DutchNews Podcast

2026 gets off to a hot and cold start with the most devastating New Year's Eve ever, culminating in the destruction of Amsterdam's Vondelkerk tower. Thousands of passengers are left in limbo as Schiphol airport battles with snowbound runways and a shortage of de-icing fluid. Talks to form a new government are given an added sense of urgency by events in Venezuela. The Giant is cut down to size by the Nuke in his quest to become the third Dutch darts world champion. And we announce the results of the 2025 Ophef of the Year Awards.

We round off the year with our traditional round-up of the most outrageous flash news stories of 2025, and this year has produced a bumper crop. The Rijksmuseum sparked protests with an intimate depiction of a scene from Greek mythology, a night shift worker caused alarming scenes in Spijkenisse, a fringe party campaign advert churned stomachs and Katwijk council's attempts to prevent New Year's Eve vandalism backfired spectacularly. Vote for your favourite from the shortlist on the form below and give yourself a chance to win a coveted Dutch News non-matching mug and coaster set – and don't forget that as a podcast patron, your vote counts double (or triple for Grachtengordel patrons).

Vote here: https://forms.gle/ZYhZc6VD38Je8X7o8

The coalition talks grind on as the three parties decamp to Prince Bernhard's former military lodge. Volodymyr Zelenskyy unveils plans in The Hague to rebuild Ukraine with the proceeds of frozen Russian assets. Commercial pilots in the skies over Curaçao play Russian roulette with the US Air Force as the Venezuelan crisis escalates. Robin van Persie is feeling the pressure as Feyenoord lose two crucial matches in a week. And Femke Halsema wants to tone down the Koningsdag revelry in the capital.

10 Dutch football clubs with really ridiculous names: https://www.dutchnews.nl/2015/10/10-dutch-football-clubs-with-really-ridiculous-names/

Sybrand Buma bows out as coalition negotiator, leaving behind an iconic photograph and a Herculean task to form a new government. His successor, Maastricht university professor Rianne Letschert, pays tribute to the Schoof cabinet when she almost steers off the road as she takes the call offering her the job. Ajax stop the rot with a dramatic late comeback in Azerbaijan. Dick Advocaat is declared safe from US aggression off the coast of Venezuela. And this year's top Google searches suggest that punctuality is becoming another endangered Dutch tradition.

The coalition talks hit an impasse as D66 and CDA's hopes of forming a government go up in smoke faster than an Ajax home match. Financial investigators uncover more evidence of Russian influence at the Netherlands' largest shipbuilder. AvroTros confirms it will boycott next year's Eurovision Song Contest in protest at Israel's participation. Utrecht waits for DNA test results after a suspected "problem wolf" is shot dead. And a kitten dies after contracting bird flu on a goat farm. Link to the NATO Summit documentary: https://youtu.be/cRa8zPS2zoo?si=616TRLrI9zwjwe4v

Like exhausted generals at the Somme, the VVD gear up for one last push to get their asylum bill through parliament before the new cabinet takes office. Drones from Russia - or possibly MediaMarkt - cause consternation in the skies and ground aircraft in Eindhoven. PSV are on cloud nine after thumping Liverpool in the Champions League, while Ajax look to another Cruyff to rescue them from the doldrums. Amsterdam introduces a licensing system for second home buyers, as first-timers benefit from an exodus of private landlords. And a chance discovery in Australia solved a 450-year-old maritime mystery.

Dick Advocaat sparks scenes of jubilation on Curaçao and the world's shortest open top bus tour after the Caribbean nation reaches the World Cup for the first time. Back in The Hague, Rob Jetten and Henri Bontenbal get bogged down on nitrogen policy, while Dilan Yeşilgöz serves coffee with humble pie to Hans Wijers. Groningen reels from its biggest earthquake in six years while economic affairs minister Vincent Karremans calms the storm that blew up in China over the Nexperia takeover. And the US ambassador rules out restoring a panel commemorating black American servicemen who buried the bodies of their comrades in Limburg during WWII.

Rob Jetten and Henri Bontenbal give Dilan Yesilgöz a taste of her own medicine by shutting the VVD out of the first round of coalition talks. Employers are struggling to entice workers to go back to the office, while the VVD quietly ditches plans to protect migrant workers from exploitation. Limburg protests against the removal of exhibits at a a US war cemetery honouring black liberators. The prefabricated houses donated to Zeeland after the devastating 1953 floods get heritage status. And we explain how there could be as many as five Dutch teams at next year's World Cup.

National train chief Wouter Koolmees defies expectations by getting the first stage of coalition talks under way with only a slight delay. But will Dilan Yesilgöz' pledge to deplatform GL-PvdA shunt the whole exercise into a siding? The housing crisis intensifies as private landlords sell off student flats and a project to convert empty buildings fails to make an impact. The cabinet controversially scraps measures designed to protect migrant workers. Company bikes prove a hit as the cost of travelling to work increases. And Ajax's head coach John Heitinga is told to pack his bags after yet another crushing night in the Champions League.

We pick over the bones of the election that had just about everything … apart from a result. Jetten just about edges out Wilders, Yesilgöz snatches defeat from the jaws of catastrophe, Bontenbal and Eerdmans console themselves with huge gains and Van Hijum starts browsing brochures for Sint Eustatius. Eight so-called sovereign citizens are charged with forming a senior citizens' terror cell. Amsterdam sells itself short with its 750th birthday cake. And in sport, Katwijk's goalkeeper suffers from premature jubilation while Vitesse Arnhem's legal headaches continue.