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Integrate or no citizenship

A left-wing Dutch vegan who campaigned against cowbells in the Swiss village where she lives has had a request for a Swiss passport thrown out after annoying the locals.
Nancy Holten, who was born in the Netherlands but moved to Switzerland at the age of eight, is a fluent speaker of Swiss German and has children who are Swiss nationals.
And she wanted a Swiss passport herself, but was refused after locals who were consulted about her request said they were ‘fed up’ of her challenging Swiss traditions by campaigning against the use of cow bells.

The campaign against cow bells by the 42-year-old vegan and animal-rights activist has made her unpopular in the Alpine confederation.

Sensible people the Swiss.

40 thoughts on “Integrate or no citizenship”

  1. So Much For Subtlety

    Would the British have voted any other way for all the Third World immigrants we have been forced to pretend are now British since the Windrush?

    I don’t think so. The sensibleness of the Swiss is in having a political system that gives a damn what they want.

  2. That’s brilliant that the Swiss government actually go and sound out the locals when someone is applying for citizenship.

  3. “The Dutchwoman, who describes herself as a freelance journalist, model and drama student….”

    ‘Describes herself as’..? Well, is she or isn’t she?

  4. Dunno really, sounds like a reasonable enough career. I can be a bit of a drama queen, certainly I’m a freelance journo and all I need now is some modelling work as the before pictures….

  5. Integration might work on a small scale bit the West has gone to far down the road of numerical takeover.

    No more in and numbers here forced into decline is the only way. Voting removed and no benefit for more than one woman and max of two kids. Plus a bounty to go and take your family with you.

    Cheaper than civil war.

  6. So Much For Subtlety

    Tim Worstall – “The woman who is not becoming Swiss?”

    Western liberals are so dumb I am not so sure. There are plenty of Spaniards who campaign against bull fighting.

    Tim Worstall – “all I need now is some modelling work as the before pictures….”

    Time for a Tim 2017 calendar? There could be a market out there.

  7. @SMFS

    “Who the f**k campaigns against cow bells?”

    A vegan obviously. Sticking a bell on a cow is against moooman roights or something…

  8. Actually Dearime cow bells can be really annoying.

    I lived in beside a field of belled cows for many years. Thing is cows don’t sleep much, and panic easy. So just as you are dropping off to sleep you’ll be treated to a mass clanging as the herd react to something. Not hugely relaxing.

    Why cows in a field need bells is beyond me. British, Irish, Kiwi ones don’t. They are a holdover from before fields.

    That said, I never dreamed to complain about them. Their country, their ways. (France, on the border with Switzerland on this case).

    But annoying they are.

  9. So Much For Subtlety

    Chester Draws – “Why cows in a field need bells is beyond me.”

    It is to stop them sneaking up on and eating the birds obviously.

  10. Freelance journalist ok. Model ok (though at 42, she probably isn’t being called up terribly often). But a drama student, at the age of 42? That’s a hobby, not a career.

  11. This is a thing I love about the Swiss. It’s easier to get citizenship in a larger town but can still be challenging. A former boss of mine had to be nice to his neighbors to get his citizenship (he was German) even though he was married to a Swiss citizen and had lived there for 10 years. Since he was a dickhead being nice to them was hard for him

  12. Mal Reynolds (Serenity)

    @Andrew M

    I suspect drama student is included because that is what she is actually doing right now. The modelling and journalism are probably one or two photoshoots and articles that happened 20 years ago but she still brings up because being a drama student at 40 years old is otherwise too embarrassing.

  13. I like the principle that the people are in charge and decide who gets citizenship not just politicians.
    In a perfect world what politicians want and the people would be the same – but it is not like that.
    You could probably argue that Switzerland is the only democracy all the rest are elected dictatorships.

  14. There you go. No need for the government to be applying citizenship tests, promoting citizenship classes, handing out British passports like sweets and deciding what it means to be British – we should be doing it ourselves.

  15. The difficulty is that although the locals do get a say and indeed have rejected this cnut of a woman twice, she has the right of appeal to the cantonal government which can simply grant her a Swiss passport without further ado.

    Indeed they may do this just to make the headlines go away.

    Still it is a good way of making it quite clear that integrating with the locals is important, so Go Swiss!

  16. There’s the unwritten “don’t be a dick” rule. Every story that comes out of some American or west-European being denied a passport seems to come down to infringing this rule one way or another.

    Seems she was a vocal activist against a major part of Swiss culture and how they present themselves to the world, and had a habit of putting her “Grind” in front of the media. Which she did again when turned down.

    Sometimes you have to put your abnormal principles to the side for a while and just keep your trap shut.

  17. Nevertheless, may I be the first to say Phwoar, I would and Get in! Or would she maybe find that a touch patriarchal?

  18. Custard Cream,

    The correct form is: “Nancy, delighted to connect, I appreciate that this is probably horrendously politically incorrect but that is a stunning picture !!!

  19. Custard Cream: Really?

    If you knocked 20 years off she’d still be marginal . Plus quite a lot of veggies don’t smell too good. Like an old-fashioned Greengrocers filled with near sell-by produce. In the days before sell-by.

  20. Custard cream – she looks a bit of a ball breaker to be honest.

    However the cow next to her is a fine looking piece of motherhood…

  21. ” locals who were consulted about her request”

    Well what did anyone expect?

    These sorts of things should be left to the experts who can be trusted to give the right answers!

    Clearly, the Remainers were right all along.

    /sarc

  22. I like the description of her as a “left-wing Dutch vegan”. Isn’t that a tad redundant?

    Redundant? Much like the lady herself then…

    Typical libtard leach, either leaching off the community or leaching off a husband (more fool him)

  23. I suppose having to listen to loony diatribes and pretending to be interested would be hard work after a day or so.

  24. “‘Describes herself as’..? Well, is she or isn’t she?”

    Come on, a journalist shouldn’t have to check what he says. Actually, ‘Describes herself as’ is an upgrade; most journalists would have just said, “She is . . . .”

  25. I reckon she was probably also haranguing the local farmers about the bells, and making a pest of herself on the school committee she proudly states she was a member of.

  26. Mal Reynolds (Serenity)

    Saw on facebook:

    ““The animals carry around five kilograms around their neck. It causes friction and burns to their skin,” she has said in interviews.

    Wait till she hears that humans also eat them.”

  27. Chester Draws

    “Why cows in a field need bells is beyond me.”

    because their horns don’t work

    obvs….

    I’ll get me coat

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