection with a liquidation and organised crime. The murder of a 44-year-old man, found shot dead in a burnt out Mercedes, led investigators to the caravan site.

Security camera footage shows the Mercedes in question near the camp just half an hour before police were called to the burnt-out vehicle. Police arrested four men at the trailer park and a fifth in the centre of Eindhoven.

Earlier this month the mayor of Eindhoven said the ‘Mercedes’ murder was connected with organised soft drugs crime. A subsequent television appeal yielded eight tip offs. The murdered man had survived what appears to have been an earlier attempt on his life when assailants fired shots at his home, killing a visitor.

The paper writes that the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Breda (not too distant from Eindhoven) sees this raid on the caravan park as part of a new strategy announced by Security and Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten to tackle organised crime, “Criminal gang members involved in cannabis growing and the drugs trade are being arrested, underlying criminal structures are being dismantled and criminal goods are being confiscated.”

A century of change in statistics
You could say a lot has changed in the last 100 years. Statistics Netherlands has published a book Review of a century in statistics letting us know just how much. Economist Michiel Vergeer tells nrc.next “Compared to 1948, we have four times as much to spend”.

Dutch people now live in bigger houses, eat more healthily and can afford more luxuries. They also live longer and have less heart disease. But they still smoke a lot, leading to an increase in the number of cases of lung cancer. According to AD, the Dutch actually smoke less than in 2009 - partly because of high prices for tobacco, and partly because of the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, but mostly because it is simply not cool.

The Dutch drink less jenever (gin) and more beer than they used to. They also produce four times as much rubbish because of packaging and because furniture and electronic goods are replaced rather than repaired nowadays. Emancipation means women have less time to cook, so instead of stewing meat, it’s pork chops on the menu. Apparently they are still doing the cooking – so not that much has changed!

Anti-Semitism on Dutch sites not by Muslims
There has been a lot of debate about the increase in anti-Semitism in the Netherlands recently. One politician even suggested there is no future for conspicuous Jews in the Netherlands because of the hostility towards their religion.

The general perception has been that this is down to members of the Muslim community. However Trouw writes that according to an anti-discrimination site (MDI Report Internet Discrimination), anti-Semitism on the internet more often than not comes from native Dutch people. “In any case, on the internet most anti-Semitism does not come from Muslims.” Only 48 out of 404 reports of anti-Semitism in 2009 concerned comments on Muslim sites. Most cases of discrimination are found on mainstream websites, on the interactive part of newspaper sites for instance, and are written by native Dutch people.

Figures from the Anne Frank Foundation and the University of Leiden in the report “Monitor of Racism & Extremism” back up the MDI’s findings.

Early snow confuses young hedgehogs
It looks like we might be in for a White Christmas this year. But as well as adding to the holiday fun, snow and ice are still causing a lot of problems - not least for hedgehogs. De Telegraaf writes that train passengers were stranded in the middle of nowhere for four hours yesterday when an overhead powerline broke. According to AD, plane passengers who landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport were kept on board for an agonising six hours before a stairway could be brought to the plane.

But the continual freezing conditions mean the Dutch can indulge in their favourite sport, and skating clubs have organised several tours on frozen lakes and waterways in the north of the county. Whereas in the south, ski clubs have organised langlauf tours through the countryside. De Telegraaf provides its readers with a handy map of events.

But all is not well in the animal kingdom. AD writes that young hedgehogs are completely confused by the weather. The winter came too early for their hibernation period and they are just not fat enough to fall asleep in the cold conditions. So if you see a young skinny hedgehog wandering around, give it some water, a bowl of cat food and a box full of straw.