The Dutch supermarket giant, Albert Heijn, requested staff to upload semi-naked photos of themselves to trial a new app that could work out uniform sizes for employees. The supermarket has subsequently retracted its weird demand after wide-spread criticism.
What on earth…?
Albert Heijn were trialling a new app at a branch in Nijmegen. Many of the staff got the impression participation was mandatory but Albert Heijn say they never intended for it to be so, NRC reports.
The poster, put up in effort to recruit willing employees, read “Wear underwear or close-fitting sportswear to be able to measure the contours of your body as well as possible. And ask someone to help you take the photos.”
A spokesman for Albert Heijn told Dutch media that the company wanted to find a more efficient way of collecting all the sizes of its 100,000 workers. They believed using an app would be better than sorting through thousands of emails, the BBC reports.
Confused? So are a lot of other people
One staff member who works at the Nijmegen supermarket told NRC “At first I thought it was cool, because we are the first to wear new clothing. But when my mother took a picture of me in underwear, it felt a bit strange. ”
Hundreds of others took to social media to discuss the incident. Some were shocked by the move…
Het is echt te weinig, @albertheijn. Er is geen enkel inzicht waarom deze app ver over de grens is. Er is in een gezagsverhouding geen sprake van vrijwilligheid. En het is onethisch om jongeren in ondergoed te fotograferen. Met je 'het is een misverstand'https://t.co/DK4QEu23F0
They said the decision was “bizarre” and continued “As an employee in an employment relationship, you can never give free permission because the relationship is hierarchical.”
Albert Heijn’s response
Albert Heijn has cancelled the trial on Monday but already over 400 staff members had uploaded photos. “We have cancelled the pilot and we apologise to all involved.” A spokesperson said.
What do you think of this initiative? Efficient or bizarre? Let us know in the comments!
The Dutch news site, NU.nl, has quit as Facebook’s fact-checking partner in the Netherlands. The website ended their association with Facebook as a result of its lax rules about the truth of political ads.
As most people have noticed over the past couple of weeks, Facebook’s policy on political advertisements has been causing quite a bit of controversy. That controversy has reached the Netherlands at last, and the social media giant’s only fact-checking partner in the Netherlands has quit as a result. Yesterday, NU.nl, who many may simply know as a news site, released a blog post detailing their reasons for abandoning Facebook to its fate.
Politicians’ ads exempt from fact-checking
For those who don’t know, Facebook has fact-checking partners in 45 countries around the world. However, according to Facebook itself, these partners are not there to fact-check politicians ads. Nick Clegg, Facebook’s VP on Global Affairs, says that this is because “in an open democracy, voters are usually allowed to judge for themselves what they think of the statements made by politicians”. We all know how well that’s worked out in the past with Brexit and Trump.
Fighting fake news is a journalistic responsibility
For editor in chief at NU.nl Gert-Jaap Hoekman, this is unacceptable. “What is the point of fighting fake news if you are not allowed to tackle politicians?” NU.nl was the only website that stepped up to the task when Facebook sent a delegation to the Netherlands in 2017 to try to partner with journalists to fact-check their news. Why? Well, because Facebook wasn’t paying. At all. Furthermore, they were basically expecting news sites to clean up their mess. Hoekman agreed to do the mammoth task because he believed fighting fake news was his journalistic responsibility.
What forced the split?
Things came to a head with Facebook over the past half a year, as NU.nl repeatedly marked advertisements from certain Dutch political parties (FvD, PVV, and CDA- unsurprisingly, we must admit) as false, or as “highly unlikely to be true”.
Facebook, however, believes that these messages should still be seen by the public. This is not the first time that Facebook alienated a Dutch fact-checking service: last year, Leiden University broke off its fact-checking arrangement with the website as well. Facebook is planning on finding other fact-checkers in the Netherlands soon.
What does this mean for the future of Facebook in the Netherlands? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Christmas trees will be shorter than usual in the Netherlands this year, and that’s not just because Dutchies dwarf everything they stand beside. Last summer was dry, which, unsurprisingly, makes for shorter trees.
