The Herding Cats and Chasing Cheeses Edition - Week 22 - 2026

About this episode

The episode discusses the cancellation of retirement age plans, a heated asylum debate, the blocking of DigiD's sale, and unique local initiatives in the Netherlands.

Social affairs minister Hans Vijlbrief cans the cabinet’s plans to extend the retirement age in the hope of avoiding a summer of strikes. Accusations fly in parliament in a bad-tempered debate on asylum, as the reception centre in Ter Apel continues to strain at the seams. The sale of DigiD is blocked at the last minute to the dismay of Donald Trump's man in The Hague. Schiermonnikoog wants to use heat-seeking drones to round up its stray cats. And a Dutchman is king of the hill in the ancient English sport of cheese rolling.

Topics covered

• retirement age
• asylum debate
• DigiD sale
• stray cats
• cheese rolling

Keywords

• retirement age
• Hans Vijlbrief
• asylum
• DigiD
• cheese rolling
• Schiermonnikoog
• stray cats

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: DigiD

Places: Ter Apel, Schiermonnikoog

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