87 million assigned to build artificial intelligence research
ROBUST, a new project of the Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence at the University of Amsterdam, aims to develop trustworthy AI technology for the…
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Airline tickets are getting more expensive due to environmental measures
The time of dirt-cheap tickets is behind us. Flying to Barcelona, Paris or other European cities for a few bucks will no longer be…
Rental prices posing a new inflation threat whilst home prices continue to drop
Netherlands house rental prices are set to accelerate this year to a pace not seen in many years. The soaring rentals are choking affordability…
New laws per 1 January 2023
As we enter a new year, changes will take place within various sectors in the Netherlands. From the beginning of 2023, several new regulations…
Baggage chaos continues at Schiphol Airport
The frightening scenes of four-hour long waits and queues that snaked around the cavernous halls of Amsterdam Schiphol from last summer may be over…
It’s not just those who live in Amsterdam – tourists hate crowds too
After a brief period of calm during the pandemic, Amsterdam will most likely host more than 20 million visitors in 2023, according to the…
Cinema attendance is increasing, but not yet at pre-Covid levels
During 2022, people in the Netherlands went to the cinema on average 1.4 times per person, a figure almost doubling the per capita attendance…
Treasure Hunting – De Kringloopwinkel
Early this month on the Dutch TV dating program “Blind Dates” on NPO3, a young woman complimented her ‘blind date’ from Friesland for how…
Science on Stage 2022
Wednesday 23 March 2022 “How to teach the idea of ‘motion’ to my students?” Every dedicated teacher of science and physics grapples with this…
Post-Covid: employees wish to continue working from home
It’s official: on 15 February the government’s advice to mainly work from home was withdrawn. The new recommendation is going back to the office…
The Netherlands scraps most Covid-19 restrictions as pandemic ‘passed its peak’
Just like its neighboring countries, The Netherlands has also moved to scrap most Covid-19 restrictions, as it is now clear that the virus has…
Extreme rise in energy costs hits the Netherlands
In the autumn of 2021, energy prices in the Netherlands reached a historically high level. As Statistics Netherlands (CBS) estimated, based on the energy…
Supermarkets complain about the escalating prices of premium brands
Negotiations between supermarkets and suppliers are hitting it up, once again. The Financieele Dagbladreports that due to the rising inflation, the bargaining game between…
Current student loan system set to be abolished
The student loan system in Dutch higher education will be phased out from September 2024. This decision was taken in the run-up to the…
Spring now starts 1 month earlier than 50 years ago
As the Netherlands and the planet warm up, spring is starting earlier than we were used to, and these changes are observable and measurable…
Distance learning: 5 tips to help my child learn and concentrate online?
48% of children say they have difficulty concentrating in an online classroom environment and 38% have difficulty understanding a subject, according to a recent…
Living in Amsterdam is becoming more difficult
The scarcity of owner-occupied homes in Amsterdam is high, with only about 979 homes up for sale in the municipality in the last quarter…
New law set to improve gender equality at top levels of Dutch businesses
A change in the law in the Netherlands is set to improve gender equality at the top levels of businesses. The new bill aims…
Structural shortage of police for the next three years
House robbed or bike stolen? Don’t expect a calvary of blue-uniformed police officers in screeching car wheels and blaring sirens to come to the…
Rutte IV Cabinet installed
After the longest formation in Dutch history (271 days to be exact), the new Dutch government was sworn into office on 10 January 2022….
House prices skyrocketing in many places
The housing market in the Netherlands is experiencing its highest price surge in over 20 years. The Dutch Association of Real Estate Agents (NVM)…
Problems with electricity supply expected to rise after 2025
Amidst an unprecedented growth in renewable energy production and the phasing out of carbon and gas to achieve climate goals, problems in the electricity…
University of Amsterdam struggles with growing numbers of international students
This year, for the first time in its history, the University of Amsterdam (UVA) enrolled more than 40,000 students. According to university numbers, there…
Shocking increase in mental health problems among students
Many college and university students have suffered from mental issues in the past year, according to the joint study between Trimbos Institute, RIVM and…
Anger and unrest sweep across the Netherlands over new corona restrictions
Hundreds took to the streets in various cities in the Netherlands as anger mounted over new Covid restrictions imposed by the government to tackle…
Healthcare collapsing under Covid pressure?
