van Hanegem

Exactly. VVD's performances for the Dutch national team thus far are still questionable as he looks vulnarable in some ways. Clasie seems to be doing ok now for Bruges which is one of the better teams in a poor competition. Yesterday PSV sold Locadia to Brighton, a very mediocre attacker in the Dutch competition who is now joining a PL side, you can only expect he will utterly fail but who knows. The odds are against him but he might get lucky and score a few goals in his first appearances, getting more confidence. The same goes for Promes, you can never really know if he's cut out for the PL until he actually plays in this competition for a couple of months. But 30 million to take that risk?

No one in the Netherlands understands how Quincy Promes can be such a valuable player for Spartak as he is completely useless in the Dutch national team. I saw him play in 7 or 8 games for Oranje and it was really awful, as if he didn't have a clue where to run or when to pass or shoot. Yet, in Russia he scores one goal after another and he was even player of the year in a fairly strong competition. I guess Spartak is a very good team which makes it easier for Promes to perform well, question is: will he deliver as well in a team that is struggling like Saints? I really doubt it.

Still glad we won't... His start in the Bundesliga was excellent but later on it all went downhill, why do you think he was sold to Sporting? Yes, he scores a lot of goals in Portugal but that competition is slightly better than the Eredivisie. To get a real idea of his abilities you should look at the games he played for the Dutch national team, even van Wolfswinkel leaves a better impression.

Glad we did, Bas Dost failed in the Bundesliga and would certainly fail in the PL.

You're right, usually they won't. Of course their marketing, distribution etc. justify a higher price but for Rolex etc. you've got to pay a considerable amount for the image as well. A friend of mine used to do the marketing for Breitling in the Netherlands and I asked him why he advertised in a Dutch newspaper while 95% of the readers couldn't afford such an expensive watch. He told me that it was not about actual selling to those readers but to maintain the image of something unreachable for most in order to feed the desire to own one. He also told me that the ridiculous prices of Breitling, Rolex or Patek Philippe etc. are just part of the marketing. They could sell their watches for way less and still make a nice profit but the desire to want one would seriously drop so he said. Funny thing is that in the Netherlands Breitling and Rolex do have a bit of a tacky image of nouveau riche as they are popular amongst football players and used car sales people.

I saw an ad for Code41 watches, a startup company selling automatic watches for way less than most 'big names'. Selling watches on internet cuts down a lot of costs I guess. These watches are not to my taste but the story behind Code41 is interesting, I didn't know for example that the label "Swiss Made" doesn't mean much. A watchmaker may use this label when at least 50% of the moving parts of the watch are made in Switzerland: I'm thinking about buying this Bruvik watch: http://bruviktime.com/timepieces/arctic-ocean-ii/ The name reminds me of that idiot Breivik but I don't care as the trivial marketing story behind Bruvik doesn't put me off either. It's a simple mechanic watch with a classic feel which I quite like. The only problem is that I would like to see it in real before I buy it and that would mean I'll have to go to Norway first...

The The - 'Armageddon Days Are Here Again' from 1990. Matt Jonhson singing 'Moving in from the East towards the West with Balaclava helmets over their heads...' 28 years later and still relevant, alas...

Very good in the air and fast for a player his size. His built-up play is a bit poor and he made too many awful mistakes playing for the Dutch national team. I reckon he will do very well at Liverpool but he lacks the sheer quality to make it all the way to clubs like Barcelona or Real Madrid.

Ridiculous amount of money for a player like van Dijk but there it is. At least Saints can do some shopping.

Really? van Bronckhorst is a nice guy but not a real manager who can make a difference. I expect Pellegrino will last this season, hopefully he will get some help from Les Reed in the next transfer period as the team desperately needs some creativity.

I didn't mean individuals SOG but islam as a religion. Yes, without islam there wouldn't be any muslims, I know. And yes, you could say the world would be a better place too without christianity, especially back in those dark ages or in case you were a victim of a pedophile priest in more recent years. But somehow (enlightenment) christianity accepted a less dominant role, do you believe it's possible islam will be able to do the same in the Middle-East eventually?

