Joshua Livestro (born 16 December 1970, in Amersfoort) is a Dutch columnist and political writer. He was a former assistant to EU commissioner Frits Bolkestein.
Livestro studied political science at Leiden University and philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Livestro was active in the Edmund Burke Foundation, a conservative think tank. During his studies, Livestro was an active checkers player, and became national students' champion in 1994. He writes a column about foreign affairs for De Telegraaf . [1]
Livestro succeeded Ronald Plasterk as a columnist for the Sunday morning television talkshow Buitenhof . Plasterk became an education and culture minister in the fourth Balkenende cabinet. The producers of Buitenhof fired Livestro after just four months, saying that his columns were subpar.[ citation needed ] Livestro said in a Telegraaf op-ed that he was fired for his "right-wing views," that the show routinely ignores alternate viewpoints and even censures columnists' views. He also called one of the broadcaster of Buitenhof, the NPS, a "left-wing funnel," where "a DDR mentality reigns." [2] [3] [4] In wake of Livestro's firing, political parties D66 and VVD asked parliamentary questions to the culture minister, Ronald Plasterk, who incidentally was Livestro's predecessor at Buitenhof. [5] Plasterk answered that there was enough diversity in Dutch public television. [6]
On 25 November 2010, the Dutch daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad published an article which names Livestro an advisor to Sarah Palin; Livestro confirmed the announcement by telephone from his home in Nottingham, England. [7]
Livestro launched Jalta.nl on 18 September 2014. [8] [9] He lives in Guernsey. [10]
