DutchNews Podcast

It's been a week of comings and goings after Russian spies were ejected from The Hague, Pim Fortuyn's assassin was allowed to emigrate, and Zwarte Piet got a last-minute reprieve. Ajax returned from Germany with a point in the Champions League and Unilever looked poised to stay in Brexit Britain despite the Dutch government's offer of a tax sweetener. In our discussion we try to bring you up to speed on the national soap opera that is the Willem Holleeder trial.

Partnerships made the headlines this week as Sigrid Kaag answered Rihanna's call to invest in education, Mark Rutte called on the UN to secure justice for the victims of the MH17 disaster and new fathers were given more time off work to spend with their babies. One baby that stirred more controversy was Morgan the orca's calf, born in Tenerife despite a 'no breeding' clause in the contract that regulated her move to Spain. And police and security services claimed to have thwarted a major terrorist plot in Arnhem and Weert. In our discussion we take a closer look at Groningen's plan to become the Netherlands' first smoke-free municipality.

In this week's podcast we bring you the latest news on the tragic accident in Brabant that cost four young children their lives. As it was budget day we analyse the government's financial plans, including controversial measures on the dividend tax and the 30% ruling, as well as who wore the best hats and how government statisticians and Belgian horses made up the numbers. And while Dick Lawyer returned to the field for a last hurrah, a group of hot air balloonists got into hot water with a disgruntled farmer. https://www.dutchnews.nl/features/2018/09/dutchnews-podcast-the-all-the-kings-belgian-horses-edition-week-38

On this week’s podcast, we update you on Lili and Howick, further the leaks ahead of Budget Day and discuss the potential changes to the dual nationality law. Dick Lawyer returns and Paul sneaks in a bonus op hef. In the discussion, Molly interviews Gordon about his recently published memoir. All The Time We Thought We Had.

The podcast returns after the summer hiatus with news of a foreign minister fighting to stay in his job, two children fighting to stay in the country and students fighting for space on overcrowded university campuses. We also bring you up to speed on the terrorist stabbing at Amsterdam station and ING bank's unprecedented fine for money laundering, plus how Wesley Sneijder's last match as a Dutch international gave a whole new meaning to playing at home. In our discussion we look back at the best stories and ophefs of the long hot summer.

With the summer break looming, we decided to pick out our favourite examples of 'ophef' - those tornados of outrage that blow up on social media only to be forgotten within 24 hours - from the year so far. It was also a week in which Mark Rutte got caught up in another Trump whirlwind at Nato, Frisian water engineers proved to be more useful than Elon Musk, the king faced a possible fine for flying drones in his back garden and a Dutchwoman reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon for the first time in 40 years

As one of the longest droughts on record continues, examiners are feeling the heat after an administrative meltdown leaves hundreds of students in Limburg facing a miserable summer. The government admits that new migrants have been left high and dry by the integration process, employees are being burned by the rise of casual labour and Max Verstappen is on fire in the Austrian Grand Prix. In the discussion Paul and Molly look back at how Mark Rutte hot-footed it from Brussels to Washington to the Catshuis as he attempted to fix all the world's major problems, including Donald Trump, by Tuesday lunchtime. And spare a thought for the delivery drivers who broke down in a sweltering van with no way out and a huge pile of money for company.

Own goals, defensive stalemates and an unorthodox formation – no, not the World Cup, but Rotterdam's talks to find a coalition, which finally concluded this week. This week the podcast team discuss the last week's political developments, which also saw former GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema come out of retirement to become Amsterdam's first female mayor. In another first for women, sailing came home as Carolijn Brouwers celebrated victory in the Volvo Ocean Race, which finished in Scheveningen harbour. There was also a disturbing attack on the Telegraaf's newspaper offices, the ophef that erupted when when writer Tommy Wieringa joked about it, an oil spill in Rotterdam harbour and a victory for the PVV as the burqa ban becomes law a mere 13 years after they first proposed it.

The podcast team looks back at a week of contrasts, as falling crime levels lead the government to consider closing more prisons while rising sea levels trigger a deal to set long-term climate change targets. As PSV's manager Phillip Cocu gets ready to fly out to Turkey, the Netherlands' Moroccan footballers are flying home after an early exit in Russia. And police arrest four people suspected of supplying illegal guns to terrorists in France, but terrorism is ruled out as a motive for the fatal accident at the Pinkpop music festival. In our discussion we ask if the attempt to create a legal cannabis supply chain will end the link between drugs and crime.

The podcast team looks back at a week in which the government decided that burqas were a bigger threat to society than stray fireworks, a school in Drenthe shelved plans to stage a mock shooting and Delft's porcelain image was rattled by a series of blasts and bombings. Schiphol airport vowed to get tough on passengers who pre-load during pre-boarding and the women's football team almost blew their chances of World Cup qualification. In our discussion we ask if Mark Rutte's speech to the European Parliament signals a seismic shift for the prime minister and the European Union.