More muslim immigrants will mean more trouble SOG, why do you think populist parties are gaining territory all over Europe? If you don't want muslims to become the scapegoats like the Jews once were, we better put a stop to mass immigration. There's no indication at all that the muslim population (generally speaking) in Europe will become more liberal and grow to see their religion in a different way. Again: look at the survey I mentioned earlier (https://www.wzb.eu/sites/default/files/u6/koopmans_englisch_ed.pdf): after 50 years and three generations living in Europe, almost 60% of the Turkish and Moroccan immigrants can't deal with gay people and more than 40% don't trust Jews. When you hear the stories of social workers in asylum centers about muslim refugees terrorising christian refugees, gays and women travelling alone, there's not much hope that these new immigrants will do any better... More and more Dutch Jews (there are 31.000 Jews left in the Netherlands) are leaving the country due to increasing hostility from muslims. Our authorities have to permanently protect Jewish schools and synagogues from idiots with a muslim background, do you really believe that more immigrants from the Middle-East will end this hostility? Apart from cultural differences and the conflicts forthcoming from this, there's also a huge bill to be paid. These last years there were almost 100.000 immigrants from Africa and the Middle East which will cost the Dutch citizens 70 billion euro's (spread out over 2 generations) as these immigrants and their offspring usually have to live from unemployment benefits as they don't qualify for work and are bulk consumers of the welfare state. The Netherlands is a rich country but there are limits and I don't have to spell out for you what will happen when natives get to hear that their welfare state is collapsing due to excessive consumption by foreigners. Meanwhile there's a demographic explosion going on in sub-Sahara Africa which will lead to war and famine and pundits expect milions and millions of people who want to come to Europe in the coming decades. Imo we better organize safe havens in the regions over there instead of letting them in, don't you agree? To answer your question: Europe is like the Premier League of individual freedom (though the freedom of speach is under pressure due to islam) but it takes certain abilities to participate in European societies. Clearly, many muslims do not have these abilities as they're lost in their religion which opposes the freedom as we've known until now. When you suggest European natives should adjust themselves to these immigrants it's like every player in the PL should adjust to a player like Jordy Clasie in order to make him feel at home. That's not how it works SOG... As I'm interested in your opinion I would also like to ask you a question: do you agree that the world would be a better place without islam?

Sure, anti social behaviour can be found anywhere, like football stadiums... When I hear adolescents with a muslim background on Dutch television say that "the only good Jew is a dead Jew" I reckon it's a kind of anti social behaviour: they want to act tough in front of their peers, just like they do in the classrooms when their history teachers want to tell about the holocaust but are not allowed to: "it's all lies..." However, Dutch teachers also tell about toddlers putting their hands over their ears when they play a song in the classroom. Why? Because those little kids are told by their parents they are not allowed to listen to western music. I'm not talking about little kids from recent immigrants, these kids are the third generation of Moroccan and Turkish immigrants whose parents are born in the Netherlands. This is not the anti social behaviour you can find anywhere, this is moronic cultural behaviour fueled by religious bull**** connected to islam. I know, within christianity there are those who don't watch telly on sunday because their God rested on the seventh day of the week or something like that but those morons at least keep their rules to themselves. When you read the survey I posted above you can read how widespread fundamentalism among muslims in Europe really is: "Almost 60 per cent agree that Muslims should return to the roots of Islam, 75 per cent think there is only one interpretation of the Koran possible to which every Muslim should stick and 65 per cent say that religious rules are more important to them than the laws of the country in which they live. Consistent fundamentalist beliefs, with agreement to all three statements, are found among 44 per cent of the interviewed Muslims." When you see the percentages on aversion against homosexuals or the idea the West wants to destroy islam, you'll get the picture about the problems islam is causing in Europe. I do not know if honour killings are directly related to islam and I doubt that even this religion tolerates a muslim beating up his wife (though there are Imams in British sharia councils who condone it...), fact is that women shelters in the Netherlands are bulging with female muslims who fear for their lives. And do you know what muslims are allowed to do with apostates? This is not the anti social behaviour you can find anywhere in the world, this is strictly related to islam... Shocking isn't it? Don't get me wrong SOG, of course there are many muslims who do want to participate in Dutch society and overcome the many obstacles they have to face (there is discrimination on the job market for example). I can only respect them for their perseverance and I like to help them whenever possible. Alas it's still a minor group who are capable to succeed, usually the ones who are open minded and not lost in their religion and who do not see themselves as victims of society. I really hope things will change for the better and therefore I believe it's necessary to put a stop to immigration from muslim countries. At this moment 6 or 7 percent of the Dutch population is muslim and though you might think it's only a small amount, their impact on society (huge financial cost, ongoing cultural divide) is frightening. Like you said: there are people (like Wilders) who thrive on this and given the hatred we see nowadays, I believe things will really go wrong when the mass immigration keeps going on. Like a Dutch war reporter said: "we're importing the war from the Middle East and the chaos from Africa, this can't be justified."

