The Netherlands - Social Services: Netherlands ranked best for sick workers, unemployed - Janene Pieters

Dutch employees are relatively well cared for, especially when it comes to sick leave or unemployment. A study done by American job site Glassdoor, in which it ranked the social benefits of 14 European countries and compared it to America, ranked the Netherlands as 4th most generous. Denmark, France and Spain got the first thee places, NRC reports.

The Netherlands came in first place when it comes to sick leave. Dutch employees can take up to two years of sick leave, and receive 70 percent of their original salary during this time. Germany comes in at second place with 78 weeks of sick leave, at 100 percent salary.

Unemployed people will be best off in Denmark, where the unemployment benefit is 90 percent of last earned salary for a maximum of two years. The Netherlands came in third with “very attractive benefits for the unemployed”, though it is dependent on how long you worked. The Netherlands pays out first 75 percent then 70 percent of last earned salary for a period of between 9 and 164 weeks. Belgium came in second place.

The Netherlands scored about average when it comes to maternity leave. Like Austria, France, Spain and Switzerland, the Netherlands gives its new mothers 16 weeks of paid maternity leave. The United Kingdom gives pregnant women 52 weeks of maternity leave, but only 39 of those weeks are paid leave and the amount decreases from 90 percent of last paid salary for the first 6 weeks to 140 pounds per week after that.

Paternity leave isn’t included in European law, which means the benefits offered vary by country. Finland is the best country for new fathers, with 45 working days of paternity leave, followed by Spain with 15 days and France with 11. The Netherlands comes in 9th with two days. In Austria, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the United States, new fathers don’t get any leave days.

Almere-Digest

The Netherlands: speed cameras that cause traffic jams to be scrapped in the Netherlands

Speed cameras in the Netherlands might be there to encourage motorists to keep to the limit, but they actually cause traffic jams.

The Dutch transport ministry and police admit drivers often slam on the brakes when they see speed cameras, and the knock-on effect leads to more traffic. So from this week the new protocol is that when there is a danger of a queue, police will put away the speed cameras.

[People] brake, and that frequently has a domino effect on the drivers who are behind them,” Alfred van Beilen, an operations expert at the Dutch police, told NOS news. “That can in the end lead to traffic jams.”

He admitted that in the past “poor communication” meant speed cameras were left in place too long and said that the new protocol would help the roads run better in the Netherlands’ flat countryside.

The Dutch are tough on motorists who break the speed limit, with some of the highest traffic fines in Europe.
 
Read more: Speed cameras that cause traffic jams to be scrapped in the Netherlands | Motoring News | Lifestyle | The Independent

EU referendum: Pro-European Union group says Brexit would cost London £13.9bn ( € 17.80bn)

Staying in the European Union will deliver a “permanent boost” to the capital's economy, according to new figures released by pro-Europe business group London First.

Analysis conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) for the lobby outfit says that EU membership could add £13.9bn a year and 75,000 jobs to London's economy by 2030.

EU referendum: Pro-European Union group says Brexit would cost London £13.9bn | City A.M.

Brexit: the cost for Britain would be beyond comprehension

RH commercial vehicles is a British firm whose business is inextricably bound with Europe as its a dealer for Swedish owned Renault Trucks.

So it is perhaps surprising that its boss wants Britain to leave the EU.
But he believes his business will be free of restrictive red tape if Britain goes it alone.

“The positives for us are that we will no longer be overburdened with regulation. I don’t believe it will make any significant change to us at all in terms of trade,” says Nigel Baxter, managing director of RH Commercial Vehicles.

“Our relationship is with the European manufacturer, that relationship will continue. We’re continuing to grow, continuing to develop, they are continuing to grow and continuing to develop. There’s a vested interest for both parties to ensure that that continues and I have every confidence that it will.”

Providing EU leaders and then the European Parliament agree a deal to keep Britain in the bloc, Cameron will still have to convince many in his own party, and beyond, to back his measures.

With a referendum on whether to leave the EU planned for later in the year, members of Parliament from across the political spectrum are gearing up for battle.

“The advantage of coming back is that we can take control of our spending to make sure we spend our money on our priorities,” said Steven Baker MP and founder of Conservatives for Britain.

Not so says Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP and chairman of Labour Business:
“It would be very bad from the point of view of investment because many many global companies invest in the UK because it’s an English speaking market but also because it’s a member of the European Union and so it gives you access to a much larger market of 500 million consumers

According to think tank “Open Europe”:, the UK could lose up to three percent of its GDP if it pulls out of Europe as a result of increased import and export costs.

