Poster dogs Potter

Pass this Dutchie

Living in the Netherlands brings its interesting moments and it is with interest that I review the events that I have raised in earlier blogs that do not seem to go away for all sorts of reasons.

To help in catching the perspective of these issues, first of all the Netherlands is the official name of the country we regularly refer to as Holland. Holland however only comprises 2 of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands.

Holland is made prominent from the fact that the major ports of the Netherlands were in Amsterdam which is in North Holland and Rotterdam which is in South Holland. The area of Holland is hardly one eighth of the total area of the Netherlands.

Furthermore, whilst many might know we have a monarch, Queen Beatrix, our Prime Minister or Minister-President in Dutch Parlance is Jan Peter Balkenende - who? The leader who shares a likeness with Harry Potter - now you know.

More foot for mouth

Well for the past month he has been laid low with a persistent and unremitting foot infection, I alluded to that in my Foot in mouth disease blog for which a number of skin grafts has been made to deal with the this infection. Whilst some might wonder if the problem is a gangrene, I would not even dare to speculate.

News comes to me that Harry Potter has just won a legal action from his sick-foot bed against a publication that shows him on a raunchy poster as an Ex-porn star.

As usual you never hear of these unseemly issues until someone makes such a fuss of it that what was mundane and unnoticed suddenly gains such popularity and publicity, none of which can be bought or planned for.

Remember the furore this summer about the distribution of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911, when Disney stopped Miramax a subsidiary from releasing the film, by the time we knew what was going on, a row had broken out about the film, it won the Palme D'or at the Cannes Film Festival and it grossed over $100 million in the box office. Everyone wanted to see it even those who normally would have had no interest.

Why? Because curiosity creates the feeling that makes people ask "What is the fuss all about, let us find out what is going on?"

Likewise, having not seen the poster for an event that was going to happen down the road from my residence in two weekends, I have trawled the net looking for this so-called offensive poster which could have just past off without notice to see what the fuss is all about.

PM wins legal action against raunchy poster {From the Expatica.com news site}. The rather "offensive" poster which to my mind is of no particular damaging import apart from poking simple fun at a public figure would exact punitive sanctions on the publisher if they are not removed from publication.

Methinks, this would create souvenir hunters who would go round and remove these posters for keeps and private publication. I have attached a link to that poster for your perusal; it might not be safe to view this in an office environment - The ex Porn Star

Just let it be

What is my point in this matter?

The feeble sensibilities of public figures who adopt a "holier than thou" persona of pious mien, thinking they are more men than their public and expect to be treated with more deference than is necessary apart from acknowledging that as our government they are in fact servants of the public and should execute their office of service with humility, honesty and integrity. Another of my earlier blogs addressed this - Cellophane skinned lion hearts

Everyone knows that the PM is not a porn star and no one would believe that he in fact is engaged in that silly pose. However, if he does make an issue of it, it leaves him humourless and prone to having delusions of grandeur. Greater men have been maligned much beyond this act of common child's play and it has all gone without a whisper or whimper.

Poster dogs Potter

In 2 weeks all these posters that would have just given us a momentary snigger would have been taken down or covered with other posters. But having kicked the sleeping dog, the bark and ensuing bite would definite leave us with more memories of how funny the poster was and how unfunny the subject became.

Living up to the continued passion of putting foot in mouth with aplomb; nonetheless the skin-grafts from his thigh has reduced his thick skin in more areas than are obvious.

The image that needs burnishing from the cohorts that constitute the government of the Netherlands is good innovative and constructive ideas of governance, of economic stimulation and of radical restructuring, not the squeezing of the middle classes and the penny-pinching that has characterised stopping paltry benefits and the hard-nosed stubbornness of adherence to indefensible issues like the being part of the coalition in Iraq.

All this personal makeover stuff does not cut the muster; the polls now indicate that the governing coalition would go into opposition when we next have the opportunity to turf them out - to which many would say - pretty good riddance.