I used to have the same attitude towards muslims as to christians (or Jews for that matter): as long as they kept their faith and it's backward rules to themselves it was just fine by me. This changed when I lived in a quarter in Amsterdam back in the '90s which became more and more a muslim neighbourhood and it didn't take too long before I understood it wasn't going to be any fun to stay there. When my girlfriend told me she was frequently harassed by Moroccan and Turkish boys (you know, every girl in a skirt who's not a muslim must be a whore...) and when I witnessed little kids spitting at a Jewish couple and heard from a Surinamese lady she wasn't welcome as a home care worker in the neighbourhood because she was black, it was time to leave. Luckily I had a good job and enough money to move, many Dutch natives couldn't and it didn't surprise me that later on they were voting for someone like Geert Wilders as the local authorities as well as the government didn't address the problems in the muslim neighbourhoods. Though I very much dislike the way Geert Wilders is acting towards immigrants from muslim countries, I must admit he does give a voice to those people who are merely victims of failing politicians who want to be political correct. His party is the second largest now in the Netherlands and though other political parties refuse to form a government with Wilders, they do recognize the problems now. Though I'm not that confident in the actions they're taking as our new government has decided that every kid has to learn the Dutch Anthem at school (which is about William of Orange saying he's of German blood and that he has always respected the King of Spain...). Well, it's a start I guess... You might think that the above has nothing to do with islam and that it's all related to cultural differences and foreigners having difficulties with integrating in another society. I don't believe that anymore as studies have shown that fundamentalism among Turkish and Moroccan muslims in Europe is far more common than it is among christians. How could this happen as they live in Europe for almost 50 years now? How come the majority of muslims in the Netherlands condone violence against those who criticize islam? Why can't a stand up comedian not make a joke about islam without fearing for his live while he can say anything he wants about christianity and it's vile priests? In my opinion this is very much related to islam and the way it's rules are forced upon many of it's followers who keep on living in a parallel society. Nothing good will come from this as we've seen in the quarters Molenbeek in Brussels, Rinkeby in Stockholm, the banlieus in Paris etc. When you say that you don't see any problems with islam in Europe I suggest you look again SOG...

Indeed, there are far too many idiots willing to kill for some reason, wether they are muslim or not. Most muslims are peaceful, just trying to make a living like every other individual. But what's your opinion on the emergence of islam in Europe? Do you believe this is a positive development? I don't mean the radical fanatics and all that stuff but the impact of islam and it's followers on life in general. Do you think the current contradictions between non-western muslims and European natives are just temporarily and things will cool down eventually?

That could be true though the UK would also be affected by a European downfall when they are not a member of the EU. I can understand the sentiment against the EU among Brexiteers and I'm curious about what it will mean for the UK in the end but ultimately I believe it would have been better to stay in the EU. Now it's going to cost everyone (for example: a "hard" Brexit will cost the Netherlands 35 billion) while the UK and countries like the Netherlands, Finland etc. would have more influence on EU policies when they act together against the German/French axis.

"In this provocative book, renowned public intellectual Ivan Krastev reflects on the future of the European Union-and its potential lack of a future. With far-right nationalist parties on the rise across the continent and the United Kingdom planning for Brexit, the European Union is in disarray and plagued by doubts as never before. Krastev includes chapters devoted to Europe's major problems (especially the political destabilization sparked by the more than 1.3 million migrants from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia), the spread of right-wing populism (taking into account the election of Donald Trump in the United States), and the thorny issues facing member states on the eastern flank of the EU (including the threat posed by Vladimir Putin's Russia). He concludes by reflecting on the ominous political, economic, and geopolitical future that would await the continent if the Union itself begins to disintegrate." This description echoes my views about Europe, does he offer any solutions or is it just doom and gloom?

There are experts who say that there should have been a political union first before the introduction of the Euro and that sounds logical to a layman like me. The Euro does have some advantages like price transparancy and the convenience of having one currency in so many countries and it is said it also helps against speculation (remember George Soros speculating against the British Pound back in the '90s). Embedding the powerful German economy within the European whole is also a good thing. However, the main problem is the gap between the stronger northern and weaker southern countries and that's not going to be fixed by Merkel and Macron whose plans are more of the same we've already seen the last decade. There's a Dutch saying "you shouldn't pull on a dead horse" ("flogging a dead horse" in English?) and Merkel and Macron should be addressing the real problem.

A survey from 2013, I doubt the outcome would be any better at this moment. Yet, there are still more natives in Western Europe who are homophobic than muslims when it comes to absolute numbers so we can easily have some more immigration from muslim countries... https://www.wzb.eu/sites/default/files/u6/koopmans_englisch_ed.pdf Another survey showed that 34% of British muslims are ok with killing apostates. I guess they're misunderstanding their religion... Or should I say ideology?

