A flowery idea to save Holland from rising sea levels has been proposed by a Dutch politician with no sense of the ridiculous. The proposal is to create a 30 mile long island in the shape of a tulip off the North Sea coast from the Hook of Holland to Ijmuiden. The stem would run parallel to the coast standing off about a mile or so. A 30 mile long ‘strait’ off the coast would probably do more harm than good, channeling, as it would, the powerful tides into an even more powerful current which could scour away Holland’s sand dunes and eventually her tulip fields.
If they really want a national symbol – and one that might actually achieve something – how about a giant fist with a protruding thumb – stuck into the sea gat between Texel and the mainland. It’s horribly shallow there anyway and could do with some scouring action and also a defined coastline leading into Den Helder.