A round up of the best stories about the Netherlands and all things Dutch from leading international publications
Neglected by art history for decades, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, the painter’s sister-in-law, is finally being recognized as the force who opened the world’s eyes to his genius, writes Russell Sholto in the New York Times. More >
Those trying to solve the current coronavirus pandemic cannot do so with a purely biomedical and technical strategy. Four Dutch historians make the case for a multidisciplinary approach, taking into account the social, cultural, economic and psychological dimensions of society. History serves as a toolbox in this aim, as we derive lessons and insights from the past which we can still use today to defeat the pandemic. More >
NPO documentary, with English subtitles, about the secretive trade in passports, and the role of a (former) Groningen University professor. More >
In China, scientists have turned vast swathes of arid land into a lush oasis. Now a team of maverick engineers want to do the same to the Sinai. More >
Four years ago it was all about the ‘motorblok’: three parties that were the common denominator of all potential coalitions. In 2021 it looks as if the same trio – VVD, CDA and D66, whose ministers resigned en masse two months ago in a scandal that still lingers in the body politic like a troublesome hernia – will again form the basis of the next cabinet. More >
As 2010 drew to a close, the international news remained focused on the fallout from the year’s big events: the start of the Arab Spring, the Haitian earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Movie-goers were excited by recent smash hits the The King’s Speech and The Social Network, and music charts were dominated by young whippersnappers like Usher, Nelly and Eminem. More >
With the help of botanists, Daan Roosegaarde has created a ‘light recipe’ for a field of leeks to help the plants grow better. More >
Over 100 Dutchmen were sent to their deaths at a secret Nazi gas chamber in 1941, a year before Nazis began mass deportations of Jews to gas chambers. The men were seized in Amsterdam in the Netherlands in February 1941, in the first Nazi raids on Jews in Western Europe, and sent to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. More >
Pieter Omtzigt, a Euroskeptic Christian Democrat, has become the face of growing criticism of the Dutch prime minister ahead of parliamentary elections. More >
In recent years, Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders has spent a fortune on legal fees to defend himself against hate speech charges. In September he was eventually convicted of ‘group insult’ for encouraging a group of followers to chant that they wanted fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands. But who paid for Wilders’ lawyer? More >
A decade after an outbreak of Q fever killed 95 people in the Netherlands, scientists fear the emergence of a new disease More >
Sylvana Simons’ party will stand in the 2021 Dutch general election. ‘We’re activating people who’ve never felt politicians speaking to them.’ #12DaysofResistance More >
This week the Dutch Forum for Democracy (FvD) experienced yet another scandal, but this time the infighting did not favor Thierry Baudet. And so, four years after founding the party, and less than half a year before the next Dutch parliamentary election, Baudet has resigned as party leader, and withdrawn from the top spot on the electoral list, and we can all refocus our attention on the real leader of the Dutch far right, Geert Wilders. More >
The Dutch great played on until, aged 28, he could stand the pain from his damaged ankle no more. ‘I went from football’s highest level down to the lowest level of personal unhappiness’. More >
Commentators have long drawn sharp distinctions between conservatives in English-speaking countries and Europe’s own far-right traditions. Yet in the famously liberal Netherlands, such divides are becoming increasingly blurry, as reactionaries seeking a cultural counterrevolution try to imitate US neocons. More >
Twanna Hines, who grew up in rural Illinois, moved to the Netherlands to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Amsterdam in 2000. Not totally used to the stream of bicycles and trams in the streets of Amsterdam, she wandered into a bike lane and got a mouthful from a passing cyclist. More >
Last April, while Dutch and Italian politicians were trading insults on the European Covid recovery package, the Corriere della Sera wrote that in early days of European integration, young Italian diplomats posted to Brussels were told to apply the following principle: ‘In case of doubt, f… the Dutch.’ There was even a diplomatic version in circulation in Rome’s foreign ministry, the Farnesina: ‘Let the Dutch speak and take the diametrically opposite position’.’ More >
First there were drive-in movies, now the pandemic brought the concept to the art world; Museum-goers in the Netherlands can view artworks from their cars. More >
Last October, a couple of days before joining Stanford University as the international policy director at the Cyber Policy Center, Marietje Schaake, a former member of the European Parliament, spoke alongside Eric Schmidt, the ex-CEO. of Google, to a large audience of tech employees and academics. More >
