So what is happening in Holland? Are measures (on immigration) like the one that I mentioned yesterday, a sign that the country is moving to the right (as it’s usually defined) in the wake of the events of the last few years or is it just that, on certain issues (relating specifically to multiculturalism and immigration) the consensus has swung in a rightwards direction? Judging by a recent post over at the (always useful) Peaktalk it’s more a case of the latter:

“When I was in New York for the Pajamas Media launch there were many observers who, like TNR, believed that the Dutch had now sharply moved to the right and that the small nation was in the vanguard of fighting the war on jihadism. If only. If elections were held today the left – consisting of Labour, Green Left, and Socialists – would take parliament by storm and have no trouble replacing the shaky center-right coalition that is now in place. The remains of Fortuyn’s party would be swiped away and the natural heirs to the professor’s platform – the Free Market Liberals – would suffer a very embarrassing defeat. There’s no need to get into the why of it, the point is that the Dutch are not moving to the right, they’re now even balking at sending more troops to Afghanistan. Sure, the country overall has abandoned some of the politically correct paradigms that used to stifle debate and all political parties have become much more pragmatic in order to find new solutions. But that doesn’t mean a strong rightward turn as the TNR’s Esman suggests, or as Arjen Dasselaar argued last week: it’s all talk and precious little action. And, as Jasper Emmering points out, a lot of what now is identified as hard-right policy was in the making long before the Fortuyn/Van Gogh murders swept the country off its feet.”

Interesting.