Exhausted and bedraggled after six months of bruising negotiations, the four parties in the new coalition this week hauled themselves over the start line. While the VVD filled the cabinet with heavyweight international statesmen and NSC appointed senior judges and diplomats, the PVV posted fans of Nazi "Umvolkung" theories. The breakthrough came just in time for Mark Rutte to take over the top job at Nato, having slipped a few sweeteners into Viktor Orbán's coffee. Nearly half of...

After months of slow progress, the formation of the next government hits warp speed as the new asylum minister resigns before he can be appointed. An early setback for the cabinet's immigration policy as the European Court of Justice says two Iraqi refugees who adopt Dutch values have the right to stay. Six men involved in the murder of the journalist Peter R de Vries are jailed for up to 28 years. The Princess Maxima cancer hospital fields brickbats from the scientific community after...

The European election campaign didn't quite catch fire, but things warmed up in the final days with the PVV and GroenLinks-PvdA running neck-and-neck in the polls. We ask what the outcome means for the new coalition, the pro-European opposition parties and the trivial business of the future of the EU. The coalition talks go from gridlock to quagmire as the parties reportedly row over the distribution of cabinet posts. A Dutch tourist with a marker pen earns himself a heavy fine and the wrath...

The six-month quest for a new prime minister ended this week when former spy chief Dick Schoof accepted his own Mission Impossible: keeping the new right-wing cabinet afloat. Good news for his predecessor, Mark Rutte, who can now concentrate on collecting the last stamps he needs to become boss of Nato. We look ahead to next week's European elections, which have been beset by allegations of Russian influence and Danish disenfranchisement. Women have become more independent in the last 50...

Polish podcaster Patryk Kulpok joins us this week to chew over the progress of the incoming government and the coalition deal. Which opposition leader did Geert Wilders reprimand for sniping from the sidelines? Why did Pieter Omtzigt end up arguing with Rob Jetten about the price of Ilse de Lange concert tickets? And will we have a new prime minister before our neighbours across the North Sea? In other news, the VVD face being homeless after the European elections after getting into bed with...

It was a week when a small European country finally got tough on foreigners who stir up trouble and harass its citizens. But most of the Netherlands was horrified by the expulsion of Joost Klein from the Eurovision Song Contest and rang out church bells in solidarity. Meanwhile in The Hague, a coalition of right-wing parties finally produced a programme for government, promising stringent new rules on asylum, fewer international students and a return to 130 km/h speed limits. Climate experts...

As the coalition talks stall, Geert Wilders delivers on his promise to put the Dutch first by slinking off to Budapest to give a speech in English about African migrants. Security is stepped up for the Remembrance Day ceremony, with numbers limited for the first time, amid fears it could be disrupted by protesters. Mark Rutte books a cheap flight to Turkey to collect one of the last stamps he needs to become secretary-general of Nato. Dutch consumers are cooling on the idea of installing...

The coalition talks are in limbo as Geert Wilders turns up the Timmermans Threat level to 11 and the parties try to turn an refugee drama into a crisis. Global warming isn't putting off Dutch holidaymakers, but the cost of travel is making their eyes water. Measles cases are on the rise as the vaccination rate falls. Feyenoord's manager looks set to jump ship while Alex Kroes and the Ajax board look for a creative way out of their death spiral. And we explain why Germany is no longer a happy...

In the week that Hugo de Jonge revealed that the Binnenhof renovation will cost €2bn and last until 2028, we ask if there is any chance of a government being in place by then. The king thanks his Spanish counterpart for putting up Princess Amalia in Madrid after she was threatened by gangsters, while Prinsjesdag is set for a populist makeover. In a bad week for pensioners, six people in their 70s go on trial for distributing a suicide powder, while canal boat tours fall foul of Amsterdam's...

Crisis club Ajax plumb new depths of hubris as their ramshackle defending on the pitch is eclipsed by a flurry of own goals in the boardroom. Down the road in The Hague, the manure hits the fan in the coalition talks as the negotiators try to put together the puzzle pieces. A group of pensioners go on trial accused of forming a criminal organisation to distribute suicide powders. Cyclists now account for two in five road deaths, but most would still rather be seen dead than in a safety...

Groningen is up in arms over the senate's decision to pause the great gas switch-off, in a week when several government plans perish in the upper house. Czech claims that Russia has infiltrated the Dutch parliament leave MPs with an intriguing missed Thierry to solve. Ajax's new chief executive scores a devastating own goal as the club's season of misery continues. The government's efforts to remove non-Ukrainans who fled the war turns into a legal minefield, while oil giant Shell appeals...

After agreeing on a form of government that keeps Pieter Omtzigt on board and Geert Wilders muzzled, the four right-wing parties finally get down to business. Two new negotiators are given the task of producing a programme for government within eight weeks, but the only thing the leaders agree on is that the discussions will be "tough". The PVV scuppers a bill on animal welfare, sweeping changes are made to the law on sex offences and Dilan Yesilgöz is told to switch the air-raid sirens back...