This sounds like bad news, but it’s not, NOS reports. Not only will it be a good deal easier to bring your new piece of greenery up those winding Dutch stairs, but slower growth means thicker foliage and, overall, a prettier tree. So we can look back on the warm summer with nostalgia: not only because we got to sit outside without freezing to death once or twice, but also because it has brought us pretty Christmas trees!
Not a pretty Christmas tree. Image: Ailish Lalor/Supplied.
Christmas trees 10-20cm shorter than last year
Basically, trees mostly grow at their top, so if the summer is wet, and there is a lot of growth, then the top of the tree stretches out further- making for some struggles on the decorator’s part. As the summer was dry, the trees are more squat, with thick foliage. Most tree sellers reckon that consumers won’t notice the difference- trees are on average only 10 or 20 centimetres shorter than last year. Customers will also still be able to choose whatever size tree they like.
Christmas tree sales on the up, even if their height isn’t
In general, the Christmas tree sector in the Netherlands is doing really well in recent years. For a while, plastic trees were gaining in popularity, but lately, real trees have come back into style. “Christmas has to be celebrated bigger and bigger and besides that plastic is not really in. The natural tree is back again,” Jaap Bolhuis of the Dutch Christmas Tree Growers Association says. Already, sales are higher by 9 percent than last year.
Will you be getting a real Christmas tree this year? Let us know in the comments below!
What’s the best excuse you’ve ever tried to get out of a traffic fine? Running late for an appointment? Rushing to your family-in-laws dinner? Whatever you come up with, we think we’ve found one better.
A cyclist was arrested on Saturday evening after riding through a red light too many times. When the police caught him, the offender said the reason he couldn’t stop at lights was that he had a fish in his bag.
How did this even happen?
The Walcheren police took to Facebook to share this unique incident. They explain “We admit… turns out we haven’t seen everything yet. In the middle of the night and putting their own life in danger, a person rode a bike without lights through a red light in the darkest part of Vlissingen. When asked why they rode the red light, this one replied; ‘ I couldn’t brake on time, because in the bag I have with me, a fish is sitting!”, The Telegraaf reports.
Was there really a shark in the bag?
Obviously the police were suspicious about this far-fetched excuse and asked to examine the contents of the bag. Upon looking inside, they the police saw a plastic container filled with water that indeed contained a small shark.
Did the excuse work?
The police escorted the cyclist home so the shark could be returned to safety. It is not known whether he was fined for running the traffic lights.
Think you can top this excuse? Let us know in the comments below!
The winter holidays are fast approaching, and we’re all looking for some free things to do in December. After all, gift-buying and Christmas festivities don’t come cheap! We’ve gotcha covered for some incredible winter events in the Netherlands – that are easy on the wallet, or free!
Christmas Markets
Is there anything better than the magic of a Christmas market? Image: Leiden Marketing/Supplied.
When: throughout December
Where: all over the Netherlands
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! If there is one thing that you should definitely do in December while in the Netherlands, it is visiting a Christmas market. Christmas markets are wildly popular all around the Netherlands, so regardless of where you live or stay there you’re virtually guaranteed to have one close by!
While you can just walk around and immerse yourself into the Christmas spirit at a market for free, you can also spend a few euros on yourself and buy yourself some mulled wine or hot cocoa. Why? We think you deserve it! Merry Christmas!
Amsterdam Light Festival
Amsterdam? Stunning. Amsterdam fully lit up by artists? Even better. Image: Erik Zachte/Wikimedia
When: 28th of November, 2019 – 19th of January, 2020
Where: Amsterdam
If you thought that Amsterdam is generally an enchanting city during the night time, then you will definitely fall in love with it all over again during the Amsterdam Light Festival. Illuminated artworks and installations are dotted all around the canals of the city. The free option would be to go on self-guided walking tours through the city at night to spot them. Or you could also spend a few euros and go on a very romantic Light Festival canal cruise!
