About AIcolumns.nl
An opinion can come with a smile.
Ad Latjes is a lifelong traveller, internet pioneer, entrepreneur and curious observer. He looks at today’s news with common sense, international experience and humour. His columns are personal, sometimes challenging, and written to make you think.
The site began with Dutch-speaking readers in the Netherlands and Belgium in mind. Many of the subjects matter beyond those borders, so readers from other countries are welcome too.
Read in your language
The column pages contain an English edition and Ad’s original Dutch text. Our OTHER LANGUAGES button offers automatic translations from English into over 100 languages. The menu shows each language’s native and English names.
On bilingual column pages, choosing Nederlands — Dutch takes you to the Dutch original. On the homepage, this About us page and reader articles without a Dutch edition, it translates the English text into Dutch.
Automatic translation helps more people read the stories. Humour and small differences in meaning may change, so the English and Dutch originals remain useful references.
Listen as well as read
On column pages, reader articles and this page, the Listen controls read the displayed text aloud when your browser provides a suitable voice. You can pause, continue or stop, and choose from the voices available on your device.
If listening is unavailable, the page offers help with your browser or with installing a voice. The homepage keeps things simple with translation only.
English podcast versions are also available. The series “World Problems, Future Solutions” looks at major world problems and ways to make life better: what could we do, what might it cost, and what could turn out differently from what we expect?
Serious subjects, with room for hope
We write about politics, technology, privacy, housing, migration, climate, food, health and everyday life. A difficult subject does not have to become a difficult story. A familiar example, a good question or a little humour can help.
These are Ad’s personal opinion columns. You do not have to agree with every view. The aim is to explain important problems while also looking for practical ideas and reasons for hope.
New columns appear regularly. You can read them free on the website and subscribe to receive new columns by email.
Come along, discover a fresh idea and see the world through Ad Latjes’ eyes.