For the last few years, I have made a point of visiting the Netherlands at least once a year. There is, I believe, something singularly delightful about sitting outside a Dutch cafe in Utrecht or Delft on a warm June day, drinking cold Dutch beer, watching the boats on the canals, and talking with Dutch friends. Holland may never have produced the director of a decent Western, but, if the highest form of art has proved beyond the reach of the most civilised nation on