Dickens Festival
When: 14th and 15th of December 2019
Where: Deventer
One of the most magical Christmas events in the Netherlands is the Dickens Festival. Every year Deventer is transformed for two days into a real-life scene from a Charles Dickens novel!
Everywhere you look you can see traditional 19th century Christmas decorations. On top of that, more than 950 characters from Dickens’ novels are brought to life around you. From wealthy lords and ladies to pickpockets, you will feel like you have stepped into the events of “A Christmas Carol” or “Oliver Twist”. It’s a fairytale event like no other!
Winter Wonder Weeks Leiden
There is no Christmassier activity than iceskating. Image: Leiden Marketing/Supplied.
When: November 23 2019 – January 5, 2020
Where: Leiden
The Winter Wonder Weeks in Leiden combine the best Christmas events in the Netherlands. Lasting for well over a month, Leiden is transformed into a winter wonderland. The entire town is beautifully illuminated with Christmas lights on trees, small lights alongside bridges, and of course a huge Christmas tree.
You can also attend a variety of events (both for free or a low price) every week, like the House of Sinterklaas, Pop-up restaurant Bårr, skating on a floating ice rink, attending the Korenweekenden music festival, and many many more! For the full list, you can just simply check out their official page.
Rotary Santa Run
Where: All over the Netherlands
When: December 14, 2019
The Rotary Santa Run is one of Holland’s best charity events. It takes place every year in 60 different cities, and the participants raise money for the Kidney Foundation, as well as other local charities. There are two ways to enjoy the Santa Run: you either participate in it, or your cheer from the sides! Either way, it’s a ton of fun. If you actually wish to be one of the participants, then you still have time to sign up here and get your Santa Run costume!
These were some of the best free things to do in December! Which event are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below!
Two researchers from Tilburg University have stated that cat owners who allow their precious kitty to roam free in the great outdoors are in contravention of the European nature protection laws.
Cats kill 140 million animals each year
In a paper published in the Journal of Environmental Law, Dutch researchers Arie Trouwborst and Han Somsen draw attention to the negative impact cats have on the environment, and argue that the Netherlands needs to toughen up when it comes to these fluffy murderers.
European guidelines state that countries are obliged to protect certain endangered species from predators like cats. Cats kill an estimated 140 million birds, rodents, bats, fish and reptiles each year in the Netherlands, and even though they’re highly discerning when it comes to their preferred brand of wet food, it seems cats don’t give a hoot whether the animal they’re playfully killing is endangered or not.
INNOCENT. Image: Abuzer van Leeuwen/Supplied.
Dutch people own 2.6 million cats
Not all of the culprits are the sleepy housecat who is seemingly awake for one hour a day: one third of the victims are killed by wild domestic cats. But it does seem that our companions are more bloodthirsty than we might think: and even if their individual impact is fairly small, Dutch people own 2.6 million cats, so the overall effect is not to be denied. And the damage doesn’t end there- domestic cats also destroy any population of wild cats, by interbreeding with them and spreading diseases. Cats are the third most deadly invasive species worldwide.
Ollie experiencing existential dread at the idea that she might be problematic. Image: Abuzer van Leeuwen/Supplied.
The solution: hunt the hunter?
So, what can we do about this? There have been several suggestions over the past year to introduce hunting as a way of curbing the population growth of feral domesticated cats. However, there are obvious problems: pets could easily be confused with the intended target, and few feel totally comfortable shooting a cat in any case.
Wildcats were shot in Utrecht last year, but this initiative was rolled back by Environmental Minister Carola Schouten, who stated that she aims to keep cat shooting at an absolute minimum. This was done partly n response to the Party for the Animals, who wanted cat shooting to be banned nationwide. Similarly, in Zeeland, cat hunting was supposed to take place this year, but after the public’s lack of support for the measure was made clear, it did not take place.
