According to Wikipedia, the font of all knowledge, the age of consent in The Netherlands is 16. Which kind of fits with their liberal ways because they may be crazy, drug-taking, cyclists but they ain't no paedophiles.
Spot the double negative, a common expression or a concealed attack on The Dutch?
Not all Dutch are crazy, drugs taking cyclist just like not all British are drug-taking, alcoholic, red-light district visitors who even in Holland try to drive on the left side of the road instead of right side.
Also it is not as if the Netherlands as a whole revolves around Amsterdam and its Red-light district and Coffee shops, personally I think it is an annoying city to drive your car and park it with mostly 4 euro/hour parking costs in the city center.
To be really honest I am actually happy to rarely go there. There are way too many Americans and non-Dutch Europeans, mostly Germans, French and
British walking around the red-light district. I feel like a stranger in my own country.
Spot the minor sarcastic attacks on The British?
Now to take the topic back on track.
It is well known in the world that Holland is quite a liberal generally peaceful nation. This has pro’s and con’s.
The fact that we are liberal and generally peaceful means that cops nearly lose their jobs if they think about using their firearms even when cornered it would not be wise for them to shoot to kill. Which means we hardly have any situation like we can see on the average thirteen in a dozen American real life cop show with highway cops chasing criminals and arresting them with crashed cars and guns drawn. This means that in general it is safer for the populous, however they are also soft in dealing with drugs criminals and rather wasting their time with handing out speeding tickets. I guess mostly because the criminals are more aggressive then the cops are allowed to be.
Which in essence brings the huge problem of citizens from neighboring countries who drive all the way to Holland to try and buy drugs and having those foreigners bother the regular non-criminal Dutch people if they know someone who sells drugs. Not to mention the fact that some of them drive like lunatics when they are chased by cops, mostly the French by the way.