Did you know that Christian Democrat MP Jack Biskop is crazy about fountain pens? Or that Labour MP Agnes Wolbert enjoys cultivating bonsai trees? Useless information? Not according to Sander Ruijter and Thierry Baudet who are interviewed in today’s Volkskrant about their new website which provides all sorts of personal and professional info on the country’s 150 MPs.

The idea of the site (with the not very easy address www.150volksvertegenwoordigers.nl) is to give the public a chance to get to know their MPs, especially back-benchers who are less likely to get a lot of media publicity.
As well as details about their hobbies, the website will also keep an eye on MPs’ political track records including the way they vote on specific issues.
MPs seem to support the new initiative. ‘Voters are interested in the politician as a person. They want to know what touches him,’ CDA MP Raymond Knops tells the Volkskrant.