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues, the healthcare sector is facing challenges in meeting the rising demand in patient. The healthcare industry is experiencing extreme…
Shell’s move to London: a strategy for sustainability
On Sunday 14 November, Royal Dutch Shell informed the Dutch government of its intention to move its headquarters to London from The Hague. A…
The eleventh hour? Only 30 percent of the Dutch trust their government
According to a recently published report about the social impact of Covid-19 in the Netherlands, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in April…
Overheated housing market: DNB offers solutions
Escalating house prices, a lack of housing, negative social consequences and public demonstrations highlighting the urgency of the problem: the country seems fed up…
Amsterdam sees drastic drop in tourist rental listings
Recent steps taken by Amsterdam’s city council to reduce problems associated with overtourism appear to be paying off — the number of tourist rentals…
Amsterdam’s housing crisis
There is no denying that the housing crisis in this country has taken on new urgency, with more and more people struggling and often…
Mayor Halsema wants more money to fight drug crime
What are the Dutch most known for, their cheese or their narcotics? The nation that so far was best known for its tulips, windmills,…
Skyrocketing energy prices
Since the cancellation of many Covid restrictions, all around the world the demand for fuel has skyrocketed. In 2020, in the midst of the…
Cyber threats aimed at politicians are on the rise
Digital life has added more complexity to an already tricky question: How can the authorities decipher the difference between hateful rants that contain hollow…
Current Dutch politics – and now for something new
As much as we thought and hoped there would be a new cabinet in the Dutch government to showcase in this edition, alas there…
GPs feel the strain
The extremely high pressure under which GPs work, in addition to staff shortages, means an overload for general health care in the Netherlands. Running…
Prinsjesdag 2021: No royal carriage, no horses, no audience, no frills. But the show must go on
For a second year running, there was a no-frills policy at this year’s Prinsjesdag (‘Little Princes Day’). With its adjusted corona programme, members of…
Tata Steel: environmental threat or essential industry?
In the history of mankind, the battle between environment and jobs, the latter have always won. But that is changing – people are no…
Politicians’ proposals over ever-rising house prices
The current housing crisis in the Netherlands is so big that people have taken to the streets to express their anger and frustration that…
Buyers’ nightmare leads to housing protest in Amsterdam
Imagine house-hunting and seeing a place that you like, and then demanding the walls be painted in your favorite colour, bathroom tiles changed, kitchen…
Hazing under fire after excessive violence at student associations
The phenomenon of hazing is once again under fire. Soon-to-be members of six fraternities in Amsterdam were mistreated and humiliated during the traditional hazing…
Princess Laurentien opens European School The Hague
Her Royal Highness Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands will open the high school building of the European School in The Hague on Friday 1…
Foreign students coming back to the Netherlands
Busy hallways, full libraries, lively discussions about group assignments and what to do next weekend – student life is flourishing again in the Netherlands….
After 13 years, a President of Suriname visits the Netherlands
Last September, Suriname’s president Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi paid an official visit to the Netherlands, the first in more than a decade of tense relations…
Does flex work law cost jobs?
New law shakes things up The Balanced Labour Market Act (WAB) was established in 2020 and was intended to increase the position of flex…
Dutch government formation talks … take three
Already six months have passed the Dutch national elections in March 2021, and there is still no majority coalition and thus no new cabinet….
Bureaucratic backlash
As if authored by Kafka himself, foreigners and Dutch nationals returning to the Netherlands have landed in a bureaucratic nightmare. According to Dutch law,…
More companies introducing compulsory vaccination
Demand for vaccination? Ever since corona vaccination has become available for everyone, there have been various instances in which businesses have required their employees…
European robotic arm to be launched to the space station
On July 5, a press event took place at ESA ESTEC in Noordwijk in anticipation of the launch of the ESA’s European Robotic Arm…
Rabobank plans to build 12,000 temporary houses
In an effort to bring up a solution to the housing shortage in the Netherlands, Rabobank has plans to build a total of 12,000…