Today's edition of de Volkskrant has a report on the announcement by one of the Netherlands' many public broadcasting organisations that it will form a political party for young people and take part in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

From Friday 9 April, the television show List 0 - made by the youth-oriented BNN organisation -will urge 'up and coming political animals' to join the party. Potential party leaders and MPs may register via the show's website. The viewers will eventually decide who becomes party leader.

The producers say they want to give young people a voice in The Hague, where "existing parties tend to ignore the interests of young people". Apparently, BNN believes the party has no need for an election programme beyond representing the interests of young people. According to BNN, the new party is to make politics "recognisable, understandable and, above all, interesting". The TV and radio broadcaster believes observing the formation of a political party from up close will give viewers insight into how the political game is played.
 
The party has been officially registered with a civil-law notary and a request for permission to take part in the elections has been submitted to the electoral council, which will publish its decision on Thursday. BNN has announced it will cut all ties with the party one day before the elections, to prevent any possible conflict of interests.
 
De Volkskrant writes that it's not clear whether a broadcasting organisation may form a political party. The culture ministry says its up to the Dutch Media Authority to decide, but BNN says it's not worried because "The law does not say it's not allowed". Christian Democrat MP and media specialist Joop Atsma said he thought the issue was irrelevant. He spoke of an "April Fools Day joke which came two weeks early".
 
Pack mules latest Dutch weapon in Afghan conflict
De Telegraaf has a photograph of a Dutch soldier and his favourite pack mule getting ready for the day's operations in the south Afghanistan desert. According to the paper, pack mules are the Marine Corps' latest weapon in the fight against roadside bombs: "In marked contrast with jeeps and other motorised vehicles, mules can travel on unpaved roads in rough terrain".
 
Some of us believed that jeeps and other extremely expensive military vehicles were purchased because they were capable of doing just that, but it would appear we were wrong. In a defence ministry publication, a sergeant major says: "In light of the many explosives dug in along many paved roads, this is a substantial security advantage".
 
The Dutch marines have recently begun using six pack-animals they bought from Afghan farmers. The animals can carry 50 kilos of drinking water and food on their backs to supply outlying posts. Relations between the mules and the marines were a bit difficult at first: "At first, the mules were a bit jumpy, but they have now become used to us and to their new environment. If we take good care of them, they will take good care of us". And it's sustainable as well: no greenhouse gasses!
 
Police spend hundreds of thousands on foreign trips
Whereas the Marines have gone green, saving God knows how many euros in the process, AD reports that Dutch police forces have spent more than 730,000 euros on foreign trips in the past two years. The council of police commanders says the forces will have to cut back on these costs.
 
The most expensive of these trips were to encourage 'team building' among mayors, who are responsible for their local police forces. Mayors also form the regional police boards which decide on police policy. Local police forces paid for five of these teambuilding trips by regional police boards.
 
The police forces of central and west Brabant recently paid more than 90,000 euros for a trip to Morocco which included only ten police officers and some 40 others. A 2008 teambuilding trip to Turkey cost no less than 133,000 euros. In total, Dutch police forces spent more than 730,000 euros on foreign trips in two years. However, not all police forces are such profligate spenders. The police forces in the IJsselland region organised a trip to Belfast at a total cost of just 3,000 euros.
 
AD obtained this information by invoking the freedom of information act. In a reaction, the Christian police union ACP says: "Police funds are intended for police work ... The question is: should we do things this way, and is it really worth it?"
 
Maybe they could do some excellent teambuilding while travelling unpaved roads with beasts of burden, and at only a fraction of the cost.
 
Celibacy not the only explanation for abuse
On the opinion page of nrc.next, historian Maarten van den Bos of the University of Amsterdam argues that celibacy is not the only explanation for child sex abuse at Roman Catholic boarding schools and seminaries in the 1950s and 1960s. "The finger is often pointed at celibacy as the determining factor, but that is too easy. Of course, celibacy will have played a role, but much more important is the under-reported fact that nearly all the accusations relate to boarding schools. The then prevalent power structures, the closed nature of these schools and the frequent contact between teachers and students are much stronger factors than celibacy. Abuse was also common at British boarding schools and in Scouting." 
 
Mr Van den Bos also points to the changing attitudes toward sexuality among Catholics in the 1950s. Extensive debates on sexuality were initiated in Catholic magazines, often arguing for a healthy sex life as part of the 'loving encounter' between spouses. "The changing mindset among Dutch Catholics in the 1950s had its effect on the value attached to priestly celibacy".
 
The large number of men leaving the priesthood in the 1960s is believed to have been the result of changing social attitudes. Mr Van den Bos writes that the priests and monks in the Netherlands would have been aware of these developments, and argues for an examination of the role they played in the abuse scandal.
 
Former minister Wim Deetman, who was appointed by the Dutch bishops to chair a commission to investigate the abuse, has announced he will present a plan of inquiry. According to Mr Van den Bos, he would do well to choose a broad approach which would place the abuse in the wider context of how Dutch Catholics dealt with sexuality. "Such an approach would place the abuse at boarding schools in perspective and avoid the all-too-easy image of celibate men of God indulging their sexual urges on innocent children".  
 
Monschau fed up with Wilders
De Telegraaf reports that Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders is no longer welcome in the German town of Monschau, which the populist Dutch politician visited at the weekend.
 
Mayor Margareta Ritter says discrimination and racism are not welcome in her town: "People who, just like Mr Wilders, encumber the Dutch integration debate with right-wing populism and who want to ban the Qur'an, comparing it to Mein Kampf, are not welcome in Monschau".
 

Maybe the town's clear stance on integration and racism is the reason why Mr Wilders suddenly fell ill during his stay in Monschau.