Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

Category: News and politics

  • The Death of Hind Rajab

    What Israel is doing in Gaza is obscene and unconscionable. Netanyahu has the blood of thousands of innocents on his hands.

    The Guardian’s First Dog on the Moon

  • The Rise of the Far Right

    An excellent piece by Lewis Goodall.

    I feel very uneasy about developments at the moment. It’s as though Dutch society is like the frog sitting in water that is slowly being brought to boiling point.

  • The End of Tolerance?

    When I first came to the Netherlands in 1983, the country had a reputation for tolerance, an openness and a “live and let live” attitude to life. Over the years, attitudes have hardened and polarisation increased to the point where I scarcely recognise the country I first encountered.

    We’ve just had a general election, and to my utter dismay, the far-right populist party of Geert Wilders has gained the most seats in the Dutch parliament. This is the man who has called Moroccans “scum” and whose manifesto proposes a ban on Islamic schools, mosques and the Qur’an, a ban on the wearing of headscarves in government buildings, and tight immigration and border controls. These include restoring Dutch border controls, detaining and deporting illegal immigrants, and reintroducing work permits for intra-EU workers. He is no supporter of the EU. The icing on the cake is that he appears to also be a climate change denier who ignores climate problems.

    It remains to be seen whether he can persuade other parties to join him and form a coalition government with sufficient majority to govern. If he does, then it will be a right-wing coalition. The future does not look bright for tolerance and social solidarity in the Netherlands.

    I despair.

  • Here we go Again

    The last time I used this quote from Iain M. Banks was for the events in Paris in 2015.

    And now Hamas have adopted the tactics of IS to horrifying effect.

    Unfortunately the state of Israel appears to be prepared to inflict the same terror on the inhabitants of Gaza, 50% of whom are children.

    As I wrote in 2015, the late Iain M. Banks summed it up well in his novel Against A Dark Background:

    Sorrow be damned and all your plans. Fuck the faithful, fuck the committed, the dedicated, the true believers; fuck all the sure and certain people prepared to maim and kill whoever got in their way; fuck every cause that ended in murder and a child screaming.

    Amen.

  • What Was She Smoking?

    This year’s Tory Party Conference had more than enough moments of speakers sounding unhinged, not to mention the presence of Nigel Farage looking like the cat that got the cream.

    If it wasn’t Suella Braverman channelling Enoch Powell and his appalling “Rivers of Blood” speech, then it was Mark Harper embracing the conspiracy theories swirling around the excellent goal of 15 minute cities.

    However, for empty rhetoric Penny Mordant takes the prize…

    What was she smoking?

  • The Resignation of Nadine Dorries

    This won’t mean much to those of you who take no interest in UK Politics, but Nadine Dorries has finally resigned and metaphorically stuck the knife into Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s back in her resignation letter.

    She was an MP who manifestly failed to represent her constituents in any meaningful manner and I am not sorry to see the back of her. Michael Spicer nails it:

  • Pulling the Plug

    The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, has pulled the plug on his Cabinet and the government has fallen.

    Rutte and his VVD party want to bring down the number of asylum seekers, so they went for a proposal to prevent families of asylum seekers fleeing a war zone from coming to the Netherlands for at least two years. Absolutely insane and morally contemptible – and two of the other parties (ChristianUnie and D66) in the coalition refused to accept the proposal – quite right.

    So it looks like elections in November. Naturally, Wilders’ PVV will want to limit immigration on all fronts, and it looks like the VVD are going down the same route.

    There’s also a question over whether the D66 party will be led again by Sigrid Kaag. Two of her (adult) children have said that they have misgivings over her safety in public, and Kaag is taking this seriously.

    She’s a very interesting and capable woman; married to a Palestinian and has (had?) a home in Jerusalem as well as the Netherlands. Her Wikipedia entry is more than impressive. I wish more of our politicians had her experience.

    Instead, we have politicians like the appalling Wilders and Baudet. Then there’s the newcomer Caroline van der Plas of the populist BBB party. She has a single seat in the Tweede Kamer (herself), but her party recently swept to power in the provincial elections. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that her people are inexperienced and chaos looks likely to ensue. As far as I can see, the BBB has the standpoint that the farmers can do no wrong, and to hell with nature and the climate crisis.

