Dutch Press Review Friday 1 June 2012
Today’s Dutch dailies focus on youngsters and the demon drink, an unwelcome appeal in the Amsterdam child abuse case and a mysterious hospital superbug outbreak. Exam time’s at an end for Dutch schoolkids and there’s a dubious honour for a Dutch biologist.
Will raising the age limit stop young drinkers?
Young people and alcohol are back in the news today, amid growing support for raising the age limit for buying alcohol to 18. As nrc.next reports, now the Christian Democrats have changed their mind on the issue there could well be a parliamentary majority for upping the limit after the upcoming elections.
De Telegraaf sees the widespread support for the measure among MPs as good news, arguing that “alcohol consumption among under 21s can have disastrous effects” and insisting that “every drop of alcohol a young person drinks is one too many”.
NRC.next points out that even with the current age limit of 16, supermarkets still sell drink to underage customers 70 percent of the time. Checkout staff seldom ask for ID. The paper profiles a futuristic checkout camera system that enables trained inspectors to remotely screen customers buying alcohol. The system blocks the till to prevent a transaction if a suspect customer fails to provide ID. But trials haven’t been a resounding success, with adult customers grumbling about being screened every time they want to buy a bottle of wine.
Amsterdam child abuser launches appeal
The news that Robert Mikelsons – the Amsterdam child care worker who has confessed to sexually abusing dozens of young children – is to appeal against his sentence has not gone down well. On 21 May, the court sentenced him to 18 years in prison followed by compulsory psychiatric treatment. As his sentence was read out, he threw a glass of water at the judge. As Trouw observes, that act of defiance “was an overture to further legal action”.
De Telegraaf reports that the parents of his victims see the appeal as “a slap in the face”. Their lawyer says Robert Mikelsons’ decision is proof that the apology he made during his trial was anything but genuine. The paper prints an appeal from a mother of one of the abused children in which she tells Mikelsons “I will never forgive you but you can at least win a little respect by paying for your crimes. Accept the verdict of 21 May and please give us a little peace.”
Hospital superbug outbreak
AD leads with news of a mystery superbug sweeping hospitals in the Netherlands. Its front-page report reveals that at least 80 patients have been infected by the VRE bacteria within the last two weeks at five separate locations throughout the country.
VRE can cause major health problems for seriously ill patients or people with a weakened immune system, and it’s resistant to most commonly used antibiotics.
The source of the infection has yet to be found. “It’s a real puzzle,” one perplexed microbiologist tells the paper. “The fact that it’s spread to such diverse places in such a short time is unique for the Netherlands.”
Will stricter marking spell exam disaster?
Dutch secondary school pupils can heave a collective sigh of relief: this year’s final exams came to an end yesterday. “French was a stupid last exam,” moans 18-year-old Layla in Trouw, irritated and disappointed. “The stuff we had to read was vague and difficult.”
NRC.next notes that tensions are running higher than usual this year since the rules have been changed to make it more difficult for pupils to scrape through with the bare minimum – something of a sport among Dutch schoolkids. The paper wonders whether “it will be a bloodbath, as critics are predicting or whether the damage will be limited”. But one school director interviewed reckons the proportion of kids failing to get their school diploma could go from one-in-nine to one-in-five.
The education minister tightened things up to ensure that “the value of the diploma remains guaranteed for the future and beyond any shadow of a doubt”. But the schools aren’t impressed. One principal tells the paper, “If the idea was to make pupils study harder, the minister has not succeeded in her goal.”
Superfly scientist
What biologist doesn’t dream of having a creature named after them? AD reports that this honour has now been bestowed on Dutch insect expert Paul Beuk, whose name has been given to the Azelia beuki. All well and good, till you find out that the creature in question is a three-millimetre fly with a taste for Thai elephant dung.
“It’s a relatively small, inconspicuous insect with a greyish-black body,” admits Dr Beuk, who is still flattered by the honour. “It’s not every day you have an insect named after you. It’s a form of recognition that’s not reserved for everyone.”
The paper asks whether he’s worried about becoming a bit of a laughing stock. “I’m pretty thick skinned, just like those Thai elephants,” he shrugs. “And it could be worse: it’s not a flea or a mite.”
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