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Netherlands
In the Netherlands, 2.5 million people have difficulty with reading, writing and/or arithmetic, which prevents them from fully participating in society. In Heerlen, South Limburg, where a relatively large number of low-literate people live, we come across many separate initiatives to tackle language disadvantages: from projects in the playgroup to extra reading lessons in education and language courses for adults. Yet a more structural solution to this problem seems to be lacking. What is needed to ensure that future generations grow up without language disadvantages?
Homes with vermin and mold, sleeping in a tent on a campsite or spending hours on the train to attend a lecture. Students accept a lot because there is a major shortage of student housing. Dutch universities have grown enormously in recent years. Almost every course can be followed in English and the doors are wide open to students from all over the world. Student numbers are expected to continue to grow in the coming years. But who is responsible for a decent student room?
Last fall, a shock went through the Netherlands when it turned out that children in our rich country were going to school without food. There was great outrage, volunteers started making sandwiches and The Hague released millions to feed children at school. What's behind this? How big is the problem of poverty and bad food among children? And what do schools think about the fact that they now have it on their plate?
Anyone waiting for help with psychological suffering must have a lot of patience. There are currently 85,000 people on a mental health waiting list. In the meantime, the need for psychological help is only increasing. One in five Dutch people will experience mental difficulties at some point. Once it is your turn, you must receive a label, otherwise the care will not be reimbursed. And this compartmentalized thinking is meeting with increasing resistance. So the problem is all over the place and there are no easy solutions. There are more and more calls for a drastic overhaul of mental health care.
There are countless jubilant stories about the Healy on Facebook and YouTube. A small device that you can clip to your sweater or shirt and is said to promote your health through frequency therapy. You can treat any complaint with it: from sleep disorders and pain to depression and anxiety. And not only that, it can also make you rich, the sellers promise. But behind all the promises there appears to be a shadowy world hidden. A network of traffickers that takes advantage of thousands of vulnerable people.
Millions are released for emergency aid because children are hungry in class. This is a temporary solution to a problem that has been going on for years. Hunger and bad food hinder equal opportunities. Teachers Jean-Paul and Susanne have therefore started organizing a healthy school lunch. But in practice that is not easy. How do other countries in Europe do this? And what is the vision of this cabinet?
Last year, the parliamentary committee of inquiry investigated how the people of Groningen could have ended up in earthquake misery. One thing is clear: the safety of Groningen residents has been ignored for years. But what about now? Thousands of residents are still waiting for their homes to be reinforced. But are unsafe houses being tackled urgently?
Bus transport is under pressure, especially in rural areas. Almost empty buses are not profitable for the carrier, but the quality of life does depend on it. Because what if, as a student, you can no longer come home after a lecture? Some villages are no longer accessible by public transport in the evenings and on weekends, while a bus runs every five minutes in the city. This creates inequality of opportunity, experts say. Is it time for a lower limit? Does every village have the right to a bus line?
In the Netherlands, 1.3 million people sometimes or regularly work at night. Wonderfully quiet, some say. But that will cost you your night's sleep. Because those who work at night are more likely to have sleep problems. The Health Council concluded in 2017 that night work is unhealthy and should be limited as much as possible. But will that work? And are companies doing enough to prevent complaints due to night work? Pointer delves into the world of the insomniacs. We set off in the middle of the night with truck driver Dion and visit former colleague Chiel, who said goodbye that night after years of loyal service due to chronic lack of sleep.
To achieve the climate goals, diesel buses in regional transport are being replaced by green buses. At the same time, large parts of the Netherlands are becoming increasingly less accessible by public transport. In those places a car is essential to be mobile. What is the point of green buses if at the same time more and more people take the car? After all, it is rarely electric. How do we make public transport a fully-fledged alternative to the car again?
The housing shortage is great and house prices are still high. And yet we are not building new houses at a high pace. The opposite happens: investors put their new construction plans on hold because it is now more convenient to wait a while. This is happening all over the country. The houses that are so desperately needed - affordable rental housing for teachers and healthcare staff - are particularly affected. How is it possible that it is better for companies not to build than to build? And how is the government going to solve this? The government wants to add almost one million houses by 2030. Is the housing shortage getting even worse?
We are in the city of Groningen, where some tenants have been paying too much for years because the energy label on their home is incorrect. Who is responsible for the incorrect energy labels on hundreds of homes? Is there intent at play? And why is it so difficult for (former) tenants to get their money back, even if it is clear that something is wrong? We go to the city looking for answers.