A breakthrough of sorts in the coalition talks as the four parties agree to form a "programme cabinet", which sounds like a piece of charity shop furniture. Protests against the visit of Israel's president sparks cast a shadow over the long-awaited opening of Amsterdam's Holocaust Museum. The SGP starts a crusade after learning that the government has ordered four new submarines to be built in France. And drug-running winger Quincy Promes's flight from justice appears to have come crashing...

More than 100 days after the election, there are cautious signs that the four parties who have been bickering since December might be ready to start talking about forming a government. Meanwhile, the outgoing government is battling to keep international employers like ASML and Boskalis in the country. Venlo is hiring Croatians who don't speak Dutch to drive its buses to solve a shortage of personnel. We explain how Amsterdam's tram operator tried to invoice Germany after the Second World War...

Kim Putters begins his efforts to complete a coalition puzzle that looks increasingly like a charity shop jigsaw with two pieces missing. The mindbending 3D maze that is the Marengo trial ends with life sentences for ruthless gangland boss Ridouan Taghi and two of his henchmen. The PVV gets itself in a tangle over support for Ukraine as the caretaker government agrees a 10-year military support package. In sport, the Leeuwinnen miss out on a ticket to the Olympic Games, while Femke Bol is...

Kim Putters begins his quest to form a new cabinet by wargaming the 501 permutations put forward by Pieter Omtzigt. The mayor of The Hague asks if the city "missed signals" about the riots that engulfed an Eritrean community event at the weekend. Scientists in Delft make a breakthrough in battery technology that shouldn't be taken with a pinch of salt. In sport, Irene Schouten shocks the world of speed skating by announcing her retirement while Femke Bol continues to set new standards on the...

The talks to form a right-wing coalition fall apart like a Babboe cargo bike after Pieter Omtzigt makes a smart getaway in lead negotiator Ronald Plasterk's car. After a debate that sets new standards for passive aggression, Geert Wilders asks another Labour-leaning chauffeur to try to get the show back on the road. Mark Rutte could be checking out early on the old coalition after Nato says it wants to appoint a new chief by Easter. Amsterdam city council's debate on its new erotic palace is...

We ask where the talks to form a coalition government go next after Pieter Omtzigt pulls out of the negotiations, sending the other three party leaders into a state of synchronised shock. Meanwhile, the farmers' protests heat up again, sending thick black clouds of asbestos-filled smoke billowing across motorways and adding to the pressure on justice minister Dilan Yesilgöz. China denies hacking into a top secret computer system which the Dutch insist didn't contain anything significant...

The coalition negotiations show signs of grinding to a halt as Geert Wilders's cold storage freezer fills up and relations between the parties become increasingly frosty. The economic picture isn't helping, as inflation remains stubbornly high and housebuilders are unable to keep up with demand. Russia's invasion of Ukraine dominates proceedings at the International Criminal Court. Conspiracy theorists get their teeth into allegations of censorship at "alternative broadcaster" Ongehoord...

Geert Wilders went viral with a serieus probleem this week, and he wasn't alone. Dilan Yesilgöz saw her party cleft in two by the refugee crisis, Amsterdam's lights went out two days in a row and Schiphol airport delayed its plan to make flights less frequent for a third time. PSV Eindhoven's winning streak came to an end, while Ajax's new signing finally overcame the forces of Brexit. Paintballing with wolves was given the go-ahead in Gelderland. And we announce the winner of the highly...

While a toilet paper discount caused stampedes in Utrecht, Geert Wilders broke the coalition talks' radio silence for the first time this week. Not to say how happy he is that tart from his home province is now officially on an EU heritage list, but to say that the four parties have "a major problem" following the VVD senate faction's surprising vote in favor of the controversial spreading law, which is opposed by the VVD in the Tweede Kamer, but supported by the VVD in cabinet. The UK...

The coalition talks resume with a teambuilding week at a country estate in Hilversum, where the four party leaders try to keep the media and the winter chill from the door. After months of rain, the sub-zero temperatures are welcomed by skaters, but the government's decision to pump extra gas from Groningen gets a frosty response. The International Court of Justice is called on to intervene in Israel's bombardment of Gaza. Marc Overmars's intimate selfies have a long tail as Fifa bans him...

It's time again for our annual look back at the microscandals and minor squabbles that enjoyed 15 minutes or less of notoriety on social media. Do you remember the Roman sewage row, the Pokémon stampede, the Anne Frank Borrelplank or the penile solar panels? Almost certainly not, so let us clutter your memory once more. And don't forget to vote for the most distinguished dollop in the dung heap using our special form. Remember, under our transparently skewed voting system, Patreon supporters...

The country can and must be governed, coalition scout Ronald Plasterk said after handing in his homework, but who wants to govern the country like this? Pieter Omtzigt still has serious doubts about the PVV's relationship with the constitution, Dilan Yesilgöz doesn't want the VVD to join a coalition and Caroline van der Plas is already fed up with all the bickering. Yesilgöz started a constitutional binfire in parliament when she called on the Senate to drop a migration law drawn up by her...