Geert Wilders has now given up in his efforts to find a Dutch broadcaster willing to show his 10-minute anti-Koran film in its entirety. The decision, he says, means their commitment to freedom of speech is hollow.

It was of course rather strange that Wilders expected a broadcasting company to put out a 10-minute party political broadcast because he is Geert Wilders.
Freedom of speech does not mean tv companies have to broadcast programmes made by politicians just because they think their opinions should be heard.
A date at the end of March has now been suggested for the press launch for Wilders’ mini epic. Sidelines would be most grateful if everyone would stop talking about his self-important propaganda exercise between now and then and set a good example by not writing about him again. For a few days at least.
Another bunch hogging the limelight at the moment is the cast of the Natalee Holloway show which seems set to run and run. Now Patrick van der Eem, the man hailed as a hero for exposing Joran van der Sloot, has come in for some nasty publicity himself.
Sidelines would also be grateful if he, Natalee’s mother, crime reporter Peter R de Vries and their army of legal advisors all went somewhere else for a while as well. But not Aruba.