DutchNews Podcast

The podcast team look back over a summer of blistering heat and bristling with ophef: who poisoned the plants in Thierry Baudet's office? Why does Haarlem have a problem with globetrotters? And was the king wise to come out as a redbeard? We also look at how Amsterdam became a paradise for cocaine dealers, why the Labour party has done a U-turn on student funding and Ronald Koeman's return to Hamburg 31 years after he wiped the floor with the Germans.

There's plenty to shout about in our last podcast before the summer break as five cities bid to host next year's Eurovision, a children's playground is forced to close because of complaints about noise, a proposed Holocaust memorial sparks local protests and the Dutch women's football team are cheered all the way to the final. In our discussion we take the pulse of the coalition at the halfway point and ask if it will make it to the finish line.

It's been a week of big-name casualties as the law finally caught up with celebrity gangster Willem Holleeder and Frans Timmermans saw a top European job slip through his fingers. While Queen Maxima came under fire for her silence in a meeting with Saudi Arabia's crown prince, one cyclist in Groningen probably wishes she'd kept quiet when police stopped and fined her for using her phone. And it's been a busy week for Amsterdam's mayor Femke Halsema, who announced plans to recognise anti-slavery campaigners in the city's street names and tackle the problems caused by tourists in the red light district. In our discussion we ask if the Dutch women can go one better than their male counterparts at the football World Cup.

Cheese, canals and cycling - the podcast team tries to identify the DNA of Dutch identity in a week when the Dutch sense of order was turned on its head. The 112 emergency services hotline broke down, the women's football team won a match with a late penalty and a midsummer Elfstedentocht was staged in 30-degree heat. We also look at moves to atone for two dark episodes in the nation's history, the latest vaccination figures and yet more changes to the inburgering criteria.

For every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction, as a university in Eindhoven demonstrated this week with its plans for women-only job applications. We discuss the proposals and the ensuing social media firestorm in this week's podcast, as well as bringing you up to speed with the criminal inquiry into the downing of flight MH17, the Dutch women's World Cup campaign and the first native wolves for 200 years. Plus: the butcher whose ill-advised nostalgia trip left him licking his wounds.

We're living on the edge in this week's podcast, and not just because the pinautomaten in Albert Heijn have broken down. The king weighs into the Irish border issue that has been stirred up again by Brexit, Jeroen Dijsselbloem drops a bombshell into the pension talks, universities are accused of setting the bar too low and YouTube causes ophef by taking down the wrong type of Nazis. In sport the women's team scrape through their opening World Cup match while the men once again lose a tournament final to the host nation. And we discuss whether bringing back children from the Syrian civil war is desirable or feasible.

This week we look at how a rogue news agency flapping its wings stirred up an international media storm about a Dutch teenage girl's death. We also bring you news of some real storms that exposed one of the country's largest cocaine labs, Ivanka Trump flying into The Hague to near-universal disappointment, two healthy developments in football and an apology from Mark Rutte to the people of Groningen. In our discussion we report on why it took nine years to reach a deal on pensions and what it means for employees and ZZP'ers.

We ask the hard-hitting questions on this week's podcast. What happened in the Eerste Kamer elections? Why are the Hell's Angels so upset this week? How will Sinterklaas arrive next year? Does Brabant really smell like anise? And, in the discussion, is anyone at the EU riding a dragon?

In this week's podcast we try to unravel the logic behind a European election debate that featured two men who weren't in the running but not the leader of the winning party, the blunder that led to hundreds of children being sent to the wrong secondary school, and the end-of-season football relegation play-offs. Duncan Laurence's Eurovision victory inspires an archetypal Dutch discussion about splitting the bill, Erik Wiebes triggers rumblings of discontent in Groningen and another VVD minister, Mark Harbers, resigns in a row over statistics. We also discuss justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus's plan to bring the laws on sexual assault up to date.

Plenty of sea changes in this week's podcast as Mark Rutte takes the fight to Thierry Baudet, Sybrand Buma becomes the second coalition party leader to abandon ship in mid-term and Amsterdam's mayor decides not to impose a booze ban on the city's canals. The Hague opts out of the cabinet's plan for legalised cannabis cultivation, there's a poignant edge to Ajax's title celebrations and the food safety board warns people about the dangers of eating filet americain. In our discussion we ask if anyone does, or should, care about next week's European elections.