Fourteen nights until our 'NO' to Europe: The Nixon of the Netherlands

Meet Mr. Gerrit Zalm, secretary of Finance. First Mr. Gerrit Zalm told Parliament back in 1999 that the guilder wouldn't be traded in for the euro at a bargain price. Then he appeared on Dutch television last week, when he denied he had ever denied this devaluation. (Fortunately, the Dutch Parliament keeps records.) Now, his department has issued a statement that he did indeed lie, but had to for the sake of the country. Not that this makes him a liar, mind you. According to said department, since it was for a good cause it wasn't really a lie.(Today's portion of bent reality perceptions are courtesy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Surgeon general's warning: may cause spontaneous brain haemorrhages.) And on top of all that, Mr. Zalm just gave an interview, this time denying again, like he did in 1999 (which he denies), that the guilder didn't get a good exchange rate.

Now I understand why I get all those Vicodin spam mails. You need 'em just to be able to keep up with the political news.

By virtue of logic, at least one (but probably more) of the above statements must be false.

I'll try to sort it out after my head gets a bit clearer (see the 'running for nine miles whilst not having eaten for 20 hours' part below).

If I had wanted to organize a 'vote no campaign', I couldn't have done a better job than Mr. Zalm.

19:15

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