Ollie’s solution if cat hunting ever becomes a thing: play dead. Image: Abuzer van Leeuwen/Supplied
How do you think we should look after our native species? Are cats destined to become purely indoor pets? Let us know in the comments below.
Feature image: Abuzer van Leeuwen van Leeuwen/Supplied.
Boom Chicago is the place to go in the Netherlands for comedy. It’s the best English improv you’ll see in this country. A couple of weeks ago, we at DutchReview were lucky enough to see one of their fabulous shows and we absolutely loved it. So we wanted to tell you all about the experience- and about Boom Chicago in general!
Boom Chicago: how did it all begin?
Boom Chicago has been running for 26 years- an absolute landmark in the comedy scene in the Netherlands. It was started by three friends who noticed that the comedy scene in the Netherlands was lacking something (or a lot of things). They wanted to bring it back to life, to make it snappy, articulate and uplifting. Most of all, they wanted to introduce improv to the Netherlands.
After starting in a tiny salsa bar, they moved to the sugar factory and then the Leidseplein and finally ended up in their current venue on the Rozengracht. As founder Saskia Maas says, it all started with a bunch of friends doing comedy- and that’s what it still is today.
The bar at Boom Chicago. Image: Abuzer van Leeuwen/Supplied.
Boom Chicago’s focus on improv comedy
What is improv comedy, you may be asking? It’s a bit like when you tell a joke spontaneously in conversation, except, uh, a lot better. You’ll have one or several performers onstage, and they’ll create a scene instantaneously from a prompt from the audience. That could be in the form of someone shouting out an object, a place, a person- or it could be in the form of a conversation with someone in the audience about their life. The scenes the comedians make up are hilarious, and the level of enjoyment you experience is increased by knowing that these performers are drawing everything they’re saying out of their brains at that very moment. It’s so cool to watch.
Where is Boom Chicago in Amsterdam?
The DutchReview team enjoying the Boom Chicago bar. Image: Abuzer van Leeuwen/Supplied.
Boom Chicago’s venue is stunning, and perfectly located for an evening in Amsterdam. After grabbing a delicious dinner in the city centre, head to Boom Chicago’s bar for some drinks before the show begins. You can continue hydrating yourself throughout the show- Boom Chicago has this very cool system where you can turn the light on your table upside down during a show, and a waiter will come and take your order for another drink. We were super impressed by that and enjoyed making use of it while we giggled our way through the show.
Boom Chicago’s venue is stunning. Image: Michael Bosboom
Boom Chicago is the place to develop your comedy skills
Boom Chicago is not just any old comedy club: it has a glowing list of alumni. Among them are people like Seth Meyers, Jordan Peele, and Amber Ruffin, who have become household names in the US and beyond. They actually invited them all back for a 25th-anniversary celebration last year. The performers you’ll see on stage at the moment at Boom Chicago are the stars of the future.
However, learning how to improvise, how to work with a group of people onstage and almost read each others’ thoughts is not necessarily just something you’re born with. Boom Chicago is also ready and waiting to teach you how to do improvisation comedy. They have classes which you can sign up for- actually, you can just do a taster class to begin with, to see if it’s something that suits you.
Over the years, you can progress through the levels. People often form groups in their first course, and progress as a comedy group throughout the levels. Many of the performers you see on Boom Chicago’s stage today will have gone through the courses as well- and they specifically have nights where their students perform. If comedy is something you’ve been dreaming about pursuing- or you simply want to get more relaxed about public speaking- then consider starting classes at Boom Chicago.
“The Future is Here: And It’s Slightly Annoying”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt3JSTZqQYQ
So, we’ve already mentioned that we were lucky enough to see a show at Boom Chicago recently: we saw “The Future is Here… And it’s slightly annoying“. It’s an improv-sketch combination that discusses the role of AI in humanity’s future. But, most hilariously, it considers whether AI could ever replace comedians.