That figure could be eased in case of a comprehensive trade deal with the EU (-0,8% GDP) or in case of trade deal and deregulation (-0,1% GDP)But, at the same time, the benefits of withdrawing may boost Britain’s coffers by opening up to global trade (0.6% GDP) and if there’s a push towards unprecedented deregulation (1.55% GDP).

As politicians wrangle over the benefits of being in or out, many business owners are convinced they will pay the price if there’s a “Brexit”.

Tom Gosnells, founder of Gosnells London Mead, believes his trade will suffer adversely: “Our kegs come from the Netherlands, our bottles come from Belgium and our honey comes from Spain, so pretty much all our supply chain is related to Europe. Also, We already export to Italy and we’re looking to other markets within Europe and I think if we came out of the EU there would be some risk around that.”

While the consequences for business and politics remain unknown, the British public according to polls are evenly split.

Read more: Brexit: the cost for Britain | euronews, world news

Brexit fears stalk currency markets ahead of EU summit - by David Oakley, Elaine Moore and Roger Blitz

"To be or not to be"

Investors are betting that sterling is heading for another big tumble as currency markets are gripped by Brexit fears.

Net short positions on the pound have increased to the highest level since the summer of 2013, according to data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.High quality global journalism requires investment.

With prime minister David Cameron expected to announce the date for the vote soon, possibly at the EU summit this week, some investors are predicting a rocky ride for sterling in the currency markets in the next few months.

The pound has fallen about 8 per cent since the middle of November on a trade weighted basis, with investors citing the uncertainty surrounding the Brexit vote, which could come as early as June, as one of the main reasons for the weakness in the currency.

“We need to be prepared for a choppy market,” said James Maltin, investment director at wealth manager Rathbones. “The Brexit debate may be about to heat up. It is yet another uncertainty out there that could hit the UK markets.”

Some analysts fear a potential Brexit could spark a recession, with Nomura, the Japanese bank, warning that the pound could fall 10 per cent to 15 per cent if overseas investors prove unwilling to finance Britain’s current account deficit.

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, warned in January that concerns about Britain’s exit from the EU could test “the kindness of strangers” that the country relies on to fund its hefty current account deficit with the rest of the world.

Britain has a relatively large current account deficit of 3.7 per cent of gross domestic product. The worry is that overseas investors, which hold £427bn in UK government bonds, or a quarter of the market, might start to sell, putting further pressure on the pound.

Read more: Brexit fears stalk currency markets ahead of EU summit - FT.com

US Press constantly negative towards Europe - Why doesn't Europe pay them back in kind?

Most of the time when you pick up an American newspaper or hear a review about the EU on US TV and Radio networks, it usually is a negative, derogatory or slanted story. 

Case in point: The American conservative thinker recently wrote:" Europe is on fire, in a social and financial crisis of its leaders’ own making. Its public places are now spectacles of the obscene, and its women are sexual objects for a predatory race of invaders. Its social systems are stretched to the breaking point by belligerent "refugees" who are devouring their host countries at will, while Europe’s leaders defend the invaders and blame their own citizens."

"Islam is now controlling most of Europe, either actively, or passively, due to the absence of any response from local governing authorities -- a curious void of law and order.  “Peace in our time” has now given way to the “Religion of Peace.” 

What utter nonsense.

It is amazing Europe is not reacting to all this undermining and mostly unfounded nonsense more aggressively? 

After all, if Europe has a refugee and an ISIS problem today, it has had a lot, if not everything to do with the war the conservative "father and son" Bush US presidency teams started in the Middle East against Iraq. Worst of all - these wars were based on totally fictitious reasons.When will the US press start talking about that?

It is high time the EU takes a very close look at its foreign policy objectives and adapts it to fit the real needs of Europe, not only those of the US, especially when it concerns the Middle East, or the EU's relationship with Russia.

Almere-Digest

The Netherlands - start-up companies: Dutch start-up "Internet of Things" brings the future closer

Imagine a house in which the plants alert you when they need watering or your cat is automatically fed.

Then take it wider, across your neighborhood and your city. The Internet of Things is a network of physical objects, or things, which have been equipped with software, sensors and network connectivity. This enables them to collect and exchange data and improve the way they work, bringing greater efficiency and economic benefits.

