The rainy autumn weather has set in and so has the familiar packing and unpacking of raingear, the shaking of umbrellas by cafe doors and the hoods of raincoats cutting off peripheral vision. Longtime resident Molly Quell thinks Big Umbrella has conned everyone.  A few days ago, I arrived at a bar to meet a friend for a drink. I was soaking wet. As I’d gotten off the tram, the Dutch autumn skies opened up and proceeded to raise the... More >

A legal loophole means retailers can sell drinks in small plastic bottles but don’t have to take the empty bottles back. That is not exactly consumer-friendly,  says Rob Buurman, director of environmental NGO Recycling Netwerk Benelux. From July 1 this year most small plastic bottles have carried a deposit. But during the negotiations over the introduction of the scheme the cabinet scrapped the legal requirement on the part of retailers to take the bottles back. This has already led to... More >

Judging by several recent articles, the Dutch press seem to be surprised that international workers are actually buying property in the Netherlands. But the reasons are obvious, says José de Boer from De Boer Financial Consultants. This summer the main Dutch financial newspaper ran an article highlighting the fact that expats are increasingly likely to buy a house in the Netherlands, rather pay the high rents so common in Amsterdam and the other big cities. The experts interviewed for the... More >

As soon as the weather gets nice, the Dutch hightail it out of the country so fast they cause traffic emergencies for their southern neighbours. Longtime resident Molly Quell doesn’t understand why.  One of the most confusing things about the Netherlands for me, after living here for nearly a decade, is not the tikkies for €2.40 for a single coffee. It’s not the refusal to pick up after their dogs. It’s not even circle parties. It’s the way the whole... More >

There is a new scourge in the Netherlands which is clogging up already overcrowded pavements – the supposedly environment-friendly, ‘shared’ electric moped, says Natasha Cloutier in this personal column. They buzz up behind you at the traffic lights, they park on the pavement where ever they like and they are making money out of being able to do so. Felyx, Check and GO Sharing – the names might be friendly, but what looks like a new form of transport is... More >

As insults fly across the parliamentary debating chamber, D66 leader Sigrid Kaag says mutual understanding, patience and a willingness to listen are essential in a healthy democracy. Chief coalition negotiator Mariëtte Hamer raised a few eyebrows when she said the coalition talks could do with a bit of cheering up. Some peole took it as sign of impotence at a time which demands great seriousness and a sense of urgency. The climate crisis is not very jolly, after all, and... More >

This July it will be seven years since a passenger jet taking nearly 300 holidaymakers to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over eastern Ukraine. Molly Quell is covering the trial. It was my first time in the location of a mass murder. I spend most of my time covering international law, including the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, which try cases of war crimes and genocide. So I am not unfamiliar with large-scale atrocities. But standing... More >

If you follow DutchNews.nl on Facebook, you may be wondering why our page has not been updated since April 25. The answer is simple. We have no idea. The DutchNews.nl Facebook page has been a central part of our information provision since it was created over 11 years ago. In that time, 67,000 of you have started following it, to pick up our regular posts. That reach has brought with it problems, particularly in the form of trolls, sneaky advertising... More >

The hundreds of thousands of Polish and eastern European workers in the Netherlands are taken for granted by Dutch companies and consumers. Now the coronavirus vaccination programme is providing yet another illustration of how vulnerable they actually are, writes Malgorzata Bos-Karczewska. We know them by their official name of ‘EU migrant labourers’ or by the more neutral ‘international workers’. But we don’t really want to know the specifics. As long as they’re flexible and cheap, companies, job agencies and consumers... More >

As a country, the Netherlands is excellent at many things: cheese-making, playing football, creating fried bar snacks, freeing container ships from Egyptian canals. When it comes to political scandals, however, we’re awful, writes Ben Coates. In countries like the US, a major scandal might involve stolen nuclear secrets, illegal arms deals or crooked campaign contributions. In France, two former presidents have been found guilty of corruption within the last decade. And in Britain, the last week alone has seen the... More >