You would imagine this would be pretty much the last career to be replaced, but Boom Chicago brings a robot onstage to put this to the test during this awesome show. Using a very complicated algorithm that we totally understand, the robot listens to the other comedians on stage and comes up with responses to their statements. These responses are filtered by one of the performers offstage, and then the other performers improvise in response to what the robot says. The show was also outstanding in how it engaged the audience: the comedians would often ask the audience for an idea, or a word, and then improvise multiple scenes based on that suggestion. It was so impressive to watch.
Boom Chicago’s “The Future is Here… And It’s Slightly Annoying” show in action. Image: Michael Bosboom.
Other English comedy shows at Boom Chicago in Amsterdam
If you have enough future worries in your day to day life, and can’t face hearing about them again, then never fear: Boom Chicago has a bunch of other shows that you can enjoy almost any day of the week.
On Sunday evenings, you have Sunday Night Live, which is a completely improvised show about whatever the audience decides. For a late-night on Saturday, there’s A Shot of Improv– a fully improvised show accompanied by, you guessed it, shots. Then, for those of us who are still hysterically laughing about Trump being president, there’s Trump up the Volume: a show that was supposed to end in November 2016 but has continued till this very day. We’re kind of hoping it ends in November 2020- though also not, because Trump is a fantastic source of humour.
In general, one of the coolest things about Boom Chicago is that even if you’ve seen a show before, it’ll be completely different the next time, because it’s all made up on the spot.
The bar at Boom Chicago is the perfect place to hang out before the show begins. Image: Michael Bosboom
Boom Chicago for Business
Boom Chicago also has another focus: Boom Chicago for Business, which is their organization for using comedy in a business setting. The focus of this side of the business is to enable communication. For a lot of leaders, the focus of meetings and conversations with employees is overwhelmingly on saying the right things- on the message that they want to give.
However, they often don’t focus on whether that message is heard, or how the listeners react to it. That’s where comedy comes in: to open up boundaries on what people might say in the workplace in order to encourage clearer, better communication for everyone involved. If that sounds like something you (or your boss) needs, then be sure to check out all Boom Chicago for Business has to offer.
Our pro tip: stay til the very end
We loved the after-show at Boom Chicago. Image: Abuzer van Leeuwen/Supplied
After the shows at Boom Chicago end, there is time for you to grab another drink before the comedians take to the stage once more to try out their new material. Pure stand up, completely for free- what a bargain. You also get an idea of how comedic material is put together. We absolutely recommend you stay for the after-show- it’s so worth it!
Dutchies stepping on the scales have been seeing the numbers steadily go up, says the latest data from the Health Survey from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
While average height has only seen a small increase, Dutchies are slowly becoming heavier, the figures show. We don’t know how, given all that cycling, but suppose we can concede that stroopwafels are delicious.
Over the 37 year period, from 1981 to 2018, the average weight of women shot up an additional 7 kilos, despite the average height only increasing 1.5 centimetres. It’s almost twice as much of an overall weight increase compared to their male counterparts.
For men, the scales tipped up a further 9 kilos, but they managed to gain 3.8 centimetres of height. Tell us your secrets to gaining height please Nederlanders!
The results have led to CBS concluding that women have become ‘fairly considerably’ heavier, particularly taking into account the lack of change in their height.
Despite the overall findings, it could be that some outlying higher numbers are throwing off the results. Weighing over 100 kilos is more common nowadays, despite many people still weighing on or below the national average.
How tall is an average Dutchie today?
The average Dutch male is a whopping 181cm tall, a full 10 centimetres more than the world average of 171cm. Or, to put it into Dutch terms, around 3.3 bitterballen taller.
Meanwhile, women hover around the 167cm mark, about 7.5cm taller than the world average of 159.5cm. Or, as we like to say, around 3.5 bitterballen taller.
The tallest Dutchies will be found hanging out in the north (does that have something to do with it?) in Friesland and Groningen. Lower in both height and geography are those from Brabant and Limburg.