Young people are ending up behind bars at an increasingly young age and the crimes for which they are imprisoned are becoming more serious. A criminal career sometimes moves very quickly, from distributing drugs to committing a murder for hire. The impact of these crimes is enormous for victims, surviving relatives and society. The government makes millions available, but only a few municipalities benefit from this. Pointer investigates the approach to youth crime. How effective is that? Does the tough approach to punishment and repression work, or should we help young people with their problems?
The final test is coming again for group 8. That means pale faces, short fuses and stomach aches, teachers say. But it's not just the final test that causes stress. Teachers also see stressed children around the tests in groups 5, 6 and 7. These tests are included in the school advice for secondary education. To influence this, children train outside of school. Parents buy tests via the internet or send their offspring to test training. Why do we attach so much importance to those tests? Doesn't our testing culture create unequal opportunities? And can it be done differently?
The 'red flags' for intimate partner murder have been known for decades. For example, you are seven times more likely to die if your partner has strangled you before. Yet the Netherlands is often unable to provide help in time, despite all kinds of risk assessments and local initiatives. More than half of female victims are still killed by their partner or ex, with all the attendant signs. Isn't murder a priority if it happens behind the front door?
Animal ambulances fear a bird flu pandemic. They already clean up dozens of infected dead wild birds every day, often at their own expense. But what if the virus continues to spread? Nearly six million chickens have already been culled and more and more mammals are becoming infected with the virus. Experts warn: bird flu could become a danger to public health. But who is responsible for all those wild birds with bird flu? And who will pay for the costs?
Maaike lives with her family - against the rules of the municipality - at a holiday park. The municipality has started to enforce strict regulations in recent years and therefore sealed their house last year. With all its consequences. The family wanders from temporary home to temporary home and the children's school results plummet. How justified is this strict enforcement? And how do municipalities even deal with the dilemmas surrounding permanent occupancy of holiday parks? Should places for recreation be protected or is converting holiday homes into residential areas the solution to the housing crisis?
While 24-hour care becomes increasingly demanding, many parents choose to keep their child with severe multiple disabilities at home. Parents find the care in regular institutions substandard and often find themselves on long waiting lists. Researchers, healthcare professionals and administrators recognize the problems, but cannot arrive at a clear solution.
We need houses and developers like to build them in meadows. There is a beautiful polder ready for you near Alphen aan de Rijn. But is this Gnephoek the best place for 10,000 new houses, in a deep polder with weak soil? The province and water boards warn: if you build here, society will incur high costs in the future. But the municipality and the government are persevering and want the houses to be built. What interests do they have in going against the advice? In addition to the housing shortage, land purchases appear to be one of the arguments.
After the Second World War, many synagogues and Jewish cemeteries were lost. Since 2020, Pointer has been conducting research into expropriated and resold Jewish real estate during the war and came across twenty transactions involving Jewish religious heritage. These buildings and cemeteries are rarely visible in the current street scene: synagogues have been demolished and cemeteries covered with asphalt. In some villages and towns, centuries of Jewish history are therefore barely visible. What role have municipalities played in this?
We are working hard on sustainability in the Netherlands. That is why we use more and more electricity and generate more electricity. But our current electricity grid cannot handle that. In many places in the country the grid is full and companies, schools or even entire residential areas cannot get (an extension of a) connection to the grid. To solve this we need to strengthen the power grid, but that won't happen overnight. And so we are also working on a lot of innovative solutions, such as more local sharing and more flexible use of electricity. The solutions now often fail due to regulations. How could that be otherwise?
The number of people requiring intensive care due to dementia will increase in the coming years, but no additional places may be added in nursing homes. Housing associations and healthcare institutions are concerned, because the realization of 40,000 'nursing care places' for people with dementia is also behind schedule. Where can people with dementia live? And why does it take so long to build homes when we have been facing this problem for years?
The main purpose of a prison sentence for minors is resocialization. When young people are outside again, they must have received sufficient support not to make the same mistake again. Yet the recidivism rates remain high. More than half of young people who have served a prison sentence commit another crime and are back in juvenile detention within two years. Pointer investigates why this figure remains so high. Is it simply a group that cannot be saved? Or are we asking the impossible of young people who are struggling with complex problems?
The main purpose of a prison sentence for minors is resocialization. When young people are outside again, they must have received sufficient support not to make the same mistake again. Yet the recidivism rates remain high. More than half of young people who have served a prison sentence commit another crime and are back in juvenile detention within two years. Pointer investigates why this figure remains so high. Is it simply a group that cannot be saved? Or are we asking the impossible of young people who are struggling with complex problems?