    We live in interesting times…

  • “He lied because that is what he does”

    We’re talking about Boris Johnson, of course. That quote is taken from today’s column by Rafael Behr in the Guardian. The column is headed: “Boris Johnson is gone, but his toxic Brexit myths will go on”. I’m afraid that is very true. Johnson has both damaged and trivialised British politics , perhaps irreparably.

    Behr’s column is well worth reading.

  • King Charles The Last?

    I’m a couple of months younger than King Charles III. Since I’m not a monarchist, I won’t bother watching the coronation today – I’ll be doing something useful, like working in the garden. I suspect that the glory days of the British monarchy have passed with the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

  • The Summing Up of Trump

    Randy Rainbow nails it.

  • Compare and Contrast

    Yesterday was an interesting day in the life of UK Politics. There were two Select Committees sitting. One was hearing evidence from the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson claiming that he did not wilfully mislead Parliament and the other was Baroness Casey being questioned by MPs about her report on the Metropolitan Police.

    Let’s look at the performance of Baroness Casey first.

    She marshalls her evidence – note, evidence, not conjecture – and delivers it calmly and clearly. And what devastating evidence it was. The pause she makes before answering the question from Adam Holloway, the Conservative MP for Gravesham, is very telling and almost electrifying. It’s as though she cannot quite believe how stupid he is for not understanding what is meant by the term “institutional racism”.

    Now contrast that with the performance of Johnson.

    His defence appears to be be “I was told that the parties (some of which I attended in person) were not in conflict with the guidelines, so I didn’t mislead Parliament”. Or in other words “I am an idiot”. No, Mr. Johnson, you are not an idiot, but a narcissistic habitual liar with a huge sense of entitlement.

    If there is any justice in the UK’s Parliamentary Democracy, he will be suspended from Parliament for wilful misleading of his fellow MPs.

  • How to Foretell the Future Accurately

    John Major, in this interview with Andrew Marr a few weeks before the Brexit Referendum in 2016, has been proven right in every respect. Brexit has proved a disaster.

  • “Brexit is a Colossal Mistake”

    There are still a few wise Tories, but unfortunately they ain’t in the shower in power at the moment…

  • Fireside Chats We Could Do Without

    Thank heavens that Michael Spicer is on hand to pull aside the curtain.

  • The Brexit Effect – the Facts

    I see that the Financial Times has at last weighed in with a film on the effects (mostly malign) of Brexit on the UK Economy. Well worth watching – but depressing as hell as an example of seeing a country indulging in an act of self-harm…

  • UK Government in Chaos

    Turmoil in the UK Parliament. Matt Green sums it up very well and exaggerates the situation only slightly.

    Now that Truss has resigned after only 44 days as PM, the competition is on to find her replacement. Frankly, none of the candidates give me much hope, and I see that the appalling Johnson is likely to throw his hat into the ring. Be afraid, be very afraid…

    Addendum: and Michael Spicer illustrates just how hopeless Truss was…

  • When Rude Gestures Are Appropriate

    Apparently, the ex-Chancellor of the UK was somewhat upset to (allegedly) receive a “rude gesture” from an estate agent in his home constituency.

    Personally, I think he thoroughly deserved it… He tanked the UK economy with his “mini-budget” and caused a tsunami of problems in the property market.

    And let us not forget that he went to a champagne reception with venture capitalists as soon as he had delivered the “mini-budget”.

    I’m somewhat surprised that he hasn’t been pelted with something by now…

    Of course, he is not alone in causing this disaster. There will be more Brexit chickens coming home to roost before too long, I think…

  • Watering The Garden

    Frighteningly close to reality…

  • A Fine Elegy

    Elizabeth Windsor has died. Whilst I am no fan of the Monarchy, she served the country well. Jonathan Freedland has penned a fine elegy.

  • Out Of The Frying Pan…

    So Liz Truss has been anointed by a small bunch of elderly, well-off, white men as the next Prime Minister of the UK. The silver lining is that at least the disgraceful Boris Johnson no longer holds that office, after having consummately trashed its reputation.

    The citizens of the UK, I fear, cannot afford to breathe a collective sigh of relief with the coming of Truss. If she puts into practice what she has promised with her views on economic policy, we are likely to see things in the UK getting worse, rather than better.

    William Davies, in the Guardian, has a good analysis of the flaws in Trussonomics. He appears to hope that Truss will recant, but my fear is that she believes her ideology to the extent that it will not just destroy her, but the country as well. Beware the true believer.