DutchNews Podcast

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.

The podcast returns from a two-week break to commiserate with Ajax fans over their shock exit from the Champions League, catch up with Forum voor Democratie's fruitless search for a senate leader and find out why the tourist board has started telling visitors to get out of Amsterdam. We also bring you the latest on the arrest of a suspected serial killer and why organic labelling is less wholesome than it sounds. In our discussion we take a deep dive into the statistics that show the Dutch spend more than their European peers on mortgages and healthcare but less on holidays.

This week on the podcast we try to piece together the debris after an explosive week for Forum voor Democratie, find out why so many MPs claim to live in Limburg and catch up with the campaign to ban a homophobic American Holocaust denier from Amsterdam. There's also news of the neck-and-neck Eredivisie title race and some mysterious vandalism on Texel. In our discussion we give you the lowdown on this year's King's Day festivities in Amersfoort.

As the country gears up for the Easter weekend, the podcast team checks on the progress of the fledgling provincial governments and asks if fears that the housing market is overheating are well grounded. We also look at Ajax's rejuvenation in Europe, what sank Amsterdam's last floating flower business and how one of the country's most decorated soldiers poured home-made fertiliser all over his reputation. And with a week to go to King's Day, we ask why young people are turning their backs on the monarchy.

Cheese and chips are on the menu in this week's podcast as the Chinese are accused of stealing the Netherlands' digital secrets, Donald Trump threatens to raise the tariffs on Gouda and Edam and the country is warned of a growing obesity crisis. We also ask why Enschede council bailed out its football club, why the Dutch are taking over Britain's railways and whether your tax demands will be arriving by drone in future. In our discussion we try to unravel the Moebius band of disaster that is Brexit and what the new deadlines mean from a Dutch perspective.

This week's podcast has good news for Brits wanting to vote in the European elections, bad news for parents with unvaccinated children in The Hague and fake news about Amsterdam's coffeeshops that generated some home-grown ophef. We also look at why the justice department faced a grilling over a gruesome murder, how Ajax finally got back on top for 24 hours and how much you might have to fork out for the gun that might or might not have killed Van Gogh. In our discussion we ask if the Netherlands is facing a 'silent epidemic' of prescription painkiller use and what the government can do about it.

Foreign interference looms large in this week's podcast as tulip growers tell tourists to stop trampling through their fields, the Dutch and Australian governments begin a series of highly awkward talks with Russia on the investigation into flight MH17, a Picasso is recovered from the clutches of the international underworld and Oranje's bright young upstarts are taught a familiar lesson by the Germans. In our discussion we ask why Europe's new copyright directive has become the most hated thing on the internet since Pepe the Frog.

Thierry Baudet's success in the provincial elections stirred up plenty of ophef (as well as sparking a speech strung together from off-cuts of Oswald Spengler and rejected Nick Kershaw lyrics), but has it really changed the political landscape? We dissect the results and discuss the implications for Mark Rutte's cabinet on this week's podcast. Plus the latest on the Utrecht shooting, which is now being treated as a terrorist act, where the Netherlands ranks on the world happiness index, and a look ahead to Oranje's Euro 2020 qualifying campaign.

In a week when the government agreed to bring in a "polluter pays" tax on CO2 emissions, the atmosphere turned poisonous at an Amsterdam school where staff are accused of having terrorist sympathies and in the fishing community of Urk, where a mob descended on the home of a migrant family. Mark Rutte nears the end of his tether over Brexit, though if if he's hopping mad or stockpiling Marmite he'll have to stay away from the Foreign Affairs ministry's canteen. We also try to keep up with the all-conquering Dutch speed skaters and discuss how (and whether) you can vote in next week's elections.