Sometime ago the government, in its typical stick-your-head-in-the-sand style, decided to postpone a sensitive decision on whether to build a new nuclear power station in Holland until after the next elections.

It was clearly hoping the move would put a lid on the discussion about the issue which divides the cabinet. But it hasn’t.
This week the matter has blown up again. This time it is thanks to an item on the weblog of Pieter van Geel, the parliamentary party leader of the Christian Democrats which is the biggest party in the coalition cabinet.
Van Geel called on energy companies to apply for licences to build new nuclear power stations – it was typically the sort of off-the-cuff comment one often finds on a blog… And hey presto, the lobbying circus for nuclear power is back in action.
Energy company Delta says it has already drawn up plans to build a nuclear power station but is still hesitating as to whether the political climate is right to apply for a licence at this time.
And indeed the time is not right because the government is shunning its responsibility.
The matter should be faced up to and a clear decision taken, not in a few years time, but now. After all, the Netherlands has had no qualms about using imported nuclear power for decades.