Who says Schoonebeek, says oil extraction. However, the Drenthe village no longer appears to be as unanimous about this industry as it used to be. There are plans to inject wastewater from extraction into the ground, but not everyone is happy with that. NAM and the ministry want to make agreements, but what are they really worth? And what happens in a small community when a section turns against an old acquaintance?
Greenhouse gas emissions must be drastically reduced if we are to achieve the climate goals. But what if it is much easier and cheaper not to reduce your emissions but to offset them? Pointer delves into dubious projects with which municipalities 'compensate' for their natural gas consumption, such as a Turkish wind farm, Indian hydroelectric power station and a coal-fired Chinese steel factory. Experts see many problems in this market. The CO2 certificates are far too cheap, human rights are being violated and there are too many perverse incentives in an unregulated market.
Women who are victims of domestic violence, sexual exploitation or sexual violence are hardly seen by the police and social services, such as Veilig Thuis. De Balie Live Journalism investigated where they end up and what help they can count on.
Dutch children do not like to read. In terms of reading pleasure, our ten-year-olds are somewhere at the bottom of the international rankings and their reading skills are now below the Western average. What is different in the Netherlands than in other countries? Teacher Henny and school leader Eva tip us off that our testing culture could be to blame. Schools and students are judged on their test results, so that is often what language education focuses on. How does this work? What do children actually learn during reading comprehension lessons? And are there also schools where children do enjoy reading and writing?
Thousands of farmers have invested in expensive sustainable stable floors in recent years and have thus been able to increase their livestock. The 'magic floors' are said to significantly reduce nitrogen emissions, but new research shows that they do virtually nothing. Companies now sometimes emit more than before. According to the ministry, the new insights have no consequences for farmers. But is this correct? Nature clubs are considering new enforcement requests and turning permits upside down. In the search for this nervous future, Pointer encounters an overestimated belief in innovation, mismanagement and ghost permits. How did we get into this?
Citizens are shocked when the municipality of Westerveld creates a cycle path through the middle of a nature reserve. This construction is allowed because a natural test states that there will be no damage. But this key appears to rattle and that happens more often, Pointer discovers. While these types of nature tests determine whether housing construction, festivals or even the insulation of your house can continue. Who makes those tests? Who pays for it? And what if the content is incorrect? Pointer delves into the world of testers and discovers striking things. For example, you can already make a report after a course of a few days and resistance is sometimes very difficult.
For many people, classical music has the image of decent, neat and perhaps a bit boring. Masterpieces are played by the best orchestras in centuries-old concert halls. From an early age, musicians put everything aside for music. The concert stage is the highest goal and an orchestral track is in demand. The competition is fierce: the Netherlands has nine symphonic orchestras and just as many conservatories. How safe is that sector for (young) musicians? How do orchestras and conservatories fulfill their responsibility in this area? Pointer conducted research into sexual misconduct and spoke to dozens of musicians from the Netherlands and abroad.
We like to go on holiday in our own country or a weekend away to the forest, the heath or the sea. Holiday homes are extremely popular. Holiday parks are continuing to expand in Zeeland, but a group of local residents have now had enough and are afraid that the peace and space that tourists come for will disappear due to the expansion of holiday parks. Have the limits of tourism growth been reached?
By 2050, 1,500 kilometers of dikes must be reinforced in the Netherlands. Our country is vulnerable now that sea levels are rising and the risk of extreme weather is increasing. But what if things go wrong during the work? When houses crack, they subside and some homes even threaten to become uninhabitable, such as the South Holland Lekdijk. Residents have been waiting for compensation for years. What lessons can be learned? An urgent question in view of the major dike reinforcement task that is yet to come.
Autonomous or sovereign citizens believe that Dutch laws and regulations do not apply to them and that the government should not exercise power over them. This means that they pay less or even no tax, with all the consequences that entails. Pointer investigates the autonomous dream, analyzes conversations in chat groups and speaks to autonomous people themselves. One of them offers paid courses to become autonomous, another ended up in a financial nightmare. How can people declare themselves autonomous and what are the consequences?
Over the past twenty years, the number of users of opioids, heavy painkillers, has increased enormously in the Netherlands. Warned by the opioid epidemic in the United States, a task force was established in our country in 2019 to halt the growth in the number of users. In the meantime, the task force has stopped, while the number of people who have received opioids increased again in 2022. Was the task group's task complete?
