The annual window for changing health insurance is almost upon us, and health insurance companies have been publishing their new premium rates. Here’s what you need to know. The average Dutch health insurance premium will go up by €58 in 2021, according to an overview by health insurance website Zorgwijzer. The premium increase is in line with what the government expected when it presented its annual budget in September. The four largest insurance companies, Zilveren Kruis, VGZ, CZ and Menzis... More >

Recycling old buildings and industrial heritage, and giving them new life, is a key part of efforts in the Netherlands to make the most of the available space. A former train repair workshop in Utrecht is home to 25 companies focused, appropriately enough, on sustainability. The Utrecht Community (UCo), as the project is known, is home to some 25 companies that employ close to 200 people, all focused on sustainability. Advisors and lawyers specialised in biodiversity, renewable energy, and waste... More >

Fungus has long been a nutritious food source, but soon we may also be wearing it. Shortlisted for this year’s European Commission’s Social Innovation prize, MycoTEX is a sustainable fashion innovation with a mission to explode the conventional supply chain. Once a fashion designer for big-name brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Aniela Hoitink (46) from Soest now spends much of her time in a room full of mould – living her dream. Curious crossovers Aniela has always been drawn to... More >

The Dutch Protestant Church is to admit that it helped to ‘sow the seeds’ of anti-Semitism and failed to protect the country’s Jewish population before, during and after the Second World War. On Sunday, November 8, René de Reuver, the church’s official scribe, will read out a ‘declaration of guilt’ in the Rav Aron Schuster Synagogue in Amsterdam as part of the commemoration of Kristallnacht, the ‘night of broken glass’ in 1938 seen as the moment when the Nazis’ oppression... More >

How do you create more space in one of the most densely populated countries in the world? Easy, you put things on top of other things, and then you put those things on top of more things. For example, a kilometre-long park, on top of a shopping centre, on top of a dyke. Maybe it is easier said than done, but that didn’t stop Rotterdam from creating the Dakpark, Europe’s biggest rooftop park. It is a windy autumn day in... More >

Unlike in many countries, you won’t find car number plates in the Netherlands proclaiming that the driver is the BOSS 1 or a P5Y CHO. So what do Dutch licence plates tell you, and the taxman? The Netherlands was the third country in the world to issue vehicles with licence plates, taking the plunge on April 26, 1898, two years after Germany did so and five years after France. The first licence plate – number 1 – was issued to... More >

This November you can be entertained by some intimate theatre, look for pixies in the woods at night and check out one of Keith Richard’s guitars at the Groninger museum. Get the lowdown on the American showdown It’s really meant for students but why would not everyone want to learn about how the American political system works? The John Adams Institute is broadcasting a live online talk by assistant professor of American & Atlantic Studies Albertine Bloemendal about the intricacies... More >

Centuries ago, several people accused of witchcraft fled to the small Dutch town of Oudewater in search of justice. The fates were sealed in what is now one of the oddest museums in the Netherlands. Oudewater is one of the Netherlands’s most charming small towns. It is home to a positively fantastic ice cream shop and a stretch of river that runs past several gorgeous buildings that date back centuries. Point a camera in any direction and you’re liable to... More >

For some new arrivals in the Netherlands, it is like opening the pages of a novel by Kafka. You arrive here, you need to transfer a deposit for a house, you desperately need a bank account, but you can’t get a bank account until you’ve registered your address with the city. This is just one of the dilemmas that the Rabobank’s international client team desk helps international residents in the Netherlands solve. Such has been the demand from the tens... More >

Last month, the Dutch government announced a set of measures aimed at creating ‘a better, fairer and greener tax system’, and many of the changes will make a difference especially to those at the lower end of the income scale. ‘This was an important budget for various reasons,’ said a spokesperson from tax and benefits expert Blue Umbrella. ‘The government wants to stimulate the economy again, keep people in work or at least retraining for their future career, and make... More >