News about music, fines, racism, Moerdijk, and taxes (Saturday, July 4)

Madonna has released her new album Confessions II. It is a follow-up to her 2005 dance album. Reviewers say that she looks back on previous work, and NRC calls the record surprisingly coherent.

The Midden-Nederland Court says that traffic fines in 2024 and 2025 are unjustly higher. Judges find that this created a disproportion with other fines. In three cases, the amounts were reduced to the 2023 level.

The Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) has filed a report following racist messages about Oranje players (the national football team) on social media. Those reactions came after Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber, and Crysencio Summerville missed penalty kicks against Morocco. Meld.Online Discriminatie (Report.Online Discrimination) saw ten to twenty punishable messages, and some have been removed.

Newspapers write about Moerdijk, where there is much uncertainty about the future. According to NRC, the village might disappear to make way for heavy industry. The newspaper spoke with residents for a week, and Trouw describes a summer morning in the village.

Trouw and Nederlands Dagblad publish opinion pieces about inheritances, wealth, and taxation. The question is when opportunities become unequal due to inheritance. The writers want more taxes on inheritances and wealth so that taxes on labor can be lowered.