japan

Can ya roll a decent sushi, Naka

Burnt toast, anyone?

Flood

😀 Men can’t cook Naka 😉 :dev2: :dev2: Anna 😎 :diablo: :dev2:

Try me…… 😀

Martin

😀 Men can’t cook Naka 😉 :dev2: :dev2: Anna 😎 :diablo: :dev2:

Ahem…beg to differ there (you where expecting a few replies on this topic werent you ?). I do all the cooking in my house (and the shopping as well…at least it means I get to cook what I want to eat !) and I’m bl**dy good at it as well. Whether its a full roast or a quick stir fry, I’m the main man.

Anyway, women cant drive….so there !

oooops….thats thrown the kipper down hasnt it

Keep ’em coming Naka,

Think Naka is looking for cooking recipes Flood :rolleyes: Anna 😀 😀

2: I’m the Snapper here girl.

Bring back the crocodile avatar!

Flood

Oi!

1: I can cook to a very high standard
(‘Ping!’ said Anna!)

2: I’m the Snapper here girl.

I dont’ ping anymore, the takeaway man does on the doorbell :p 😀 😀

I’m an excellent cook

Oi!

1: I can cook to a very high standard
(‘Ping!’ said Anna!)

2: I’m the Snapper here girl.

How about we organise a ‘cook off’ as Planejunky is an excellant cook, whereas me I’m far from good at cooking!

Snaps

😀 Men can’t cook Naka 😉 :dev2: :dev2: Anna 😎 :diablo: :dev2:

Far from being a supporter of the Vlaams Blok, one must admit there are some truths in what they say. The only problem is that the “democratic” parties just do the opposite of any point made by the VB (sometimes a good one, like negotiating with the Dutch to try to deepen the Schelde, so the port of Antwerp could make profit). And these are just simple facts. I don’t think “the Economist” itself would be so pro-VB. It’s simple facts, are we going to deny them?

Benjamin,
Now think about the posting you just made, and all the racist/anti-foreigner groups, feelings and tendencies in current Europe… they aren’t just antisocial paranoid gits, they’re also self-destructive.

You have the phone number of that De Winter guy? Here in the Netherlands, i’ll get a gun and shoot…. oh no, that’s no longer necessary :devil: *

* = yes Webmaster, i’m stubborn. There is room for one more smiley in the box to the left of the screen i’m typing this on…

Anyone, to get back to the original topic, here are some frightening statistics from the Economist, a magazine with a rather liberal opinion I think.

The UN, whose past population predictions have been fairly accurate, predicts that the world’s population will increase from just over 6 billion in 2000 to 8.9 billion by 2050. During the same period, however, the population of the 27 countries that should be members of the EU by 2007 is predicted to fall by 6%, from 482m to 454m. […] By 2050, on present demographic trends, there will be 75 pensioners for every 100 workers. […]
Persuading Europeans to have more children is the obvious alternative answer. Making family life easier or less expensive might help keep up the population.

“Charlemagne: Europe’s population implosion. The Economist. July 19th-25th 2003, page 27.

Strange how everyone looks down on “bureaucracy”, still it’s one of the pilars on which “democracy” is based.

Euhhh… i sincerely doubt it. In the short term some of our beloved bureaucratic institutions will dissappear, but considering the level of organisation our society has, we’ll soon discover that a lot of this bureaucracy was created with a reason. Also, the mythical privatisation of former state-owned agencies/businesses/offices certainly did not diminish bureaucracy: just look at the railways, communications, and social insurances (especially the latter – being currently unemployed myself…).

We can do away with a lot of rules, most of them are not enforced anyway (you know what I’m talking about). Second, not all examples you give are fair. The Dutch health-care system as you know is a hybrid system: partly government-prescribed insurances (ziekenfonds), partly private, with all kinds of rules only to determine who should apply for what. That alone is worth abandoning: either eject the government part, or the private part (I know where my preference is ;)).

I know it’s really fashionable these days to blame current economical problems on a ‘too large and inefficient bureaucracy’, and i guess for a part it is the Pim-legacy. But it has become a rather hollow phrase if you ask me: ‘bureaucracy’ has IMHO more become an easy-target scapegoat (goes down well with the voters too!) than a seriously defined problem which should be tackled. Of course, seriously defining and tackling bureaucracy will bring up it’s own bureaucracy-fighting bureaucracy itself…

Well, you do know that doctors for instance in this country have to fill in an insane number of forms for each patient they see (and I literally mean see). All this to control the cost of healthcare, yet in the end it costs more: doctors have less time to see and examine their patients, the forms have to be checked etc etc ect. Imagine cutting that down, how much more time doctors will be able to spend with patients, to study, whatever. That would surely save money. And I haven’t even mentioned all those bureaucrats, who are no longer needed, what a lot of money it would save.

