ELVIS PRESLEY, DAVID BLUNKET & JAN-PETER BALKENENDE

Misfortune hits Mr. David Blunkett relentlessly. It was disclosed that he had been (for two months) employed by a firm which is an occasional supplier to the state. Prime-minister Tony Blair defendid his trusted friend but could not save him. The chairman of the British Committee on Standards in Public Life (can you imagine that sort of institution here?) Sir Alistair Graham said the norms must be stiffened and added (insult to injury) that he disagreed with Tony Blair that Mr Blunkett had not been guilty of impropriety. This is absolutely crazy: as if a copied version of Ms Verdonk's statement that Schiphol horrendous fire was handled "satisfactorily".

You might know that Mr David Blunkett quit his post as Work and Pensions secretary (that is a junior minister) on Wednesday after breaking the ministerial code of conduct over paid work he took while out of the Cabinet. The BBC weaved a story claiming that "David Blunkett's life and political career has been one of the most colourful and controversial in recent British history". Maybe. In my view much more colorful is the biography of Abraham "Bram" Peper as described by your journalists, but let me not lose the thread. Mr Blunkett's childhood is likened with Oliver Twist's and painted in Dickensian dark hues. He was born blind and sent off (at the age of four) to a local boarding school against the wishes of his parents who were hard working people. Now, David Blankett is not 85 years of age. This did not happen 1920. You will not believe it, but this is 1956 (Little Richard released "Tutti-Frutti" and Elvis Presley "Don't be Cruel") but the council (indeed incredible) did not allow his mom to visit him but once a month. There is more: when he reached 12, his father fell into a container with scalding liquid and suffered a horrible death. He developed into a labourite. By the time he was 33 or 35 (he is born 1951) Blunkett got into government. He was efficient minister of education and the next thing he got was the Home Office. Minister of Interior in 2001, Downing Street material. Then it was disclosed that his staff expedited a visa for a nanny for his mistress. He had to resign. Only five months latter he was brough back into Cabinet as Work and Pensions secretary. Now, this appears to be his political end. His offense was in the fact that he earned, for only two months, salary in a firm which supplied product to institutions paid by the government.

Can you imagine that? He did not say that fire-fighting is "adequate" when fire-engines cannot get close to the detention center because it is fenced all around. It is "adequate" when firemen must look how fire blazes, people shriek and die in pain because nobody dares brake the damned fence erected to keep them in. No water hozes, no pales with water or boxes with sand. Burned alive, adequately.

THIS is the story the Dutch prime-minister Jan-Peter Balkenende should tell to the parliament. And to the land.He does not need to speak about a Committee on Standards in Public Life. That is for the British, not for the Dutch. The latter need not know that other nations have fixed norms what is ethical and moral and what is not.

P.S.
The public was informed that the Police had wiped away the graffiti with slogans against Ms Rita Verdonk, minister for integration or immigration. I find it quite normal. This Blogg is read by 20-30 people. Nobody cares. The graffiti are seen by 20-30 thousand. They are smart, the Police. But I nevertheless believe that Rita Verdonk should resign right away.