The Dutch are very fond of international comparisons if they come out well, but when it comes to coronavirus, they see the Netherlands’ position as one of  ‘superior failure’, writes Ben Coates. About a year ago, I became a Dutch citizen. In the age of corona, it was a strange experience: I cycled to the city hall through empty streets, with an ambulance siren wailing in the distance, then waited behind a glass screen for a while before being handed... More >

The Covid-19 pandemic has a deep impact on global economy and revealed the need for digitisation, as economic development all over the globe has taken a hit, says Mike Bai, strategy marketing, Western Europe, Huawei Technologies. Entire sectors like the service industry have shut down in a number of countries and the fragility of global supply chains has become apparent. The pandemic has also demonstrated the need for digitisation of both the public and private sectors to adjust business models,... More >

There is an easy solution to the cardboard chaos spilling across pavements in Dutch towns and cities, writes DutchNews.nl’s Robin Pascoe. If you’ve ever stopped to study the pile of cardboard boxes that inevitably pile up next to every waste bin across the country you can learn a lot about your neighbours. You will have neighbours who get their food delivered by Hello Fresh or Marley Spoon, you will have neighbours who seem to buy a new piece of flatpack... More >

From air pollution to waste management and global warming, the world is experiencing environmental degradation in many ways and technology is key to responding to the environmental crisis that we are facing, writes Jason Li, vice president of public affairs and communications, Western Europe, Huawei Technologies. The EU Commission has responded to the challenges of air pollution, waste management and global warming by presenting a long-term strategy. Under the umbrella of the European Green Deal, several initiatives will be aimed... More >

Together Huawei and European industry can address the challenges of a new emerging order, says Sophie Batas, director for cybersecurity at Huawei Europe. As the turbulent year of 2020 comes to an end, it is clear that the past months have been quite extraordinary for all of us. Even though we are starting to see the end of the tunnel with mass vaccinations soon to be underway all over the world, the pandemic continues to heavily impact our daily lives.... More >

If it had been the children of immigrants throwing fireworks at police, rather than youngsters in several Bible belt villages, the response would have been very different, says Leiden University professor Leo Lucassen. The events on New Year’s Eve and the days leading up to it demonstrated yet again that double standards are still rife in the Netherlands. Many criticised the Urker youngsters for going on the rampage but the explanation that was given for their violent and destructive behaviour... More >

Brandon Hartley has spent the last several months dealing with a mouse-infestation at his house when he’s not stuck on NS trains with canoodling couples. Needless to say, he’s very much looking forward to the end of the Covid 19 crisis. Here’s how his holiday season has been going. ‘Twas a week before Christmas, and all through the Netherlands, plenty of creatures were stirring, even the mice! I’m writing these words in my living room about a metre from where... More >

The government’s approach to helping the cultural sector through the coronavirus pandemic is sorely lacking, writes comedian Sanne Wallis de Vries. This article was really meant to be an explanation of why small theatres are so important in this country. But the very few words our prime minister Mark Rutte dedicates to art and culture during his press conferences have forced me to address him personally. I may use a small whip to bring the message home. I will begin... More >

When the president of the European Commission made her first speech to the European Parliament in December 2019, she officially recognised Artificial Intelligence as an area of strategic importance for the European Union. Nine months later, addressing once again the European Parliament in her maiden State of the Union speech”, she had moved from spelling out Artificial Intelligence to talking in terms of ‘AI’ – so well-known is the technology within the EU bubble now. This is not so surprising... More >

Granting people with dementia the right to ask for euthanasia when they are still capable of making the decision will free doctors from the task of taking the decision for them, says Klaas Rozemond, associate professor of criminal law at Amsterdam’s VU University. Once again, a medical disciplinary board has said the actions of a doctor involved in the euthanasia of a patient with dementia were negligent. On August 17 the Amsterdam disciplinary board decided that a doctor who works... More >