Amsterdam has launched a new tourism campaign, and it’s urging young British men who are looking for a “messy night” to reconsider.
In fact, it basically just tells them to “stay away” from the Dutch city.
The capital city of the Netherlands always has, and still continues to be, a popular tourist destination for travelling Brits, and has developed a reputation as being a go-to spot for stag and hen parties thanks to its nightlife scene and… other activities.
But now, it seems the city’s Council are keen to ditch this image with a series of new measures.
It comes amid continuous complaints by residents over the noise, drunkenness, and misbehaviour of tourists revelling in the city’s nightlife, and is part on the Council’s ongoing mission to improve Amsterdam’s reputation.
ADVERTISEMENT
The new measures most-notably include an online initiative aimed at young men aged 18 to 35, which involves a series of targeted warning videos.
Amsterdam urges young British men to ‘stay away’ in new tourism campaign / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The videos feature footage of men being arrested in Amsterdam streets, having their fingerprints and mugshots taken, and subsequently being locked inside police cells overnight – before warning them that they face hefty fines and “fewer prospects” if they “misbehave and cause nuisance” that leads to a criminal record.
ADVERTISEMENT
Amsterdam’s Deputy Mayor Sofyan Mbarki said: “Visitors will remain welcome but not if they misbehave and cause nuisance. As a city, we are saying: we’d rather not have this, so stay away.”
The videos will be triggered when people in Britain enter specific terms into search engines.
Some of search terms that could see Brits hit with these Council-developed warning videos include “cheap hotel Amsterdam”, “stag party Amsterdam”, and “pub crawl Amsterdam”.
The campaign – which has already been blasted by some critics for being “discriminatory” – is to initially launch in Britain but will be rolled out to other countries in due course if deemed successful, and joins other proposed measures announced by the Council last month to reduce “nuisance and crime”.
In a bid to make the Red Light District “less menacing” at night following complaints about mass tourism, alcohol and drug abuse, and street dealers, these proposed measures include smoking cannabis in the street, and earlier weekend closing times for bars, clubs, and sex work establishments.
— Barefoot Spooky Bartender 👣💀🍹 (@barefoottiki) October 10, 2024
“Be assured there won’t be 14408mph winds, hurricane force winds or overnight temperatures of 404°C.
“It is being looked at and hopefully sorted asap.”
BBC Weather shared: “You may have noticed some data issues on our app and website. We are working hard to fix it quickly. Sorry – please bear with us.
“In the meantime here are Thursday’s weather headlines: -Colder, clearer air moving in -Rain and drizzle in south -Blustery showers near east coast”
And national treasure Carol Kirkwood said live on air: “We are having a technical glitch at the moment. It’s showing wind speeds far too fast, in fact, hurricane strength and that is not the case at all.
“Please don’t be alarmed. We are aware of it and on it.”
At the time of writing, the BBC Weather forecast service is still predicting hurricane force winds for the UK. Eek.
BBC issues statement after UK forecast shows ‘hurricane force winds’ up to 14,000mph
Liam Gallagher says Oasis reunion rehearsals have begun after blatant hints at tour support acts
Danny Jones
Liam Gallagher has confirmed that rehearsals for the Oasis reunion are now underway and has been teasing the acts that could be supporting them on the tour.
The incomparable frontman has been very vocal on social media (more so than usual) ever since the talk of their comeback was actually confirmed to be real, though we’ll admit we’re still having to pinch ourselves every few days.
Nevertheless, the Oasis reunion IS happening, the tickets have gone and even a slate of North American dates have now sold out along with an Australian tour set to do exactly the same – though there has been some furore over price differences.
Although the gigs are still a little ways away, practice for summer 2025 has to start sometime and after a fan asked Gallagher a point-blank question online, he had a simple but exciting answer.
The idea of the two actually being back in the same room still feels so surreal but we’re SO glad they are.
After the pair were first snapped posing for the reunion press shots by photographer Simon Emmett, it sounds like the two are not just in each other company but now practising those songs they first played together some 20-30 years ago.
The Britpop icons and legendary rock band also announced a new special collection of the seven-inch Definitely Maybe single pressings to celebrate the 30th anniversary of ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’; there are only 4000 up for grabs and they come in the actual 1996 cigarette-style CD (vinyl) box.
After rehearsals are all said and done, one thing that we still don’t know for sure is who will be supporting Oasis on their reunion tour, but that hasn’t stopped the 52-year-old from having fun with some rather heavy hints.
We don’t know how blatant or serious any of these names are, or if this is just a clever red herring or two, but let’s just say we’d be happy with any of them.
Liam is very much enjoying the usual wind-up and toying with Oasis fans.
As well as Manic Street Preachers and Cast – the lattermost having already supported Liam on his Definitely Maybe anniversary tour – there seems to be a lot of debate around whether a potential Richard Ashcroft support would include the rest of The Verve, who haven’t played together since 2017.
That being said, Blossoms have been heavily linked with the tour since they were the band to break the first reunion teaser at their massive Wythenshawe Park gig; there have also been rumblings of Kasabian, The K’s, New Order, Gene Gallagher’s band Villanelle and many more.
Again, we’ve got nothing concrete yet so you’ll just have to take LG at his word – just do so with a big fistful of salt.
Right, we’ll give you three support slots: who would be your dream warm-up acts for the Oasis reunion?
Emily Sergeant -
30th March 2023 
