Being British Right Now

It will be hard to find a British blogger at the moment who isn't reflecting on this week's events in England (Britain is cited everywhere but lets be honest I saw no mention of Scots or Welshmen taking to thieving their local trainers or electronics shop).

The Dutch and expat press is as full of news about the riots as the British national press is, and there is lots of contemplation of what it is to be British, whether expats feel proud to be British and how watching the looting, violence and arson across the country on TV makes those of us abroad feel.

An interesting piece by Annabel Kantaria in the Telegraph expat section asks "Are you proud to be British?" and explains the image her British children (who live in Dubai) just got of England during their visit this week. One reader commented that the concept of being proud to be British is outdated and belongs in the 1940s. I have to agree. I'm happy to be British, but proud?

I have read a number of blog pieces by British writers that relay that this kind of 'British' behaviour is a reason to be happy with the choice to move away from their homeland. The Dutch press asked whether such looting and violence could ever be seen on the streets of the Netherlands. A resounding no came back for a number of reasons, the primary being that the extremes within British society are not present in Dutch society. There's a predominant 'average' Dutch layer so the extremes of rich and poor are not daily evident like they are in Britain. It's a point my husband has been making since I met him over a decade ago - extremes in Britain are evident wherever you look.It's something I notice when I go back now but something not apparent to me when I lived there.

On a personal note the images played out through the British and Dutch media have been harrowing and shocking. The conversations that have followed in the press are equally worrying - many different theories about the whys and what nows. Disenchanted youths. Government policies. Youth schemes scrapped. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Unemployment. University fees. Ethnic minorities. Lazy teenagers. A feeling of entitlement. A lack of responsibility. Feeling displaced in society. Criminal opportunistic gangs. Lack of discipline in the home and in schools. Bad parenting. Teenage parents.

Whatever the reason, whatever the excuse, the violence on English streets in the last few days leaves most British people angry, upset and incredulous - whether you still live in Britain or not.

What is clear is that international press coverage of youths rioting on the streets of London, Manchester, Liverpool and Brimingham (amongst others) have allowed Brits across the world to feel what it is to be British right now. And it's not a good feeling.

A Dutch House Move Made Cheaper - Is it Working?

Photo: Chris Holder

For those of you currently searching for your dream home in the Netherlands the recent reduction in home transfer tax from 6% to 2% should be a welcome boost to a despondent house market. It's a buyer's market for sure and it just got more attractive to take a step on the property ladder.... as long as you can get rid of your current property of course. However, experts relay that the real benefit of this government move won't be felt until the final quarter of 2011 so house sellers will need to exercise yet more patience.

Estate agents say that viewings have gone up 25% since the government made the announcement. From personal experience we have seen no effect whatsoever of the promise of a lower property transfer tax (which can save thousands of euro on a house purchase). We have had no extra viewers at all. Mind you, it would seem that the entire Dutch population is on vacation somewhere or other because it is quiet all round so maybe once the school holidays are over normal business will be resumed..........

I know there's at least one of you out there trying to sell a property... anyone noticed a boost in house viewings and negotiations as a result of the reduced property transfer tax? Are you persuaded to buy a property because of the money you save by the lower tax rate?

"Day of the Park" in the Netherlands

Enjoy the Greenery in your Local Park
(c) The Writing Well

Sunday May 29th is "Dag van het Park" - it's a nationwide event to bring attention to the greenery in your town. The ANWB, local councils and volunteers work together to ensure that your local park looks its best and puts on a host of activities suitable for all.

This is the seventh year the event will take place and the theme for 2011 is "Op avontuur" and suggestions for activities include GPS walks, tree climbing, treasure hunts, survival, hut building - all things sure to get young and old interested.

To find out what is going on in your local park, visit the website. 

Could There Be A Firework Ban in the Pipeline?

Finally! Some sense! At their next meeting, Dutch Mayors will be discussing banning firework use by individuals after spending yet more of tax payer's money to repair the damage after another New Year's Eve in the Netherlands. I won't bother ranting about it all again, but suffice to say I am pleased that there are those in the local councils across the country that recognise this 'blowing up and vandalising at new year' culture isn't normal and shouldn't be accepted as a way of closing out the year.

This move comes after the mayor of Schiedam spoke out and said enough is enough. 85,000 euro is what the damage there alone is costing. 

I love the fireworks at midnight here but the fireworks all day long makes no sense...... but I guess there is no happy medium so it will be interesting to see what they come up with.......

Keeping It Local to Rebuild Shattered Lives

As you may know by now, I love to shout about expats who are doing great things in their host country. If you have missed it, check out my latest article to be published. Ode has run it and the thing I love most about Ode is that they only share positive news. It's an article about British expat Figen Cakir who is using her art and design skills to do her bit to help her community in the Turkish city of Golcuk. Nice news to start 2011 off with.