Thanks for the reply Shurlock, it looks like we share the same thoughts on various subjects (like globalisation) though I do not believe that Merkel and Macron are going to fix the troubles around the Euro. Like financial pundits say: the key problem with the Euro is that the 'one-size- fits-all' structure is not suitable for the Eurozone countries because their economies are so much different when it comes to power, development, nature and cycles. In order to have some control over their economy (and to keep the unemployment rate as low as possible) countries need the ability to adjust the exchange rates and an interest rate policy of their own. Looking at Greece, Spain etc. it's clear how disastrous the introduction of the Euro has been for this countries and still is. In countries like the Netherlands and Germany there's also a problem because the purchasing power of the citizens has declined and they're suffering from the retarded interest policy of the ECB which has a backlash on the financial systems. This financial mess (and the mass immigration) are fueling the aversion against the EU and helps populist and right wing extremists in many different European countries to gain more power. There are journalists and EU-politicians who believe that populists like Wilders and le Pen have been beaten so it's time to take the next step towards a federal Europe. Yet, Wilders'party became the second largest in the Netherlands (gaining 5 seats), the AfD in Germany got 12% of the votes while 47% of the Austrians voted for a right wing extremist from the FPÖ as president. With the coming general election in Austria it's expected that Sebastian Kurz will win, someone who praises Orban from Hungary and will probably form a government together with the FPÖ. In my opinion Europe is going downhill and as the EU isn't able to fix problems like immigration, unemployment (nobody has a clue what to do about the ongoing robotisation/automation), poverty etc., it would be a good idea for the EU to slow down and let the member states have some more control over economies, immigration etc. It would buy the EU some time to restructure and to think over it's course.

There's a lot of scepticism in the Netherlands concerning the EU but as long as the majority is financially ok nothing much will happen. People are glad the crisis of the last years is behind us and they are more positive about the future. Little do they know as there is not much information coming from mainstream media about what's happening in the backrooms in Brussels. But the number of financial experts and journalists reporting about the problems with the Euro is growing so hopefully our politicians will act in the near future before it's too late. However, it will never come as far as a Nexit as the Dutch economy relies on trading relations with Germany. "When Germany sneezes, the Netherlands catch a cold" as the saying goes. I do have worries about Germany as one in six Germans has difficulties to make both ends meet and faces poverty. When the German people asked for more money for housing and welfare a couple of years ago, the answer was no as the government had to help the banks, Greece etc. Later on the answer was again no while Merkel accepted roughly 1 million immigrants at great cost (50 billion in 2016 and 2017 alone...). You can imagine this is not well received by many Germans and even 12% of them voted for the AfD which contains right wing extremists. That's worrying... Like the article you shared about the pension storm that is coming to Europe, things will get worse for the elderly. When things go wrong in Southern Europe and the Germans lose hundreds of billions due to the Euro, it might get really nasty...

It didn't help neither that Dickie selected Janssen, Memphis, Blind, Klaassen, Pröpper & Wijnaldum. Those guys are rubbish since they play or played in the PL. Oh wait, van Dijk wasn't that bad though he didn't have much to do against a poor team like Belarus (who should have won given the second half...).

It's obvious that Brexit is going to cost the UK a lot financially but don't you have any concerns about what's going on in the EU Shurlock? Though the UK kept clear of the Euro Pact (and rightfully so!) it could also be affected by the reforms Merkel and Macron are aiming for to assure the stability of the Euro: a joint budget for members of the Euro Pact, co-finance of the EU's finances etc. These measures imply that members will have to handover their sovereignty and taxmoney to a supranational level from which all the collected taxmoney will be redistributed between the weaker and stronger members of the Euro Pact. Yup, that means that mainly the Dutch, Germans and Fins are going to finance the disorder in Southern Europe at the cost of their own prosperity. We were told that the Euro would bring prosperity and employment, well, to put it mildly: something went wrong... Due to the transfersystem of the Euro the Netherlands already put 101 billion in the failing states in Southern Europe (Germany 857 billion...) and mind you, we have to write off these amounts as we get no interest and can't even get the money back. In the meantime the "Food Banks" in the Netherlands (introduced two years after the introduction of the Euro) can't provide enough food for the poor as their numbers are rising rapidly. Instead of the promised prosperity it appears the EU (or should I say Merkel & Macron?) wants to apportion poverty in a fair way over Europe. One could believe that the UK would not have been affected by this misery as long as it wouldn't take part in the Euro Pact but that would be naive. I don't know how severe the financial damage will be after a "hard" or "soft" Brexit, at least the Brits will have a (albeit small) chance to stay clear of the mess in Europe and make their own decisions. Isn't that in some way valuable to you?

As a Dutchman I'm almost glad that we're not attending at the WC in Russia. There's nothing to enjoy at the moment, it's all very poor (as it already was in 2014 in Brasil) as we lack truly gifted players. We have to hope for the next generation in 4 years time. In the meantime we'll just watch the curves of miss bumbum as there's nothing better to do...