Rejoice this Yuletide, for a cabinet is born! Or is it four more years of being led by the same donkeys? In a special edition of the DutchNews podcast, we pick over Rutte IV's frugality-busting coalition deal. Can the government regain people's trust in the wake of the childcare benefits scandal and the Groningen earthquakes? What will the climate change plans mean for households? Can they really find €5 billion in healthcare savings? And who will benefit most from the €3 billion of tax cuts?

Eleven months, eight resignations and more than 8,000 coronavirus deaths since the Dutch government resigned, a new cabinet looks set to take office just in time for the Christmas recess. Schools will not be finishing early for the holidays, however, despite the threat of the Omicron variant and the advice of the Outbreak Management Team. The booster campaign picks up speed as the EU decides that covid passports will expire after 9 months for people who have only had two jabs. Princess Amalia takes up her seat on the Raad van State and plants a tree on her first royal duty. And the Formula One season heads for a dramatic climax, or possibly a dramatic Max crash. #Netherlands #DutchNews #DN #Dutch #TheNetherlands #News #DutchPolitics #DutchCurrentEvents #Holland

Coronavirus cases are flying high but the big news this week was about two quarantining tourists who were barred from flying home and forced to spend the night in a stinking toilet in Groningen. Hugo de Jonge promises to give everyone over 60 a booster jab by Christmas as the cabinet comes under fire again for its sluggish vaccination programme. The coalition talks look to be creeping towards a conclusion as speculation begins about the ministerial merry-go-round. And completing a week of slow news, the major Dutch cities call for urban speed limits to be reduced to 30 km/h.

While shoppers hunt for a Black Friday bargain, the Dutch government faces a Code Black scenario in hospitals as coronavirus infections continue to spread. Unrest boils again in Dutch cities as bars are forced to shut early and stricter rules are mooted for unvaccinated people. The cabinet comes in for criticism for its mixed messages, ineffective measures and late start to the booster vaccine campaign. If all else fails for Hugo de Jonge, there's good money to be made from busking on Sunday mornings, according to researchers from Tilburg university. Dutch football teams enjoy their best season in Europe for a decade and Feyenoord fans get a royal surprise on their way to Prague. And a security guard in Almere is led on a wild goose chase by the Netherlands' most famous stuffed rabbit.

2G or not 2G? That is the question vexing Dutch politicians as coronavirus cases keep soaring and the calls for tighter restrictions grow louder. The coalition talks are still on track despite a careless party leader leaving confidential documents on a train. Sparks fly in parliament as far-right party FVD is accused of threatening behaviour. And that could be the only flashpoint we see this winter after ministers bow to pressure to ban New Year fireworks.

With Code Black looming in hospitals, the Dutch government brings in a 'lockdown lite' in the hope of bringing infections down by Sinterklaas. But at least there'll be less black on the faces of the saint's entourage, as research show 'sooty Piets' have become the dominant strain. December 5 is also the date when Mark Rutte hopes to have his fourth cabinet installed, a mere nine months after the general election. In sports news, Feyenoord's plans for a new stadium are torpedoed by rising building costs and Ajax reach a settlement with Appie Nouri's family.

With coronavirus cases on the rise again, experts call for firm, decisive action to bring infections down. Politicians, however, prefer to tinker with work from home rules, rely on a patchy QR code system and put the hard decisions off for another week. Elsewhere this week the Netherlands clocked up a record number of billionaires, while Amsterdam announced plans to restrict the city's housing market for private landlords. Ajax marched on in Europe but Rotterdam's mayor lost his rag with Feyenoord supporters who went on the rampage in Berlin. And if you want to get away from plagues and hooligans, a new ferry route is starting up between Eemshaven and Norway.

New climate change forecasts this week were the stuff of Dutch nightmares: if the Netherlands doesn't step up its efforts to cut emissions, it risks becoming a Mediterranean country. Even more urgently, the rising tide of coronavirus infections has raised the prospect of restrictions being imposed again. And there's still the question of when we'll have a new government as the coalition breaks its own record for the longest formation in history. Bad news too for Ronald Koeman, sacked after 21 months at Barcelona, and customers at Welkom Energie, the first Dutch casualty of the soaring gas prices. But at least there was a warm welcome for Freya the walrus, who joined a submarine crew for breakfast as part of her tour of the Dutch coast.

Sinterklaas ophef comes round earlier every year, but there's a twist this time around: it's not about Zwarte Piet. A critical review of the government's coronavirus strategy comes out just as cases soar again and ministers promise to repeat the same mistakes as last year. Infections are certainly moving much faster than efforts to compensate for the victims of the child benefit scandal, with MPs, judges, the ombudsman and the Council of Europe all criticising the handling of the affair. And Rotterdam moves another 40 centimetres away from sea level as the new highest building in the Netherlands tops out.

This week the coalition talks moved into an exciting new phase as the four parties from the last government finally agreed to make up the numbers. Also making up numbers was junior justice minister Ankie Broekers-Knol, who was rounded on by all sides after she suggested 100,000 Afghans could be on their way to the Netherlands. Other numbers causing concern are the coronavirus infections, which are rising again, and the figures on your next gas bill. Can Wopke Hoekstra come up with a tax-free solution to the energy crisis? Or will we spend a desolate winter watching Stef Blok tell us to cook one-pot dinners through till spring?