This week the main political parties set out their stalls as the campaign for the first Rutte-free election in 20 years gathers momentum. Asylum minister Eric van der Burg loses yet another court case, this time on third-country nationals fleeing Ukraine. Denzel Dumfries dispatches Greece in Eindhoven while Max Verstappen sets yet another record in Monza. We look at why souped-up speed merchants on two wheels are threatening Amsterdam's status as a cycling haven. And could herring give way to squid and mullet as sea temperatures rise?

As is tradition in September, the cabinet’s plans for the coming year will strategically leak in the weeks before the budget is officially presented by king Willem-Alexander on Prinsjesdag. This week, it was revealed that the caretaker cabinet is planning to allocate 2 billion euros to combat the cost of living crisis, following the news that more than a million people would plummet into poverty if no action is taken. Meanwhile, prime minister Mark Rutte, finance minister Sigrid Kaag and foreign affairs minister were embroiled in a Macchiavellian scheme to find a replacement for out-going European Commissioner Frans Timmermans – it will most likely be Hoekstra, but not if it’s up to the green MEPs who promised to grill him at his upcoming hearing by the European Parliament. The Sociaal-Cultureel Planbureau concluded that low-level corruption might occur more often than you’d have thought and a report by Wageningen University showed that nitrogen-based pollution has to be reduced even further than initially thought while nature minister Christianne van der Wal told provinces their plans cost too much money. It was a golden weekend for oranje supporters: Max Verstappen won the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort for the third time in a row, both the men and women hockey teams won the European title and Femke Bol was the star of the women’s 4x400 relay at the world’s athletics championship in Budapest.

The podcast returns to chew over the latest developments in the election campaign. Pieter Omtzigt steps into the fray, Dilan Yesilgöz steps into Mark Rutte's shoes, Wopke Hoekstra shuffles off to Brussels and Caroline van der Plas says she won't be standing anywhere in high heels. Nobody seems alarmed that the economy is in recession, while the dancing is over for Janssen's vaccine developers in Leiden. Sifan Hassan and Femke Bol recover from their stumbles to win medals in Budapest as Max Verstappen seems unstoppable in Zandvoort. And researchers go to the ends of the earth to identify a wartime resistance fighter after a 12-year search.

A special edition of the DutchNews podcast focuses the collapse of the cabinet, the end of the Rutte era and the upcoming election. Will immigration dominate the campaign, will Vincent Karremans get back on his high horse and will Pieter Omtzigt team up with the farmers? And what about the game of Tweede Kamer musical chairs, as several parties hold leadership contests before the election in November?

As we recorded this week's podcast, it was unclear if Mark Rutte was going to a step further than Vladimir Putin and stage a mutiny against his own government. The king apologised for the Dutch slave trading past and said the law could never be used to justify crimes against humanity. Dutch museums begin the process of repatriating hundreds of thousands of cultural artefacts taken during the colonial era. The head of national railways is widely mocked for his failure to understand the point of timetables. And there are calls for a statue to be erected to Bas de Leede after his exploits with bat and ball earn the Netherlands cricket team a place in the World Cup for the first time 12 years.

Justice minister Dilan Yesilgöz lends the far right a veil of respectability by backing a PVV proposal to ban police from wearing headscarves. Farmers Defence Force are roundly condemned for circulating MPs' phone numbers ahead of a debate on the stalled talks on agriculture reform. RIchard de Mos is at the centre of more chaos in The Hague as the coalition is unable to agree on how to rehabilitate him after his acquittal on corruption charges. The inquiry into the government's pandemic response is sidelined by a row over how many conspiracy theorists should sit on the committee. And the Netherlands raise their hopes of qualifying for the cricket world cup by snatching a dramatic win against the West Indies.

In an explosive week for education, schools minister Dennis Wiersma's short fuse detonated for the last time and universities erupted in protest against Robbert Dijkgraaf's "Dutch first" plan for bachelor degrees. The farmers' lobby pulled out of talks on funding a transition to sustainable agriculture, leaving the government's nitrogen strategy in the mire. More details emerge of how the government wasted millions of euros buying substandard face masks from coathanger magnates and car salesmen during the pandemic. A 4,000-year-old burial site emerges in Brabant just in time for the solstice. And we have news of mixed results for Dutch sportsmen in cricket, football and tennis.

The king announces he'll be taking regular train services after the decision to retire the royal carriage. He'll be able to travel to with NS, QBuzz or Arriva, but not Eurostar, who are furious about being shunted into a siding by the Dutch government. Also stuck in a rut are D66, who have been frozen out of provincial coalition talks by the BBB. Farmers are told whether they qualify for Christianne van der Wal's "wildly attractive" bonus scheme for peak polluters. Talks on a New Deal for farmers continue at the pace of a tractor protest after the lobby group LTO grudgingly agrees to stay on board. As the Netherlands confirms plans to train Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilots, we explain how Dutch intelligence tipped off Washington about a potential attack on the Nordstream pipeline. And while the football team are run ragged by Croatia and the ageless Luka Modric in the Nations League, there is better news for the nation's cricketers and ten pin bowlers.

It's a bad week for European connections as the eurozone slips into recession and Eurostar trains to Amsterdam face being suspended for seven months. Prime minister Mark Rutte faces a barrage of criticism over the thorny issues of migration and the Groningen gas field earthquakes. The ICJ in The Hague is deluged with terrible Russian excuses in a case brought by Ukraine. Bad water management is causing drought and threatening the future of native bees and the butterflies. And talking of endangered species, we have news of a successful Dutch men's sports team.

The new Senate is sworn in after the coalition parties emerge as the winners of the three-dimensional game of horse trading for the final seats. But not before the outgoing chamber rubber-stamps the outcome of 16 years of talks to reform the pension system. Councillors in The Hague swiftly remove signs proclaiming glory to Ukraine just as councillors in Zeeland put signs up banning hedonism in the dunes. Police, prosecutors, protesters and Amnesty International are all unhappy with the handling of the latest Extinction Rebellion protest on the A12. KLM hits back at a report that claims it failed to honour the conditions of its €3.4bn coronavirus bailout. And in an otherwise gloomy season for Ajax, the title-winning women's team have another reason to celebrate as Edwin van der Sar bows out as CEO.