Wired magazine says "this Dutch invention "The Internet of Things" revolves around increased machine-to-machine communication; it’s built on cloud computing and networks of data-gathering sensors; it’s mobile, virtual, and instantaneous connection; and they say it’s going to make everything in our lives from streetlights to seaports “smart.”

A sensor is not a machine. It doesn’t do anything in the same sense that a machine does. It measures, it evaluates; in short, it gathers data. The Internet of Things really comes together with the connection of sensors and machines. That is to say, the real value that the Internet of Things creates is at the intersection of gathering data and leveraging it. All the information gathered by all the sensors in the world isn’t worth very much if there isn’t an infrastructure in place to analyze it in real time."

Cloud-based applications are the key to using leveraged data. The Internet of Things doesn’t function without cloud-based applications to interpret and transmit the data coming from all these sensors. The cloud is what enables the apps to go to work for you anytime, anywhere."
 
The idea behind the Internet of Things (IoT) first came about in the 1990s when the board of Dutch electronics giant Philips, together with American innovators, coined the term ‘Ambient Intelligence’. Ambient Intelligence refers to electronic environments equipped with devices that are sensitive to the presence of people, can sense change and relay information to a base – independent of human control.

The theory went that the instruments themselves, working in chorus, would support a more convenient, efficient, life-enhancing world for humans; and become reality between 2010 and 2020.

Last year Wieke Giezeman, a serial start-up entrepreneur, launched The Things Network. The aim: to set up an IoT communication network throughout Amsterdam. He laid out his plans for citywide coverage, set up by and for users, with LoRa Wan (Long Wave Radio) gateway boxes which the company would produce themselves at low cost. Much to his astonishment it was fully crowdfunded and operational within six weeks.

‘We did it because we can. We believe in an open and free internet,’ Giezeman said. ‘The hardware is cheap enough. With this anyone can set themselves up. You don’t even need coding skills.’

LoRa Wan is the same kind of tech that telecoms giants such as KPN and Vodafone are hoping to exploit in order to profit from the need for a reliable IoT network. ‘If we leave this task up to big telcos, a subscription model will be enforced and we will exclude 99% of the cool use cases,’ says Giezeman. ‘Instead, let’s make it a publicly owned and free network so businesses and use cases will flourish on top of it.’

‘In future everything will be connected. A lot of data will be collected to make our lives better. It will allow service providers, of all sorts, to make their services cheaper and better for us, the consumers.’

Since the launch the idea has rapidly gone global. Over 20 cities (from Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Almere to Sao Paulo and Montevideo) are now taking part, 2,000 people are actively seeking to help, and 200 are specifically looking to set up their own local network. In November,

The Things Network launched a second Kickstarter campaign to try and support global roll out.The main aim is to have a network in every major city by the end of 2016. From then on it will need to grow via local communities. They succeeded in raising €295,000, more than €100,000 over their target.

IoT devices don’t need the constant internet access of your laptop. However, they do need consistent coverage, to be reliable in varied environments, safe from hacking and have long battery life in order to transfer data as and when they need to. ‘LoRa Wan has a range of up to 10 kilometres, low bandwidth and the battery use is very low.

This is perfect for machine-to-machine communication,’ Giezeman explains. By producing their own hardware, he and his team have worked hard to make options for different budgets: starting with The Things Gateway, a €200 version, with a range of five kilometres, allowing citizen users to contribute to the network from their own home.

Users have been quick to start using the network, designing tools that can link to it. As an Amsterdam-born idea it’s not surprising that these uses include intelligent sensors that alert you if your boat begins to take on rain water past a safe level for staying afloat. Or a device that locates your bike among the hoards of others parked outside the city’s main railway station.

The city’s port authority and successful sharing startup Peerby have also joined the enthusiastic user crowd. Outside cities, IoT trackers are already being used to monitor rhinos in the wild. In the home, uses could include remote thermostat, cctv or baby monitor control. Some of these are essentially familiar and perhaps don’t seem like such a breakthrough change from apps.

However, Giezeman and IoT innovators like him are anticipating the next stage of development being where the IoT will really take flight. ‘When I talk to people outside tech, in operations for instance, within ten minutes almost everyone can think of new uses. You just need to think of how far digital tech has come in the last thirty years and try and project forward.’ -  (from Dutch News NL and Wired Magazine reports)

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