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11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood

2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

1/2 Rotterdam to tinker with district councils as well

31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

31/1 ZeeburgTV launched

27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

27/1 Chrisis in de Baarsjes

26/1 Youth have positive view of districts

24/1 Action groups call for Carmel and Jaffa boycott

24/1 PvdA members dismiss plan for districts

23/1 KLM takes on crisis with new uniform

23/1 District office not squatted

21/1 Merge districts

20/1 Closing squat bar Vrankrijk not necessary

20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

 

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De Geus was a communist

11 November 2006 – As a schoolboy, Minister of Social Affairs Aart Jan de Geus was ‘totally communist’. “I even found that people who do pleasant work should be paid less”, he said last night at the launch of the book Gelijk (Equal) at de Balie.

Professor Kees Schuyt said that the members of the higher classes tend to overestimate how much they have contributed to their own success. The surgeon thinks that he has earned his position by his own efforts, while in reality his social background plays an important role.

Because of the current emphasis on personal responsibility, striving for equality is out of fashion. The authors of Gelijk think that there should be a renewed effort to ensure that people get equal opportunities in life.

Unfortunately, the debate about the publication was a bit disappointing. De Geus has something of a talent for making discussions boring. Schuyt constantly wandered off the subject, making the audience guess what exactly his point was.

Professor Paul de Beer did make an attempt to focus the debate by criticising the shamelessness of CEOs who receive excessive incomes. De Beer wants to raise taxes for the highest incomes. Also, workers should have a greater say in their bosses’ incomes.

Implicitly, he was targeting De Geus. As a minister, he has complained about the ‘enormous income raises at the top’, but he has subsequently done next to nothing to change this.

Last night, De Geus got away too easily by hiding behind the current leader of the Social-Democrats, Wouter Bos, who co-authored today’s tax system. Bos has lowered the highest income tax rate from 60% to 52%, which amounted to ‘giving away a minimum wage’ to people who earn 200,000 euro, De Geus said.

Paul de Beer, Jelle van der Meer and Pieter Pekelharing (red), Gelijk. Over de noodzakelijke terugkeer van een klassiek ideaal. Van Gennep, 16 euro. This entire weekend, de Balie focuses on equality with a programme that includes art and debate (mostly in Dutch)

 

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