Let me state clearly that I don’t believe that all bureaucracy should go away. What I am arguing is that currently there is too much.

And don’t forget that the Netherlands are more and more becoming a state where governmental responsibilities are pursued to the last straw: just look at the whole carnival surrounding the fireworks in both Enschede and Volendam.

With that I have to agree. Unfortunately, people still long for scapegoats when something goes wrong.

Oh, and one last question: what’s wrong with Arend-Jan Boekesteijn? I’ve followed one of his classes, and he is a great lecturer, with clear ideas, who knows how to tell his story.

Originally posted by JJ
I do have a feeling though that with the current government a lot of all the bureaucracywill go away. At least I hope so.

Euhhh… i sincerely doubt it. In the short term some of our beloved bureaucratic institutions will dissappear, but considering the level of organisation our society has, we’ll soon discover that a lot of this bureaucracy was created with a reason. Also, the mythical privatisation of former state-owned agencies/businesses/offices certainly did not diminish bureaucracy: just look at the railways, communications, and social insurances (especially the latter – being currently unemployed myself…).

I know it’s really fashionable these days to blame current economical problems on a ‘too large and inefficient bureaucracy’, and i guess for a part it is the Pim-legacy. But it has become a rather hollow phrase if you ask me: ‘bureaucracy’ has IMHO more become an easy-target scapegoat (goes down well with the voters too!) than a seriously defined problem which should be tackled. Of course, seriously defining and tackling bureaucracy will bring up it’s own bureaucracy-fighting bureaucracy itself…
And don’t forget that the Netherlands are more and more becoming a state where governmental responsibilities are pursued to the last straw: just look at the whole carnival surrounding the fireworks in both Enschede and Volendam. The increasing demand for such accountability-on-a-square-millimeter, and subsequent actions, will force the government to do even more micro-managing than before. Which IMHO means more bureaucratic institutions.

It is fun to know that this bureaucracy issue finally reared it’s head in the West. Back in the early 1990s i spend lots of time in former East Germany (haven’t seen a mass formation of Mi-6es fly since) and of course spend plenty of time drinking with locals. One of their larger dissapointments in having become Westerners was the massive amount of bureaucracy they now encountered in their life. Despite what many in the West believe (or still believe), bureaucratic institutions for the average persion were far less cumbersome in a (relatively well-off) socialist dictatorship than they are in a better-of liberal* democracy.

* = Liberal in the European sense of the word, just in case you’ve brainwashed too much by Arend-Jan Boekesteijn 😉

Right Arthur, but less intrusive government does not necessary mean less beautiful, poor looking cities. It’s just the way it is organized, and the way people take care of their own property.

I do have a feeling though that with the current government a lot of all the bureaucracywill go away. At least I hope so.

Correct Arthur. But because 60 % of Belgium’s decissions are taken on the regional level (Flanders – Wallonia or Brussels) there’s a big difference. Compare a Flemish city to a Walloon, you will find out Antwerp has a lot more in common with Amsterdam than with Charleroi or even Brussels (which is ruled by a French majority, though constitutionally, the Dutch have equal sayings). Going to Wallonia therefor is going to another country: different language but also a lot more socialist.

But going to Rotterdam doesn’t make me happy either actually. Amsterdam is very nice, much like Den Hague, Breda etc. But modern cities like Rotterdam are maybe cleaner, I wouldn’t like to live in one of them. So cold, no heart.

One of the reasons why i pay 95 eurocents for a litre of fuel in stead of 1 euro 20…

Than I’d suggest you would fill you tank ASAP because from now on, you’re going to pay more in Belgium. Unless you have LPG ofcourse, because this is “cleaner”. Policy of the new gov’t. Hé don’t look at me I didn’t vote socialist :D.

Originally posted by JJ
No offense intended, but for one all your cities look kinda, well, poor. Houses are dirty from the outside, most of them look like they hadn’t had a proper overhaul in thirty years, and everything looks so old. Still liked Brussels though :).

This is exactly one of the consequences of Belgium being in fact less ‘totalitarian’ than the Netherlands. The shabby look of many Belgian cities when compared to the Dutch ones is the most obvious result of the non-existance of Welstandscommissies en Nota’s Ruimtelijke Ordening in Belgium.

Jonathan, as for your argument with Benjamin (nice biblical clash of names here 😉 ) on an intrusive state vs. a less intrusive state: if you take some time and effort, you’ll find that on an individual level Belgium is far less ‘totalitarian’ (to use your words) than the country you’re living in. One of the reasons why i pay 95 eurocents for a litre of fuel in stead of 1 euro 20…