My friend Yorick Blumenfeld, who has died aged 91, was a prolific writer and futurologist with more than 25 books and 2,000 articles to his name. In the early 1960s, at the height of the cold war and worried by the risk of nuclear annihilation, Yorick and his wife, Helaine, travelled to the South Pacific with a group of friends and founded Philia, an international community near Nelson, New Zealand ..read more

Organic float at annual flower parade a sign of changing times amid concerns over chemicals’ link to neurological disorders Flower farmer John Huiberts stands next to a flamingo made of thousands of organic pink hyacinths. At the annual BloemenCorso, or flower parade, where decorated floats travel through 26 miles of fields in full bloom, his electric vehicle is a sign of changing times in the Netherlands. “It makes you proud,” said the co-owner of Huiberts Biologische Bloembollen, who went organic 11 years ago. “They say the chemicals are safe but I don’t know. It took me a few years to have ..read more

Meatable hopes its cultivated sausages will satisfy the world’s appetite for meat without harming animals or the planet Even before I see the sausages, I am greeted by their rich, meaty aroma. Sizzling in a pan of foaming margarine, they look like regular chipolatas being fried up for a Sunday breakfast, their pink-grey exteriors slowly turning a rich caramel brown. Consisting of 28% pork fat, bulked out with textured pea, chickpea, soy and wheat protein, these mini-bratwursts would happily sit inside a hotdog or next to a plate of mashed potato. But these are no standard bangers ..read more

Princess Amalia, who had reportedly been talked about by organised crime groups, is now back in Amsterdam The heir to the Dutch throne, Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange, spent more than a year in Spain as the Dutch royal family grappled with threats to her safety, according to media in the Netherlands. The 20-year-old lived and studied in Madrid, royal sources told the public broadcaster NOS on Wednesday, after reports she had been mentioned in communications by organised crime groups, sparking fears she could be the target of attacks or kidnappings ..read more

Dutch missionary who co-founded the Fairtrade movement through guaranteeing prices for coffee farmers in Mexico The Dutch-born Catholic missionary Frans van der Hoff, who has died aged 84, was a co-founder of the global Fairtrade movement. Through guaranteeing price levels for their produce that benefit their communities, it has improved the livelihoods of millions of cooperative farmers. His initiative started in 1988, by helping the coffee farmers of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, with whom he lived and worked for the bulk of his adult life, to gain fair prices by selling directly to ..read more

Across Europe, the mainstream right is being eclipsed by more extreme rivals. The same fate could await the Tories A recent YouGov poll marked a pivotal moment in British politics. For the first time, Reform UK was shown to have edged ahead of the Conservatives among male voters. As Labour solidifies its base, the rise of Reform is clearly to the detriment of the Conservative party. Overall, Tory support has dwindled to levels not witnessed since Liz Truss’s tenure, with fewer than one in five voters inclined to vote for them. This shift, while unique in the UK, mirrors trends across the Chann ..read more

When I met the Dutch politician Geert Wilders years ago, he was set on ‘Nexit’. Now he too would rather stay in the EU Exports are performing badly, pace the fantasy world of the Daily Express; supply lines for imports once regarded as routine are disrupted or discontinued altogether; staff shortages owing to new restrictions on travel and employment of our fellow Europeans are hurting the hospitality trade in what we used to boast about as our “service economy”. The UK’s economy is “5% worse off than it would be in the EU” according to a recent well-researched report by Goldman Sachs. Welcome ..read more

This year’s ‘Olympics of the art world’ features many artists wrestling with ideas of colonialism and its lingering influence This year’s Venice Biennale is being billed as an event rooted in the now, in a world of conflict and division – or, as one newspaper put it, the celebration of global art will be full of “war, refugees, destruction”. Another theme that runs through many of the pavilions is colonialism: both its legacy in the form of restitution debates, and Europe’s lingering presence – physically and psychologically – in those countries that were formerly colonised ..read more

Group of 17 were ski touring near resort of Sölden when 80-metre wide avalanche hit An avalanche near the Austrian ski resort of Sölden has killed three skiers from the Netherlands. Another person was rescued and taken to hospital. The victims were part of a 17-person ski touring group that was on an ascent with four Austrian guides. Ski touring involves using skis with special bindings and skins that make moving uphill possible ..read more

Climate activist detained after Extinction Rebellion protesters tried to block road near Dutch parliament Greta Thunberg was detained by police at a demonstration in The Hague, in the Netherlands. The climate activist was put in a bus by local police along with other protesters who tried to block a major highway into the city ..read more