Robin Pascoe
Robin Pascoe is the editor and founder of news and information website DutchNews.nl. Before launching DutchNews.nl, Robin worked for the Financieele Dagblad, news agency ANP and the BBC. Not to be confused with the Canadia Robin Pascoe who writes books about expat life, this Robin is British, married to a Dutchman and has two sons in their 20s.
Robin is the editor of Dutchnews.nl
www.dutchnews.nl
All Robin's Articles
By Robin Pascoe The experiences of a young Brexit escapee trying to find a place to live in Amsterdam have proved quite an eye-opener to DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe. When your own offspring have flown the nest, the rooms… read more >
How Not to Find a Home in AmsterdamBy Robin Pascoe The experiences of a young Brexit escapee trying to find a place to live in Amsterdam have proved quite an eye-opener to DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe. When your own offspring have flown the nest, the rooms they have left behind collect all manner of waifs and strays who need a place to stay. The longest was with us for almost a year while she found her feet after 15 years away from the Netherlands, but most stay a few days while they Interrail around Europe courtesy of the European Union or the like. We’ve recently had a house guest who stayed with us for a month – a Brexit refugee, willing to work hard where ever she was needed, if she could find a place to live. Although flat sharing as in the television series Friends may be quite normal in many parts of the world, in the Netherlands things are not quite that easy – particularly if don’t have an extremely well-paying job, a permanent contract and heaps of savings to use as a deposit. www.dutchnews.nl read more >
By Robin Pascoe Today’s breed of young adults just starting out on the career ladder might have the world at their feet, but DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe would not swap places with them for anything. I never set out… read more >
My Not So Brilliant CareerBy Robin Pascoe Today’s breed of young adults just starting out on the career ladder might have the world at their feet, but DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe would not swap places with them for anything. I never set out with a plan, just took advantage of the opportunities that came my way. No career planning, no jobs coaches, no immaculate cv… it all just seemed to happen. What a contrast then, to the high-stress, low-security environments that my sons and their friends are ending up in. Joining boards, doing voluntary work, working for nothing for big companies with fat profits or for start-ups with no money, attending networking events, all in pursuit of that oh-so-elusive thing called a career. www.dutchnews.nl read more >
By Robin Pascoe When you are a former smoker and a current insomniac there is nothing worse than being woken up by people on their balconies, smoking and having a laugh in the wee small hours, says DutchNews.nl editor Robin… read more >
No Smoke Without IreBy Robin Pascoe When you are a former smoker and a current insomniac there is nothing worse than being woken up by people on their balconies, smoking and having a laugh in the wee small hours, says DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe. “My particular bugbear is the bright young things living around us who have no-smoking homes, but have no problem in going outside onto their balconies late in the evening with a cigarette, a glass of wine and a few friends. Not only are they noisy – do I really need to know about the weird guy at their work and the festivals they are going to? – but they seem to think it perfectly okay to drop their cigarettes, still burning, into our garden or into the street.” www.dutchnews.nl read more >
By Robin Pascoe Group by group, we filed out of the room and went our separate ways. I was left feeling enormously humbled. There was me, loud-mouthed Brit with my cynicism about the whole process, surrounded by people who… read more >
Private EducationBy Robin Pascoe Group by group, we filed out of the room and went our separate ways. I was left feeling enormously humbled. There was me, loud-mouthed Brit with my cynicism about the whole process, surrounded by people who had gone through so much to get here, who were refugees, or partners who had given up lives in another country and who were just so delighted to become Dutch. I have not yet applied for a Dutch passport, but my certificate of Dutchness sits in the in-tray in my office. The whole process was, all in all, a lesson in humility. Despite Brexit and all the nonsense that it brings, I realise that I am one of the lucky ones. DutchNews.nl read more >
Last summer DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe wrote about how the fire brigade took down the drainpipe attached to the front of her house in their hunt for a baby duck. But the story was far from over. “Regular readers of… read more >
Two Ducks Are Better Than OneLast summer DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe wrote about how the fire brigade took down the drainpipe attached to the front of her house in their hunt for a baby duck. But the story was far from over. “Regular readers of this column may remember our dispute with the animal ambulance people, two fire engine crews and several police officers as they struggled to save a baby duckling which may or may not have fallen into our drain pipe. But if you thought the story had ended there, you could not be more wrong. In fact, this one seems likely to run and run.” www.dutchnews.nl Read the full article in The XPat Journal December 2018 Online Issue read more >
In the past few weeks, DutchNews.nl has reported on the shortage of qualified teachers, and Amsterdam’s efforts to solve the problem by drafting in civil servants, students and refugees. We’ve written about the crisis in the hospitality sector, with cafés… read more >
