It’s been a busy year at Dutch News in 2025, so here’s a chance to catch up on some of our best read articles you may have missed.

The general election was, of course one of the biggest stories of the year and thousands of you followed our live coverage as the results came in.  Our scoop of the year was an interview with Rob Jetten, who is set to be the next Dutch prime minister and told Gordon Darroch about his views on positivism, expats and political responsibility.

Housing is always a hot topic and Senay Boztas called politicians and estate agents to account in a series of articles about the problems on the housing market and focused on encouraging international residents to know their rental rights.

Farm-based pollution continues to be a major issue, and one of our best read stories of the year was a call by farmers for a review of new research into glyphosate pesticides which are increasingly being linked to cancer.

There was plenty of good news too. Brandon Hartley braved the crowds and the clouds for an Amsterdam King’s Day and Lauren Comiteau had a ball when she joined the revellers for Amsterdam’s giant ring birthday party.

Articles about weather extremes – and a warning about what awaits the Netherlands without action on global warming – were also among the best read articles of the year.

Interviews

We talked to lots of you, our readers, in our 10 Questions interview series. You told us about the four languages that fly around your dinner table, about your dislike of traditional cheese sandwiches and just how traditional the Netherlands really is.

We spoke to people from Japan, from Russia, from Ukraine and from England and Morocco and more. And we learned how no-one likes being called an expat.

Catch up on our 10 Questions interviews

This year our inburgering course unravelled the mysteries of the Dutch streken, as well as a look at impossible words to translate. We also dug out the essentials of the Nijmegen Vierdaagse and had the lowdown on key Dutch phrases involving animals.

Check out the full list of lessons

If travel is more your thing, we’ve been all over the country this year, from Warmond to the Dutch islands, from Apeldoorn to Zwolle with plenty of places in between.

Check out this year’s list

There was no shortage of opinions on Dutch News this year either. We looked at the importance of the Margraten cemetery in the wake of the row about the removal of information about the Black liberators.

We looked at why people who pay taxes don’t have the right to vote and the outgoing government’s plan to make it harder to become Dutch. We wrote about the incompetence and cowardice that characterises the real Dutch asylum crisis and why Dutch homes are really unaffordable.

And, of course, our regular columnist Molly Quell turned her attention to everything from nude swimming to love and fireworks.

This year’s opinion pieces

Wine writer and Amsterdam foodie Vicky Hampton kept us up to speed on what wines to drink, and which, perhaps, would best accompany a meal made up of American crayfish. We also ran a list of traditional Dutch dinners, not all of which involve potato.

Sample our food and drink coverage

Art and culture were high on the agenda as well. Alongside Hanneke Sanou’s monthly What’s On round-up, we were at the opening of the new Fenix museum of migration in Rotterdam, saw how art meets taxidermy in Amsterdam and looked back at 15 years of Black activism. Bob Vylan, Tilda Swinton and Titanic fashion all featured in our arts and culture coverage.

Robin Pascoe also spoke to Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen about his Occupied City opus and the non-stop showing on the front façade of the Rijksmuseum.

We even came up with a rather long list of works of art which have been destroyed by accident.

Keep up with our arts and culture coverage

Our heartfelt thanks to all of you, our readers and to our advertisers for their support, your emails, social media messages and donations, over the past year.

In 2026 Dutch News will be 20 years old, we’ve got local elections in March (which many of you can vote in), the Winter Olympics, world cup football and cricket and – hopefully – a new government. In the meantime, our best to every one for 2026.