DutchNews Podcast

News that Rob Jetten is expecting a baby with his partner delights almost everybody, except the family values party SGP. The discovery of a woman's body in a suitcase in Amsterdam sparks fear, anger and a mass of unanswered questions. Prices of gas, train fares and health insurance are going up as winter approaches. And one of the great medieval philosophers tackles the elephant in the dining room in his top tips for raising children.

Pandemonium breaks out in the Dutch middle classes as hackers cancel the country's Albert Heijn bonus cards. Rob Jetten criticises Donald Trump's diesel deal and sanctions against the ICC. Thrillseeking Dutch auditors say the country's roads and railways need a €9.5 billion upgrade to prepare for war. The Senate votes to stop fining the immigration service for taking too long to process asylum claims. Allegations of intimidation and bullying surround one of the Netherlands' most successful cycling teams. And there is potentially life changing news for the nation's pandas, dolphins and seals.

Rob Jetten fetches the rusting polder model from the Catshuis loft and sits down with the trade unions to revive the budget talks. The IND is in a bind after European judges order it to take 140,000 Ukrainian asylum applications out of cold storage. The government wants to recruit a 130,000-strong Home Guard in case Russia or any of Dilan Yesilgöz's other enemies invade. The student debt mountain is shrinking but graduates are facing an interest rate hike. And do rabbits hold the key to solving the nitrogen crisis?

Eelco Heinen celebrates too soon after striking a budget deal with opposition parties that lasts for exactly as long as it takes them to read the small print. Amsterdam is shocked by the shooting of a prison warden on a bustling restaurant terrace. In less shocking news, Dutch data centres are accused of hiding their impact on the environment and energy supplies. Tom Berendsen tries to mend fences with Israel after diplomats are expelled from the occupied West Bank. And we speak to the organisation representing Dutch nationals abroad about the campaign to allow dual nationality.

In a week of fire and fury, Donald Trump turns up the heat on the ICC, David van Weel is grilled on misleading crime figures and the CDA's former golden boy gets his fingers burned at 35,000ft. PFAS chemicals are leaking into the water supply from farmers' fields and firefighters' hoses. The high point of Groningen and Drenthe's winning bid to host the World Cycling Championships is a massive heap of rubbish. And the Dutch are itching to get back on Hyves as the original social media network gets a retro reboot.

Prinsjesdag was a day of sound and fury, with saboteurs disrupting the railways, protesters spray-painting the Royal route, and a King's speech signifying nothing but political paralysis. Rob Jetten's calls to the opposition to overcome their differences and back his budget fall on deaf ears as the rival flanks tell him to pick a side. A silent vigil is held in Rotterdam for a man who died while being arrested by police who wrongly accused him of stealing a fatbike. A 1700-year-old fragment of The Odyssey turns up in Utrecht. And in sport, Jutta Leerdam is taking a break from...

Budget Day promises to be full of drama this year as rising inflation and living costs put further pressure on the coalition parties. Freight traffic on inland waterways dropped to its lowest level during the summer drought, raising the stakes on climate change. Education experts sound the alarm over plunging standards of literacy among Dutch teenagers. American commentators breathe a sigh of relief as Botic van de Zandschulp's heroic run in the US Open ends. And can flying cars that cost €100,000 per wheel really take off in the Netherlands?

Rob Jetten’s hopes of doing a budget deal with the opposition are dashed when the three coalition parties can't agree who to bring on board. Villagers in Gelderland are caught in the crossfire of a deadly gang war when 30 armed men open fire at dawn. The RIVM warns that Dutch mosquitos are spreading West Nile virus after nine people fall ill. As the university year begins, students are still being charged illegal rents. And Nijmegen jumps at the chance to honour one of its most famous musical exports.

After seven years of gridlock, stalled negotiations, upturned flags and tractor protests, the government believes it has a solution to the nitrogen emissions problem. The coalition parties try frantically to garner opposition support for their autumn budget before the summer break. The deadly heatwave in June may have cost around 500 lives and scientists warn it will only get worse. Ronald Koeman exits stage left after Oranje depressingly predictable World Cup exit on penalties to Morocco. And in “is nothing sacred” news, the cabinet unveils plans for new, smaller ballot papers.

Children's rights were neglected and their well-being suffered during the coronavirus lockdowns, the inquiry into the pandemic is told this week. The Netherlands' first ever code red warning for weather is issued as day and night temperatures soar. Rob Jetten delivers a long awaited apology for treatment of Moluccan war veterans who fled post-colonial Indonesia. International students are at high risk of falling prey to fraudulent landlords. And in sport, Oranje breeze past Sweden to line up a potential needle match against Morocco at the men's football World Cup.

