Latest news with #Groningen
Leader Live
22-07-2025
- Sport
- Leader Live
Wrexham to face Dutch top-flight side Groningen in friendly
The match takes place on Saturday August 2 at De Langeleegte in Veendam, and kicks-off 3pm local time, but away supporters are not allowed to attend the game. The club announced on the official website: "The match, at De Langeleegte in Veendam, is not open to away supporters per instructions from local authorities. "We urge supporters not to travel to the match, which will be live streamed on the Wrexham AFC club website instead – with match passes on sale soon. "The trip forms a key part of Wrexham's pre-season preparations, with a double fixture planned – as well as the match in Veendam, there will also be a behind-closed-doors training fixture between an XI from each Club on the same day. "Groningen finished 13th in the Eredivisie last season, after winning promotion back to the Dutch top flight at the first attempt the previous season. "Details on how to watch the match globally will be released in due course. Once again, we urge supporters not to attempt to buy tickets or travel to the game." Wrexham made history last season by securing a third successive promotion and are back in the second tier for the first time in 43 years. The new Championship campaign starts against Southampton at St Marys Stadium on Saturday August 9 (12.30pm kick-off and live on Sky Sports).
Telegraph
15-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
European energy rationing is a dire warning for net zero Britain
It was the first country to develop a stock market. And it was among the first to create joint stock companies, global banking, and trading houses that could span continents. The Netherlands has always been one of the pioneers of business and capitalism, a place where new ideas are perfected. The trouble is, it is now pioneering something entirely different in electricity rationing, a policy that will make it very hard for companies to operate in and impossible to expand. And let's not kid ourselves. Now that rationing has been imposed by the Dutch, it will almost inevitably be imposed in Britain as well, with catastrophic consequences for the economy. If you are running a restaurant in Amsterdam, a factory in Rotterdam or a shop in Eindhoven, it is probably the worst news you could have feared. The power you need to keep your business running is no longer just expensive – it might not be available at all. Why? The Netherlands, like so many European countries, is rushing ahead with ambitious green energy targets, while failing to make sure that adequate supplies of electricity are available as older systems are shut down. The massive Groningen gas field was closed down last year, and while that might make sense once the wind and solar needed to replace it are on stream, it means in the meantime, there is not enough juice to keep all the lights switched on. The result? More than 11,000 businesses are stuck in a queue for access to the network, and it is growing longer all the time. If you need power, forget it. It is even worse for private individuals, with thousands of new homes waiting to be connected to the grid. It is, of course, not just the Dutch. Spain and Portugal suffered a massive blackout earlier this year, with the entire power system shutting down for the day. While the reasons for the failure are still not entirely clear, it looks as if relying on solar power without enough back-up capacity may have been a big part of the problem. Likewise, shortages are emerging in Belgium and France, and Germany may not be far behind. We should not kid ourselves that this is an issue restricted to the Netherlands or to continental Europe. The UK will almost certainly be next in line, and we are already seeing the early warning signs of that. Industrial electricity prices have soared to the highest level in Europe, and that has forced many heavy industries to close. It is a form of rationing, except by price. The electricity companies have already imposed smart meters on households in the hope that a nagging little dial in the corner of the kitchen warning how much power the dishwasher is using might persuade you to use less, as well as experimenting with off-peak rates to encourage us to use less power in the main part of the day. Indeed, given that the Dutch are generally a lot more organised than we are, they might simply be getting on the front foot by putting formal rationing in place early in the process. In the UK, it is more likely that there will be sudden blackouts, with towns and cities potentially plunged into darkness. This could then be followed by rolling blackouts for 'non-essential' industries on a sporadic basis. Whichever form it takes, the main point is the same. But hold on. This is crazy. It is inconvenient for a household, but most of us can have a sandwich for supper and read by candlelight if we have to. We can live without power for a day or two. However, a restaurant, shop, warehouse or factory simply can't operate without electricity. If rationing does become the new normal, there are two big problems. First, it will push many businesses over the edge. We already know that pubs and restaurants are closing at record rates, hammered by the rise in employers' National Insurance. If they have to close down a couple of nights a week because their zone is offline, it may well finish them off. After all, their costs will remain the same, but a couple of days' takings will be lost. Likewise, many retailers are struggling to survive as they struggle with rising business rates, new packaging levies, as well as fines if customers don't buy enough healthy food. A day or two of trading lost every week will be the final straw. As for industry, it is already in full-scale collapse. With rationing to contend with, it is hard to imagine that anything will survive. Next, it will deter investment. What is the point of spending tens of millions on a new factory or warehouse if you can't guarantee power supplies? Or building new homes if they won't be connected to the grid. In reality, this needs to be stopped in its tracks. Most of us agree that climate change is a serious issue and one that needs to be addressed. But we need to plan the transition to green energy in a way that makes sure it is affordable and reliable, as it has been for the last 100 years.
