The Dutch speak, it is claimed, the best English in the world. Among the main reasons for such high degree of English speakers in the Netherlands are the country’s small size, dependency on international trade and the use of subtitles for foreign languages on TV rather than audio dubbing. Furthermore, English is (alongside Dutch, of course) an official language of the municipality of Amsterdam. 

The Netherlands and Belgium have recorded their highest ever temperatures today. The Dutch meteorological service, KNMI, said the temperature reached 39.1C (102F) at Gilze-Rijen airbase near the southern city of Tilburg on Wednesday afternoon, exceeding the previous high of 38.6C set in August 1944. City records in Amsterdam and Brussels are also expected to fall. Cities are particularly vulnerable in heatwaves because of a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect, in which concrete buildings and asphalt roads absorb heat during the day and emit it again at night, preventing the city from cooling. KNMI has issued a code orange extreme temperature warning for everywhere except the off shore Wadden Islands and implemented its “national heat emergency” plan, while Belgium has taken the unprecedented step of placing the entire country on a code red warning.