Deaths, Injuries, Vandalism - Just A Peaceful New Year's Eve in Holland

Photo: L van Mulligen

Growing up in England, New Year's Eve was about seeing the new year in with friends and family. We would spend the evening in a pub somewhere talking and drinking and maybe dancing. In England, you can even post a letter on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day if you want. Here in the Netherlands, pre-empting the destruction, TNT blocks up all the postboxes across the two days so no fireworks can be put in the postboxes. In some high risk areas, they remove the postboxes altogether. Parking meters are covered up, letterboxes for apartment blocks are covered over in plywood and public transport shuts down before the night even gets going. But that isn't enough to stop some.

Despite ten years here, the activities on Dutch streets on New Year's Eve never cease to amaze me. Children as young as five and six carry around rucksacks full of fireworks, letting them off as they walk around their neighbourhood. Grown men demonstrate to their toddlers how fireworks can blow up a snow mound or a drain. Children still in junior school set fires in the streets, burning anything they can find around them on the paths and when that runs out going door to door to ask for paper. In some areas,  residents feel trapped in their houses as fireworks are thrown at their houses and cars.  40 cars were set fire to in The Hague, just like last year. Bus shelters, shop windows, post boxes and bins are blown up as a matter of course. Fires burn in streets - anything from Christmas trees to mattresses thrown on as fuel. The fire services were busy across the country - they put out 200 fires in undergrounds bins in Amsterdam alone.

And that is to say nothing of the human cost of New Year's Eve in the Netherlands. This year two families lost a child to the culture around fireworks on New Year's Eve in the Netherlands, both as a result of homemade fireworks. Others spent New Year's Day in the hospital with loved ones. Police officers were injured in some of the big cities and in other areas the police seemed to keep a low profile to avoid confrontation, meaning gangs of youths ruled the streets for the night. Other emergency service workers risked being attacked whilst trying to do their jobs.

642 people were arrested in total across the country on New Year's Eve for attacking others (including public service workers such as firemen, ambulance personnel and police), vandalism and other offences.

The thing that really amazes me every year is the media quoting high ranking police officers and mayors saying "New Year's Eve was relatively peaceful". Try telling that to the car owners who have nothing but a burnt out wreck left over, or the family of the police officer with a serious head injury caused by yobs with fireworks, or the families in Ypenburg who are busy replacing their windows after yobs went on the rampage there.

For some reason, New Year's Eve is about disorder and destruction to many in big cities across the Netherlands. It is an opportunity to attack, destroy and be violent and each year it gets no better, despite steps taken by the police. And to call New Year's Eve 'relatively peaceful' seems to me to be accepting the violence and destruction as the norm. Violence and damage aside, I can't even get my head around children spending New Year's Eve letting off fireworks.

Naturally, the majority of the population see the New Year in in a sensible and gezellig manner - with champagne, oliebollen and appelflappen shared with family and friends. And unfortunately, it is usually these people that spend New Year's Day cleaning up the streets they live in and sweeping up the damage caused by others. What a way to start the year.......

Well, That Was 2010

Photo: Billy Alexander

It's end of the year and so time for a little reflection. I purposefully don't do too much reflection on the year that has just gone as there's not a lot I can do to change anything that hasn't gone quite as I had liked but a little look over the year does help to create a little focus for the next year.

Without a doubt the highlight of 2010 for me on a personal level was the birth of my second son, and the time since his birth has been busy manic chaos and I've not had the time to do as much writing as I would have liked - but I'm not going to beat myself up about it because I know what it more important right now!!

Away from me, this year has seen some big events in the Netherlands. Here's an overview of some of the things to have hit the Dutch headlines this year - in no particular order. There's lots more of course and NOS and RNW have good summaries.

Politics: Extreme right MP Geert Wilders somehow ended up with a major say in political matters in this country. It took almost all of this year to get a minority government formed after the last one collapsed due to disagreement about the future Dutch presence in Afghanistan. After talking to just about anyone who had ever uttered anything political, Mark Rutte managed to scrape a government together. He then went on to be named politician of the year - was this for his perseverance? Determination? Strength in the face of adversity?

Crime: The most notorious criminal of the year (and not for the first time I suspect) has to be Joran van der Sloot. Currently awaiting trial for the murder of a Peruvian woman, Stephany Flores Ramirez, van der Sloot was arrested in May this year. He hit the headlines with his suspected involvement in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.


Sport: The sports highlight of 2010 can be no other than the Dutch team reaching the World Cup final in South Africa. An amazing achievement, despite the loss and the after party also hit headlines across the world.

Showbiz: Footballer Wesley Sneijder and Yolanthe Cabau van Kasbergen are a bit like David Beckham and Posh Spice but then a little less well-known and Yolanthe never belonged to a girl's band (she's an actress/presenter). They did, however, get hitched in Italy in the summer - barely giving Wesley time to recover from the world cup hangover. There was romance, glamour and a dispute over unpaid bills - showbiz in true style. It was all over the press  - whether you wanted to know about it or not.

Volcanoes: The best volcanic action this year was definitely the Icelandic one which no one can pronounce. It stopped air traffic everywhere. In fact, mother nature has done her best this year to ground planes across the world. She even tried to ruin my Sinterklaas celebrations.

What's the highlight of your year been? What has stuck most with you from events in the Netherlands or your home country in 2010?