Over the last years many smart shops where established in different Dutch cities. New outlets for new drugs attracting loads of European tourists. The main smart drug is the magic mushroom, but there is a possibility that the Dutch higher court will pronounce a sentence… Read More

Jeremy Clarkson: Meets the Neighbours is a British television series presented by Jeremy Clarkson. During the course of the series, he drives a 1960s Jaguar E-Type around six European countries. The show was first shown during 24 May 2002 to 21 June 2002 on BBC… Read More

In The Netherlands not only the authorities organise naturalisation courses for migrants. In the age of privatisation now also companies give the Dutch culture and language course, often in combination with a job. All the migrant newcomers doing the course get a native employee as… Read More

On the 19th of January 2000 the Dutch brothel ban was abolished, making the Dutch prostitution branch completely legal. The explanatory memorandum to the law lists several reasons: protection of the position of prostitutes; combating the exploitation of involuntary prostitution; controlling and regulating the exploitation… Read More

Britain’s 30-year-old cannabis laws, the most stringent in Europe, are to be relaxed under plans announced by the home secretary, David Blunkett. Cannabis – which is tried by more than 40% of British schoolchildren – is to be downgraded from a class B to a… Read More

Continuation of the non-vaccination policy against Foot-and-mouth disease in the European Union is, according to the Dutch agriculture and horticulture organisation LTO Nederland, no longer justified. During a press conference in the Hague LTO-president Gerard Doornbos explains why his organisation is against the continuation. Looking… Read More

On 12 April 2001, the Dutch Euthanasia Act, fully named the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act, was passed by a parliamentary majority in the Lower House. The law applies to life termination on request (also called euthanasia) and assisted suicide, both… Read More

War criminal Dirk Hoogendam alias ‘The Boxer’ was sentenced to death by the court in the Dutch town Assen after World War II for several violent assaults and batteries and participating in foreign military service. The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. However, Dirk… Read More

Although homosexuality is very accepted in Holland and Amsterdam is seen as the gay capital of Europe, it is still a taboo in old people’s homes. Elderly homosexuals fear the moment they will need care. An ordinary nursing home in Amsterdam established the L.A. Ries… Read More

On the morning that the Dutch Senate is approving a new law, full title Control of Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act, that is legalising euthanasia in the Netherlands the program Morgenmagazin from the German first public broadcaster ARD broadcasts live from… Read More

Immediately after the May 13, 2000 fireworks disaster in Enschede, the municipality of Enschede, the province of Overijssel and the Dutch state jointly decided to conduct an independent investigation. On May 26, the Fireworks Disaster Investigation Committee was installed. How could the disaster happen, who… Read More

On the 1st of October 2000 the Dutch Brothel ban was lifted. Dutch brothels became legal business and prostitutes entrepreneurs. The big question is: does it work? Reporter Angelica Fell from the German second broadcaster ZDF program Mona Lisa travels to the Netherlands for the… Read More