I had promised not to vote. I kept it, despite the frequent flare-ups of conscience. My vote could not stop the political landslide. At least that is what the newspaper called it. Instead of a dancing Kaag on the table now a dancing Caroline on the stage.
Last week I was in Lattrop, a small village in Twente. Not immediately a place you think of when looking for relaxation. It lies in the north-eastern part of Twente, pressed up against the German border. Twente is in Overijssel and has nothing to do with the Achterhoek, as is often assumed. Places like Hengelo, Almelo, Enschede and Oldenzaal are well known. Not exactly cities you want to visit in particular, either. Unless it should be for Oldenzaal's big carnival parade, which attracts as many as 100,000 people.
At the end of my working day, I like to watch old music videos that can be seen continuously on 192TV. On Wednesday, I had received a distressing message about the death of a young man. That was still playing through my head when I heard the first words of Battle Hymn Of The Republic by Andy Williams. He sang this during the church service for Robert Kennedy's funeral.
I use the annual Christmas gathering to look back on the past year and look ahead to the next. For years I have been fortunate to have a top team of people who work hard and with their hearts.
Pretty lame to choose a title like that. For KPN then. After all, instead of KPN, you could also fill in Ziggo, Enexis, NS or Rabobank. Companies that are responsible for crucial parts of our infrastructure. Companies that therefore also have to deal with forced economies of scale in order to sell their services profitably to us, consumers. But also companies that are supervised by the government and saddled with duty of care for their customers and legal regulations that nobody understands anymore. They are all struggling.
You have probably already experienced a family reunion once. Not a reunion like The Family Dinner from the EO, but a cosy gathering with family members to catch up with each other again. We got to do that earlier this month with the cousins on my mother's side. The Amsterdam family, in other words. After eight years, so there was something to talk about.
The holidays are behind us, we are all hard at work again. The nagging part of society has once again plunged into a new crisis, the energy crisis. There seem to be many people who can no longer pay their energy bills. How is that possible?
The compensation scheme of the UWV was established in April 2020. In short, this arrangement means that the employer will be compensated for the transition payment paid after 2 years of illness from the UWV.