I’ve probably been rather unfair in some of my recent comments about the French. However, I have been nice about the Belgians, so I feel it would be rather unfair to class me as an anti-European. Heaven forbid for people to think that of me!
The Dutch have always had the propensity to make me laugh. For a people so conservative in both their political and economic outlook, they never cease to amaze me with their social liberality. Prostitution is legal in Holland, with the Dutch government never missing an opportunity to tax the earnings of their citizens. They’re very efficient in this, and obviously the prostitutes of Amsterdam should prove no exception to the rule.
Unfortunately for these hard working ‘ladies of the night’, the city authorities have now decided to close 20% of the sex clubs in the red light district of Amsterdam by the end of the year.
Is this change resultant of a new found civic morality? Unfortunately not! Those flat-footed Dutch coppers have recently discovered that a number of these sex clubs were involved in naughty financial dealings such as money-laundering.
So, there we go! Prostitution has been found to be related to organised crime, and that may come as a surprise to some of us. But this relationship doesn’t matter, unless you defraud the Dutch government. Then that liberality just turns to good old fashioned conservatism.
Taxing Times 