The Japanese emperor visits the national war memorial to commemorate the victims of his country's occupation of Indonesia. Over at the World Cup, Oranje do their bit for diplomatic relations by conceding a late equaliser to Japan in their opening game. Police believe a blast that destroyed a gym in Amsterdam was caused by cashpoint robbers making their own bombs. Explosives are also found at the site of a planned refugee centre that has been repeatedly targeted by extremists. And Limburg is struggling to keep out an influx of small furry invaders.

New European rules on asylum come into force, but the Dutch immigration service warns it will take a year to clear the backlog. An extradition treaty aimed at busting drug gangs is signed, while the net tightens around the latest "Mr Big". International students numbers fall for the first time in 20 years, but Dutch students are disappearing even faster. The Mauritshuis is allowed to keep a batch of 17th century paintings in a dispute that hinges on a sentence in a French will. And in sport, several key players are missing from Ronald Koeman's World Cup squad but a keyboard...

In the wake of the recent asylum riots, we unpick the Dutch far-right landscape with the help of Leiden university professor Sarah de Lange. Voters' confidence in Rob Jetten's cabinet has plunged in the first 100 days as it struggles to make progress on key policy areas such as asylum, welfare and housing. Palestinian students with visas for the Netherlands will get more help leaving Gaza. The NS cut-price summer train ticket arrives a week early. And in sport, Jesper de Jong feels the love in Paris as he bows out of the French Open on his 26th birthday.

Social affairs minister Hans Vijlbrief cans the cabinet’s plans to extend the retirement age in the hope of avoiding a summer of strikes. Accusations fly in parliament in a bad-tempered debate on asylum, as the reception centre in Ter Apel continues to strain at the seams. The sale of DigiD is blocked at the last minute to the dismay of Donald Trump's man in The Hague. Schiermonnikoog wants to use heat-seeking drones to round up its stray cats. And a Dutchman is king of the hill in the ancient English sport of cheese rolling.

As the atmosphere outside asylum centres grows heated and the debate becomes increasingly poisonous, Rob Jetten sends in a crack team of civil servants to lend moral support. A changing of the guard at Schiphol leads to long queues at the airport, while unions warn of more disruption over the summer. The crew of the MV Hondius look forward to six weeks in a dockside cabin in Rotterdam. Art detective Arthur Brand traces a painting looted by the Nazis to a flat in Utrecht. And in sport, Dick Advocaat's latest comeback leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

An outbreak of a rat-borne virus on a cruise ship triggers mass anxiety as phrases like "self-isolation" and "test and trace" re-enter the lexicon. Local mayors are growing increasingly frustrated with The Hague's reluctance to condemn violent protests outside refugee centres. Environmental campaigners are distraught as the man who led a string of successful court cases against major polluters takes Tata Steel's shilling. And in sport, the passportgate saga is resolved while crisis club Vitesse Arnhem are thrown yet another lifeline in their battle to survive.

The army is feeling the heat after several wildfires break out during training excercises in tinderbox conditions. The king gets his skates on and straddles some Frisian dikes for his birthday bash this year. Protests against refugee centers turn ugly when a former council office is trashed by roving hooligans. The government signs a data security deal with the owners of Lidl as it tries to become less dependent on US tech firms. And owl watchers are stunned by some fly-by-night high jinks in Limburg.

Vaudevillian scenes in the Senate as the PVV block their own asylum bill before blaming D66 for not wanting to soil their hands with it. The cabinet still isn't willing to cut fuel prices but hopes cheap train tickets and extra poverty relief funding will ease the pain. Utrecht is forced to take emergency measures after its electricity grid hits its limit. Artworks looted by the Nazis from Jewish families will go on public display for the first time. And in sport, there's a potential kitchen-sink drama on the last day of the Keuken Kampioen Divisie season.

Those who can, plan; those who can't, plan scenarios. At any rate, that seems to be how the Dutch government is preparing for the impending crisis triggered by the war in Iran and blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. It wasn't enough to stop the king and queen's visit to the other orange king in the White House going ahead: the royal couple avoided any embarrassing mishaps, unless you count the faux pas of talking about last season's coup. Three men have appeared in court accused of organising the Drents Museum heist, while three major cyberhacks at Dutch companies have...

The Netherlands promises to help keep the Strait of Hormuz open, but only once the hellfire has died down. Continuing the theme of negotiating with scoundrels, curators in Assen and Bucharest breathe a sigh of relief following the safe return of the golden helmet that was stolen from the Drents Museum last year. In a victory for vested interests, the Senate is set to vote down the cabinet's plans to delay the state retirement age. Student finance agency Duo will pay €80 million in compensation for carrying out anti-fraud checks that focused disproportionately on ethnic minorities. And PSV Eindhoven finally stagger ov...