Would you like to pay more tax for better health care?

A new survey from FAFO, a Norwegian research institute, reveals that most people are willing to pay more tax if they know it will be used to improve health care and care for the elderly. "It is clearly a myth that most people do not wish to pay more taxes" states Dagbladet, a leading Norwegian tabloid situated on the Left, quoting the news agent NTB.

There are two major flaws here. The first is the question: "Are you willing to pay more taxes if it will be used to improve health care?" No-one in their right mind having grown up in Western Europe would object to paying more taxes if they KNEW it would mean a better heath care system. The premise of the question is wrong, however. We do not pay taxes for an individual task to be done, taxes are not earmarked, we pay into the big pool. The second flaw of the question is the assumption that more money would fix health care. It is a bottom-less hole where pouring more money does no good. We've increased spending on heath care for decades and it is no better than before. It is not more money, but better organisation and more freedom for doctors and nurses to do their job that will fix the problem.

Taliban: Fogh Muslim's No 1 enemy

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Danish PM about to become NATO's new Secretary General, is the Muslims greatest enemy, states the Taliban homepage, according to Norwegian christian daily VL.

The Taliban has a homepage? That VL checks on a regular basis? Why isn't the address public knowledge? It's not www.taliban.org, at least.

Flanders vs. Norway

Flanders Today, my local, English-language weekly on life in Flanders, reports that population density in Flanders has reached 456 inhabitants per square kilometre. In Norway, on the other half, we're about 13. 13 inhabitants per square kilometre. On average. The reality is that... well, just look at the map and compare the two. For those ignorant souls out there, Flanders is the northern half of Belgium.

And for those of you who have a problem with scale, the total area of Belgium is 30.278 square kilometres, while Norway is a grand total of 307.442 square kilometres, or roughly ten times bigger.

EU ban on snus is illiberal and illegal

I'm neither a smoker nor a snuser (user of snus), and only a moderate drinker. A few years ago when the Christian Democrat Dagfinn Høybråten, then Norwegian Minister for Health, introduced a law banning smoking in pubs and restaurants in Norway I applauded it, and I'm still a bit taken back when I come to countries where smoking indoors, in pubs and restaurants as well as in private homes, is not only completely legal but also common. Okay, so smoking in private homes is not outlawed in Norway, but it is becoming less and less commonplace. I think people should have the right to use substances that might hurt their health, such as tobacco and alcohol, as long as the use of these substances does not inflict harm on others. Which is why I support the ban on smoking in indoor public places. What I neither support nor understand, however, is the ban on substances that have practically no harmful effect on third parties and what's health risks are debatable. I am here talking of snus. Being very common in Sweden as well as Norway as an alternative to smoking, as the only external harm it inflicts is that the use of (old fashion) snus is not very aesthetically pleasing. Unlike cigarettes, snus does not give of smoke stuck on bystanders' clothes. Whether it causes cancer in the same way as regular tobacco is debatable. Nevertheless, albeit being completely legal in most Scandinavian countries, it has since 1989 been banned in the rest of the EU Inner Market. This inflicts not only with the basic freedom of movement of goods, as established in the Treaties, it also contradicts with the principle of mutual recognition, so famously established with the Cassis de Dijon case in 1979. Snus is a legal good according to Swedish health standards and should therefor be able to be legally sold in all countries members of the Internal Market. To forbid it is not only a paternalistic infringement of citizens right to make individual decision for their life, it is also a clear breach of basic Community law and ECJ jurisprudence, and the ban should thus be lifted.

Belgian hygiene

I was having a coffee at Wall Street Café in Rue de la Loi before going to an interview at DG MARKT, and had to do my thing before I moved on. Standing by the sink at the loo I witnessed a sign instructing all staff of the café to wash their hands after having used the toilet. In this part of the world do we actually need to instruct people to wash their hands? Should not that be taken as a given?