Are you impressed by the Dutch’s height prowess? Shocked that they’re supposedly wider than in the 80s? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
It feels like every second day Amsterdam or the Netherlands ranks high for something good. Whether it’s about being happy in general, having safe cities, innovative thinking, or being the best non-native English speakers, the Dutch are doing something right. Their latest achievement? Amsterdam just came second-in-the-world for green mobility, reports NOS.
What is green mobility? It’s a fancy term for how environmental our transport methods are. Because Amsterdam has such high bike usage, space for pedestrians, and a strong public transport offering that ticks a bunch of boxes according to the research conducted by international research agency Oliver Wyman. The index compares large cities in the world in terms of new, green mobility.
But who beat out Amsterdam for the top spot? Bloody Singapore of course. Alright, alright, we’re happy there are other cities doing things to save the earth too, but we do like the Dutch being the best (even if they aren’t always).
Trailing behind Singapore and Amsterdam are our friends across the pond in London, those in Shanghai (what?) and New York. All the way at the end of the list of green mobility is Cairo.
What is Singapore doing differently?
Singapore has been introducing road pricing since 1998 in an effort to make the city car-free. Road pricing systems charge vehicles based on how much they use the road, at what times, and in accordance with how much congestion they cause. Road pricing has also been suggested to be implemented in Amsterdam and across the Netherlands.
But, the Dutch capital is well on its way with attempts to ban the car from the city centre by introducing high parking fees and limiting parking spaces. This incentivises public transport options to get to the city instead of travelling by car.
Green mobility will be the hot topic for scientists and researchers around the world today at a conference in Paris aimed at making large cities liveable and how innovation can help. It’s an urgent discussion: within 10 years, 60 per cent of the world’s population is forecast to live in large cities.
What do you think of Amsterdam’s latest ranking? What else could the city do to be greener? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Police arrested two men in Zoetermeer and The Hague yesterday after receiving a tip-off that the men were planning a terrorist attack. The men are accused of preparing to carry out an attack by the end of year.
It remains unclear who, or what, the intended target was going to be. However, it is thought the suspects were planning on using bomb jackets, and at least one car bomb.
The suspects, a 20-year-old Dutch citizen and 34-year-old Iranian, are both from Zoetermeer. A spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service (OM) told NOS that the men were preparing for the attack by learning to create bombs.
Dit zijn beelden van de actie waarbij een terreurverdachte is opgepakt in Zoetermeer. Ook in Den Haag is een verdachte aangehouden. pic.twitter.com/za6xLpA5pT
A tip from the Dutch intelligence service AIVD that the pair wanted to commit a jihadist attack came at the beginning of October. It led to the arrests yesterday. The delay in arresting the suspects was to gather incriminating evidence against them, says Annemarie van Weert, a researcher at the Hogeschool Utrecht.
“What I hear is that proper research is done to collect evidence. This is very important in these kinds of arrests, because there has been no crime committed yet,” said van Weert to Nieuws en Co.
“Apparently [the police] had information that the attack was planned for the end of the year. That meant they still had time.”
The official tip was about the two individuals, not about a larger network, confirmed the OM spokesperson.
Gathering evidence through infiltrators
Police planted two infiltrators tasked with gaining insight into the suspects and their plans of committing an attack, said the OM office.
Special investigative tools were also used to gather evidence. However, the OM office would not confirm exactly which tools were utilised. They did confirm that the tools generally include observations or telephone tapping.
These special tools are just one way the Netherlands has moved ahead of the rest of the world in legislating investigative means, says criminologist van Weert. “That has to do with a shift to an anticipatory legal system: we want to prevent and not be late.”
Public arrests and a hidden room
One man was arrested from his car in The Hague, while the other was arrested at his home in Zoetermeer while neighbours watched. The arrests were conducted by the anti-terrorism unit of the police, the Special Interventions Service.
A search conducted of one of the suspect’s homes found a hidden room with a hatchet, a dagger, and a mobile phone with sim cards. Thankfully, no explosives, raw materials or firearms were found in either of the house searches.
We’re thankful the police did such a great job foiling the terrorist attack. What do you think of the arrests? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
