Selected Dutch political slogans, reviewed:
PvdA: “Vote PvdA”
Not really trying hard here, are you guys? I’d love to see the meeting where they workshopped this. “Vote Me” didn’t make the cut I guess.
2/10, must try harder. Image
Christian Union: “Choose what really matters”
They mean chocolate, right? I think they must mean chocolate. 4/10. Image
VVD: “Together, stronger, further”
Wasn’t this a Kanye West song?
Not bad, but a bit like something you’d see printed on a big photo of a tiger in a management consultant’s office. 5/10. Image
GroenLinks: “More Future”
Is this about time travel or something?
Tempting, but after considering my options I’ve decided to go for a party offering Less Future instead.
5/10 Image
Splinter: “sharp and independent”
Boring slogan, but made up for by the party name. I expect to see Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michaelangelo in the cabinet soon.
6/10

(If you weren’t a 90s kid, ignore this joke and move on) Image
BBB: “We’re bringing the countryside to The Hague”
Too long, and sounds muddy. And how would it fit? I don’t understand. There’s too many tractors on the Malieveld already. 2/10 Image
D66: “Vote for new leadership”
Great idea! Maybe a party which hasn’t been running the country for the last four years? 6/10, could do better. Image
Pirates party: “We fix that shit”
Unimprovable. Vote Pirate. 14/10. Image

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More from @bencoates1

18 Mar
A few random, fairly unoriginal thoughts on the Dutch election results:
1.despite excitable coverage, the most remarkable thing about the result is how unremarkable it was. Rutte’s VVD finished top for 4th election in a row. A man who has been PM for more +ten years will probably continue for another four. And after a series of crises & scandals...
... the current coalition increased its vote share and will probably remain in power. Beyond the media excitement, the Dutch state remains like an oil tanker; trundling steadily on, regardless of how rough the seas. Rutte is unstoppable. Image
Read 19 tweets
17 Mar
I’m not really an expert poll-watcher, but six (fairly obvious) things I’ll be looking out for in the Dutch election results:
#Verkiezingen2021
1. Most obviously, the seats won by Rutte’s VVD, which forecasts show fluctuating a lot. Its hard to imagine they won’t come top - but expectations are so high that disappointment feels to me somewhat inevitable. (Work on your expectation management, guys...)
Will Rutte do well enough to guarantee another solid 4 years - or fall a bit short, keep his job but spend months in difficult coalition negotiations, and maybe get edged out of office in a year or two ?
Read 10 tweets
25 Feb
Often the Netherlands feels like an amazingly wonderful, clever, kind and peaceful corner of the world.
But sometimes it just feels like an idiotic death cult.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
I said something similar yesterday but to be clear: this is obviously disgraceful and selfish behaviour by the people involved. If you know local hospitals are overwhelmed and then you still choose to go out for a beer, then you're just not as nice as you think you are.
BUT...
When these things happen it's also a failure of *government*. You can't spend a year saying masks are pointless, cutting penalties, repeatedly arguing Dutch people are "not children who need telling what to do" (Rutte) etc and then, when stuff like this happens, just blame "kids"
Read 4 tweets
24 Feb
Amsterdam, less than 24 hours after Mark Rutte said we can afford to take some risks because people will be careful
See also the tone of countless tweets like these, and the gleeful replies. Yes, fifteen thousand people have died but what’s a few thousand more if you can drink a beer in the sun ha ha ha. Selfish f******g morons.
This is grotesque, and people involved should think about those now battling to save lives and feel deeply ashamed.
But it’s also a failure of government. If you end up where this stuff happens *regularly* & *predictably* through the year, then @MinPres, you’ve really screwed up
Read 4 tweets
23 Feb
In case you missed it, Thierry Baudet had quite an interesting time yesterday. Five choice moments from the Dutch election campaign trail:
The public should rise up and form a civilian army
The Nazis got treated unfairly when they stood trial at Nuremberg
Read 11 tweets
17 Dec 20
Thinking a lot this morning about Dutch attitudes to government failure today (given the news that having made bold pledges about delivering covid vaccines, preparations for actually doing this are running way behind schedule)
It’s often striking to me how benign Dutch people’s attitudes seem. The pandemic is a good example: NL has been battered badly, yet Rutte’s polling at record highs. Even when things go badly, the prevailing attitude seems to be: “give them a break, they’re doing their best!”
Why is this? I think there’s a few possible (overlapping) reasons:
Read 17 tweets

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