Hot Linkjes for April 20
An onslaught of princess news, enlistment pessimism, ASML optimism
Again I didn’t have time for a full post this week. Fingers crossed for next week? Met een beetje geluk...
🔥 Hot Linkjes
Society
Twenty year-old Crown Princess Amalia took part in her first state visit with the King and Queen of Spain. Hello! breaks down the security risks the princess has faced over the last year; it was also reported last week that she spent a year in Madrid amidst these safety concerns.
Amsterdam banned new hotels in order to combat mass tourism… but 26 permitted projects under development are still allowed to proceed. (CNN)
Mid-April is peak bird-watching season. The Netherlands is “a major transit point between Africa and Siberia. Almost the entire world of birds migrates through here.” (Folia)
Politics
The Groningen gas fields will be fully shut down in October, almost 40 years after the first Dutch gas extraction-induced earthquake. (Barron’s)
The Department of War
Only 36% of Dutch people age 16-29 said they would fight for their country. In an effort to boost recruitment, the Dutch forces are experimenting with a Dienjaar (service-year), a year-long trial rather than the regular four-year term. (Economist)
The Netherlands pledged an additional four billion euros in military support to Ukraine through 2025, a move that certainly won’t hurt outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s bid for NATO chief. (Reuters)
Business
Activists worldwide are increasingly taking businesses to court for greenwashing. In March, a Dutch court found KLM’s “Fly Responsibly” campaign painted “a too-rosy picture” of its climate initiatives. (New York Times)
Unsurprising: the finance minister said he’s “optimistic” that ASML—the largest Dutch company, which recently threatened to relocate—will remain in the NL. I wrote about how big business keeps the government in line here. (CNBC)
Tech
A technical outage of air traffic control systems almost completely shut down Dutch airspace for nearly three hours last Monday - Tuesday. (Reuters)
🥳 Leuke Dingetjes
McDonald’s released the world’s first scented billboards in the Netherlands. The billboards smell like fries and are placed within 200 meters of McDonald’s locations.
A new single from Bongloard.
This noise-punk track goes hard.
📺 Kijk/Lees/Luister List
Mostly non-Dutch stuff I watched, read, and listened to last week.
TV / Movies
I hated the big new A24 Alex Garland movie Civil War. It worked so hard to avoid politics that it didn’t even have a narrative. What are they supposed to be fighting and working for? And like, why? That said, the action is cool and it’s a fun movie to argue about, so you might as well see it.
has an interesting take on Civil War as an “explainer movie”
Music / Podcasts
Fontaines D.C. — one of my fav bands from the last few years — has a new single “Starburster” that I can’t stop listening to.
The Sunset Violent by Mount Kimbie is excellent, particularly “Empty and Silent.”
Articles / Books
“The dumbphone boom is real” by Kyle Chayka in the New Yorker.
“RFK Jr.’s Very Online, Conspiracy-Filled Campaign” by Leah Feiger and Makena Kelly in Wired.
"the action is cool and it’s a fun movie to argue about, so you might as well see it." Haha, love it! And I'll take the advice, as the premise is just so intriguing to me.