It may be just about the coldest start to March on record, but there’s plenty of hot topics to digest on this week’s podcast. We find out why Geert Wilders’s efforts to thaw relations with Russia got a less than warm reception from the MH17 relatives, how a teenager won the right to brand himself a prince and what burning issues the Netherlands plans to tackle as chair of the UN security council. Plus the Winter Olympians return home in a blaze of glory and one of Johannes Vermeer’s best-known paintings is back in the spotlight. And as D66 prepares to consign its referendum law to the flames, we discuss why successive attempts at direct democracy in the Netherlands have failed to catch fire.
Top story: Weather
Last day of February breaks cold weather record
Man, 75, dies after falling through the ice while skating
News
Wilders infuriates MH17 relatives with friendship pin on trip to Russia
Son of Prince Carlos wins court battle to use father’s name and title
Netherlands to chair UN security council for the next month
Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring given a check-up
Sport
Speed skaters finish on 20 medals as Esmee Visscher interprets for Ivanka Trump
Discussion: Referendums and democracy
Cabinet stands firm: no referendum on law to end referendums
Gordon’s blog: The vote to end all votes