DutchNews Podcast

The loudest skeleton in the Dutch royal closet fell out this week with the discovery of Prince Bernhard's Nazi party membership card. As one resistance hero fell from grace, another had his honour restored as Tula was formally rehabilitated 228 years after being put to death for demanding freedom from slavery in Curacao. And Ajax will hope that their talismanic former coach Louis van Gaal can steady the ship after appointing him as an advisor to the board. Wopke Hoekstra becomes an unlikely crusader for green causes to land a top job at the European commission. And we preview the Dutch cricket team's first World Cup appearance in 12 years. Video of the Harderwijk wolf: https://twitter.com/ton_aarts/status/1707424461404737746

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.

On the day when the Dutch commemorate their war dead, the president of Ukraine jetted in to give a sobering reminder that wars are not just for the history books. Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the ICC, the Senate, the Catshuis and a royal palace in a whirlwind tour that covered more ground than the Russian army managed in six months in Bakhmut. Dodenherdenking also featured a moving speech by a teenage girl about the Sinti victims of the Holocaust, a bugle-hating cat and yet another ophef-inducing tweet by Caroline van der Plas. PSV won the Dutch cup final in a forgettable match that culminated in a woeful penalty shoot-out. And DutchNews has a wartime exclusive of its own – tune in to find out more, as well as what to do if you have any wartime documents gathering dust in the attic. You can find out more about the campaign to donate war memorabilia and details of participating museums at https://www.actienietweggooien.nl

The podcast team reacts to what looks set to be the most dramatic election in the Netherlands for a generation. The NOS exit poll gives Geert Wilders's far-right PVV party 23% of the vote and a clear lead over its rivals. The VVD drops to third place behind the left-wing block of PvdA-GroenLinks and Pieter Omtzigt wins 20 seats three months after founding his party. We review the final week of the campaign, the game changing opinion polls, and ask the crucial question: what the hell happens now?

The runners and riders are declared for the election and it's looking like a three-horse race with six weeks to run. There's a row about flags as councils deliberate over how to commemorate the victims of the violence in Israel and Gaza. Max Verstappen completes his procession towards the F1 title in infernal conditions in Qatar while Sifan Hassan prevails on the streets of Chicago. Extinction Rebellion suspends its blockade of the A12 motorway after MPs order the government to review fossil fuel subsidies. And we bring you up to speed on the Dutch men's cricket team's progress and the football team's injury list ahead of the Euro 2024 qualifier against France.