DutchNews Podcast

After a week of strategic bickering between the coalition parties, Dick Schoof brokers a deal to split the asylum ministry three ways, making it less fragmented than it was under Marjolein Faber. Amsterdam unveils a plan to get international workers to speak Dutch and get involved in community work, in the hope that the locals will follow suit. Eurostar celebrates its new expanded service in a deserted Amsterdam Central Station after NS workers go on strike again. And in football, Tijjani Reijnders and Quincy Promes are involved in big moves for very different reasons.

In the most unsurprising plot twist since James Cameron's Titanic, the Dutch cabinet collapsed this week when Geert Wilders walked out in protest at his own asylum policy. With an election almost five months away, we ask if Dick Schoof's lame-duck cabinet can make more waves on defence, housing and immigration. Meanwhile, Mark Rutte has to figure out a seating plan at the Nato summit dinner that stops a food fight breaking out between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A regional train strike in Utrecht has the same impact on the network as Marjolein Faber on the asylum system. The White Lions of Telstar have a financial mountain to climb as they prepare for top-flight football for the first time since 1978. And the Rijksmuseum proudly shows off a 200-year-old tattooed contraceptive.

Eleven months after Dick Schoof's cabinet took office and 10½ months later than expected, the Dutch cabinet has collapsed after Geert Wilders pulled out of the four-way right-wing coalition. We look at how he managed to stir up a full-scale row over immigration with three parties that agreed with him and how the other parties were left wrong footed. And we ask how voters will respond to Wilders' gamble in the upcoming elections – whenever they may be.

The capital's 750th birthday celebrations get off to a chaotic start, while Ajax lose the title and their Italian coach in the space of a week. Foreign affairs minister Caspar Veldkamp has more success in Europe, forcing the EU to investigate Israel's aid blockade in Gaza. Auditors skewer the government's spending plans, while the IMF sticks the knife into the koopkrachtplaatjes. And was a motley crew of Dutch bikers and Romanian mobsters behind the Drents Museum heist?

Pressure mounts on the Dutch cabinet to denounce Israel's destruction of Gaza, with the mayor of Amsterdam, universities and even PVV voters growing increasingly critical. Scientists warn that Donald Trump's cuts to academic research are hampering their ability to work with American colleagues. The Netherlands could face water shortages as climate change and economic pressures take their toll. No green room drama for the Dutch at Eurovision this year as Claude safely makes it through to the final. And Ajax's NSC-like disintegration sets up a grandstand finish to the Eredivisie season.

Foreign minister Casper Veldkamp finally draws a red line over Israel's intervention in Gaza, but will it be the fault line that ruptures the coalition? The conflict is also the focus of protests at ceremonies to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. But at least one of the coalition parties has something to celebrate, as MEPs vote to downgrade the protected status of the wolf. And the close-knit fishing community of Urk launches a scheme to find former residents who were lost at sea.

As the economy cools, the cabinet burns through its green energy fund to bail out fossil fuel users and torch its climate change targets. The debate on who should be included in the May 4 commemorations flares up again as an alternative ceremony to include the victims of Gaza is condemned by some politicians. Geert Wilders claims victory as his asylum minister's policies apparently drive down refugee numbers in the whole of Europe before they've even been implemented. Indoor football is rocked by accusations of match fixing, Ajax blunder their way to the Eredivisie title and there's a suspicious death in Emmen zoo to get your teeth into.

The passing of Pope Francis managed to put the king's birthday birthday celebrations and Pieter Omtzigt's dramatic departure from politics in the shade this week. The coalition leaders emerged from a marathon negotiation session with a spring budget deal designed to please everyone except the taxpayers. Intelligence services accuse Iran of planning a botched assassination, Russia of sabotaging European elections and China of industrial espionage. And Belgian goalkeeper is the toast of Deventer as the Eagles swoop to a famous cup final victory.

An Easter egg scramble begins in The Hague as ministers try to grab a morsel of the €8 billion available in his spring budget statement. The Binnenhof's history as a medieval palace turns out to be even longer and richer than we suspected. Academics at Dutch universities face extra screening to prevent them stealing scientific knowledge, while students are warned about a rise in rent scams. Dutch badminton players fear for the future of the sport after its funding is slashed. And a coot's nest that became a treasure trove of Amsterdam trash is being moved to a museum in The Hague.

Once again Marjolein Faber confounds critics and partners alike with her bottomless talent for turning a storm in a teacup into a political maelstrom. Dick Schoof insists his cabinet is united behind his decision to clean up the mess caused by Faber's refusal to honour five volunteers for working with refugees. Elsewhere, a majority of MPs back a ban on street fireworks while prisons minister Ingrid Coenradie steers through her controversial early release scheme. The UK extends its electronic travel permit scheme to EU citizens. And we explain why the long-awaited legal cannabis growing scheme is at risk of being stubbed out before it can be rolled out.