Combining informal care and work: it is a tough and sometimes almost impossible combination. Many informal caregivers therefore work less or report sick, research shows. The calculations are that 18 percent of absenteeism due to illness is related to informal care. It is therefore extra important for employers to ensure that their informal caregiver employees remain standing. But are employers ready for that? Are the care leave arrangements adequate? Who will ultimately pay for the aging society, in which we increasingly have to take care of each other?
We have a major shortage of professionals, especially in construction and healthcare. Yet children are not encouraged to learn a practical trade. It is rather the other way around: schools and parents push children to HAVO or VWO as much as possible. Even if children have other talents, working with their hands makes them happier and even now that you can earn more with practical professions. Why is that? And how do we change it? The cabinet also wants to change course in education, but Pointer encounters a problem: legislation.
For many people, classical music has the image of being reasonable, neat and perhaps even a bit boring. Pieces are sometimes hundreds of years old and great efforts are made to preserve their beauty. And that is sometimes difficult. After a first episode in September, (former) students from conservatories joined Pointer. They talk about the culture at classical music courses, where the teacher is king and is less present one-on-one and behind closed doors. How can and should someone be so determined for a career? Who knows and what if your teacher has gone too far?
The campaign for the House of Representatives elections is in full swing and the battle for the voters' favor is flying back and forth. There are a lot of one-liners in election programmes, debates and TV appearances, but are they actually correct? Pointer separates facts from misinformation. This reveals the biggest myths about migration, which are replaced again and again by parties. Nuclear energy, another divisive issue, is unavoidable according to some and unnecessary according to others. Both cannot be true. What about climate subsidies in relation to social security? Is it true that all the money goes to the Tesla owner?
The e-bike is hip. It has become an indispensable part of the cycle path and, especially since the arrival of the fat bike, more and more young children are cycling on it. Is that wise? Can children's brains handle the speed of an e-bike? Pointer takes children and fat bikes onto the cycle path and tests the consequences of the e-bike for the safety and health of young people. Should we protect young people against the risks that the technological progress of cycling entails or should we teach them to deal with it?
One in five Dutch households faces financial problems. To reduce that number and prevent people from getting into trouble due to electronic debts, municipalities have had to contact their residents since 2021 with payment arrears on rent, energy, water and health insurance. But are those signals coming in properly? Do words work effectively? And are young people sufficiently exposed to beginning comprehension?
Migrant workers die due to illness and lose work and often find themselves in a pinch. They do not know their way around the Dutch healthcare system and are hardly helped by employment agencies. For example, many sick employees lose their work and temporary housing and sometimes do not receive benefits. Pointer reconstructs where things went wrong and lets migrants who feel dumped have their say. This year, the judge determined that a temporary worker may no longer be automatically employed in the event of illness. However, it appears that it does not occur regularly. How can it fail so much for the 400,000 people who do poorly paid work here?
The vet is becoming increasingly expensive. Commercialism has taken over the care of animals and that is bad news for pet owners. Thousands of euros for an operation for a dog or cat. It is always more the rule than the exception. How justified are those prices rising? And will people postpone care because of the high bills?
Russian spy ships secretly visit our coast. For days they lie quietly in our part of the North Sea above important data cables, gas pipelines and near wind farms. Is Russia preparing to sabotage our infrastructure at sea? Pointer follows the ships Admiral Vladimirsky and Yevgeny Gorigledzhan, ships that, according to Russia, only conduct seabed research. But their strange course and their involvement in a secret military program raise questions. What exactly are they doing there and is our infrastructure at sea really well protected?
The Health Council recommended a year ago that the volume knob should be lowered. Yet that doesn't happen. Is there enough attention to the adverse effects of (too) loud noise on our ears? Doctors have long feared a tidal wave of patients with 'a ringing in the ear'. Shouldn't the government take harder action or is it mainly your own responsibility to deal sensibly with your hearing?
Hot flashes, muscle pain, mental problems... More attention is finally being paid to menopausal complaints. Famous Dutch people make podcasts and books about it, and it is even discussed on TV and social media. But what is that like in the workplace? In the Netherlands there are approximately 1.9 million female employees aged 40 and over. An estimated 315,000 of them are in perimenopause (the period before your periods stop). And for at least half (173,000 women), the complaints affect their work. Can women talk about it? How do employers and (company) doctors interact? And aren't complaints quite easy to treat?