Work in ProgressIn the past few weeks, DutchNews.nl has reported on the shortage of qualified teachers, and Amsterdam’s efforts to solve the problem by drafting in civil servants, students and refugees. We’ve written about the crisis in the hospitality sector, with cafés closing because no-one wants to waitress or wash up. The lack of qualified IT staff is beginning to bite, some 4,000 qualified nurses are needed and the police are taking industrial action in support of more pay and more colleagues. The building trade is also suffering and the house building programme is slowing down because of it. In fact, there were a record 251,000 job vacancies in the Netherlands at the end of August. How strange then that the government appears to be doing its best to discourage one particular group of foreigners who are already in the Netherlands and doing jobs which no-one else either wants to do, or is skilled enough to do: the ‘expats’. www.dutchnews.nl read more >
How many people in uniform does it take to kill a duckling? In the case of the duckling born on top of a five-floor block in Amsterdam west, the answer is 13 – which was certainly unlucky for the bird… read more >
A Dead DuckHow many people in uniform does it take to kill a duckling? In the case of the duckling born on top of a five-floor block in Amsterdam west, the answer is 13 – which was certainly unlucky for the bird itself. It all began when a neighbour alerted the animal ambulance people to the presence of a female mallard and one tiny duckling, which were stuck on the parapet, 20 metres up above a street in the 19th century zone. The duck had obviously given birth to her hatchlings somewhere on the roof but had now found herself on a narrow edge with no access to food or water for her brood. DutchNews.nl read more >
By Robin Pascoe This season’s big television hit is a series about a typical Dutch primary school called De Luizenmoeder – the nit mother – and follows the trials and tribulations of a new parent finding her place in the… read more >
Lost in TranslationBy Robin Pascoe This season’s big television hit is a series about a typical Dutch primary school called De Luizenmoeder – the nit mother – and follows the trials and tribulations of a new parent finding her place in the school and the playground hierarchy. Luizenmoeder is bottom of the list of classroom jobs, which is where you start off when your child is a newbie. I can remember years ago, when princess Amalia first started school, nearly choking on my tea when I read that princess Máxima, as she was then, was doing her bit as school nit mother. The idea of having the future queen picking through your child’s locks looking for lice is still extremely bizarre. But nit mother is obviously one of those all-important jobs at Dutch schools – after all, someone has to do it. DutchNews.nl read more >
The winter holiday season in the Netherlands is magical, with all the trees and houses lit up by twinkling lights. But for DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe, the Christmas period is also about an intangible nostalgia for ‘home’, wherever that is.… read more >
Home for the Holidays?The winter holiday season in the Netherlands is magical, with all the trees and houses lit up by twinkling lights. But for DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe, the Christmas period is also about an intangible nostalgia for ‘home’, wherever that is. “There is something very odd about the idea of being something else as well as British – my husband is Dutch so I don’t have to renounce my British nationality – but even so I’m not sure I like the idea very much. I don’t really understand why. I’ve lived here for over 30 years and my life is here, but then, my original family and my roots – my home – are definitely on the other side of the channel.” www.dutchnews.nl read more >
By Robin Pascoe Journalist may be her main profession, but bank clerk, travel agent, postman and garbage collector could easily be included on her cv, writes DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe CBS figures show that the Dutch work fewer hours… read more >
Do It YourselfBy Robin Pascoe Journalist may be her main profession, but bank clerk, travel agent, postman and garbage collector could easily be included on her cv, writes DutchNews.nl editor Robin Pascoe CBS figures show that the Dutch work fewer hours than everyone else in Europe. Three quarters of women and a quarter of men work part-time. Dutch women who have a job, work an average of 26 hours a week. Even young women starting out in their careers with no children to use as an excuse are opting for a four or a three-day week. Perhaps all those young women working part time have got the right idea after all… with all the other jobs everyone is expected to do – Internet technician, part-time bank clerking, travel agent, etc. – there is little time left over to go to the office. DutchNews.nl read more >
The Dutch political system invariably creates coalitions – and goodness knows how many parties will be needed this time round. The process of coalition building can take forever – well, months and months at least. Manifesto points are ditched, compromises… read more >
Lessons in LifeThe Dutch political system invariably creates coalitions – and goodness knows how many parties will be needed this time round. The process of coalition building can take forever – well, months and months at least. Manifesto points are ditched, compromises reached, trade-offs agreed and finally the parties that have managed to find enough common ground publish their long-awaited coalition agreement – their blue-print for the country for the next four years. But the Dutch love of consensus starts well before you’ve reached a position of influence in politics or industry. It permeates every level of Dutch society – right down to the education system. Yes, if you’ve got children at a Dutch school, you will not be able to avoid the practice of working together in groups. www.dutchnews.nl read more >
Now our children are graduates, or nearly graduates, things are changing. The world of eternal internships looms. Working a 40-hour week for work experience expenses of € 300 a month is far from unusual. So how can you pay the… read more >
Nice WorkNow our children are graduates, or nearly graduates, things are changing. The world of eternal internships looms. Working a 40-hour week for work experience expenses of € 300 a month is far from unusual. So how can you pay the rent, your health insurance, the odd beer and your dry cleaning (sharp suit compulsory for your office work experience) without a handout from the most reliable of banks – the one based at your parents’ kitchen table? Of course, there is the ever-popular option these days of going it alone – founding your own company and becoming that most glamorous of persons – a start-up entrepreneur. read more >
