DutchNews podcast – The Broken Referendum Edition – Week 9

 

 

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

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