Dogwash

Legislation is being promoted in the Netherlands to ban the slaughter of meat animals without pre-stunning. The various secondary sources in English on this tend to garble the story. The most coherent one I can find is at Halal Media, a Malaysia-based English-language site. Even that report refers to a non-existent Dutch political party, the PVD. I think we can safely assume that they mean the PvdD (Partij voor de Dieren = Animal[-rights] Party), who are promoting the bill with the support of Geert Wilders' PVV. Since between them these two groups command only one-sixth of the seats in the lower house, and with the entire weight of the Jewish and Muslim communities up in arms (including interference by the Knesset, FFS), it is hard to see this one getting too far.

But things are definitely moving.

I note in passing that the situation with regard to Amendment 205 to the forthcoming EU directive on food labelling remains at best confused. See the "update" to Peter Wedderburn's Telegraph blog of last December, here. Long grass manœuvre or good old EU muddle?