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Netherlands RATIONS electricity as country struggles to cope with turning away from gas as part of green policies - as expert warns Britain is also 'in trouble'
The Netherlands is rationing electricity as its overloaded power grid buckles under the pressure of rapid electrification and ambitious climate goals. More than 11,900 businesses are stuck in a queue for access to the network, alongside public buildings including hospitals, schools and fire stations. Thousands of new homes are also waiting to be connected, with some areas warned they may have to wait until the 2030s. The crisis has emerged as the country scrambles to cut carbon emissions. And now experts are warning that Britain, as well as Belgium and Germany, are all 'in trouble.' The countries should 'definitely' see what is happening in the Netherlands as a warning, says Zsuzsanna Pató, from Brussels-based energy think tank RAP. After shutting down production at the massive Groningen gas field last year, the Dutch government has pushed a fast transition to electric heating, solar power and battery storage. But the national grid has failed to keep pace, creating widespread bottlenecks and driving up costs. Officials estimate €200 billion will be needed by 2040 to expand grid capacity. Electricity prices are already among the highest in Western Europe, and Dutch households face yearly tariff increases of up to 4.7 percent for at least the next decade. To ease demand, operators are offering cheaper contracts for off-peak usage and telling major industries they may need to shut off entirely for several hours a day. A national ad campaign is urging the public to avoid charging e-bikes and electric cars between 4pm and 9pm, when the grid is under the most strain. The Netherlands has been one of Europe's most aggressive adopters of green policies, aiming to cut emissions in half by 2030. The shortage has alarmed local leaders, who say businesses are already pulling out of investment plans. In Brainport, the high-tech southern region that is home to semiconductor giant ASML, mayor Jeroen Dijsselbloem says no new grid capacity will arrive before 2027. He said: 'Everything is going electric and electricity infrastructure needs to grow massively. We need more than 100 medium substations and 4,000 small ones.' Although the Netherlands is one of the worst-hit, Spain has already experienced major power blackouts earlier this year, after its own grid came under pressure during peak demand. Thousands of people and many organisations were brought to a standstill shortly after midday on April 28 when the country was disconnected from the European electricity grid for hours. Britain itself faced electricity rationing in the 1970s during the coal miners' strikes, when lights were turned off and businesses forced to work a three-day week. For more than two months, many homes were forced to burn candles and look for alternative means of electricity. In the Netherlands, some companies are now trying to solve the problem themselves. American medical firm Thermo Fisher, which has a large base near Eindhoven, is investing in battery storage and rooftop solar to avoid delays. Others are working with local authorities to build shared 'energy hubs' that allow businesses to pool grid access. But grid operators say they are also facing a shortage of 28,000 trained technicians, slowing down efforts to install the infrastructure needed. Residents have been urged not to charge electric vehicles and cars between 4pm and 9pm For now, officials are looking at ways to squeeze more out of the grid without risking blackouts. Despite the alarming report, officials close to the situation have tried to downplay its effect with one saying: 'It's nowhere near as bad anywhere else.'
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Sell-on bonus: Another nice amount for Groningen through English transfer
Former Groningen man Gabriel Gudmundsson will be playing in the Premier League next season. Leeds United have signed the Swedish left-back from Lille for around 12 million euros, once again giving Groningen a substantial fee. Gudmundsson played in Groningen from 2019 to 2021 and completed his transfer to Lille four years ago. The 26-year-old wing-back became a regular in France, making 137 official appearances in four seasons. Fine performances have earned him a move to newly promoted Premier League Leeds. Advertisement Gudmundsson follows in the footsteps of Jørgen Strand Larsen, who, after his transfer to Celta de Vigo, also secured a move to English football's top flight with a €27 million move to Wolverhampton Wanderers after an initial successful loan. This sent several more millions to the far north. Although that amount is lower for Gudmundsson, VI knows that Groningen also managed a resale percentage from Lille in his case. Assuming this percentage is 10 to 15 per cent, the northern club can bank a maximum of 900,000 euros. The 12 million that Leeds is now paying is double what Lille paid in 2021. Gudmundsson is Leeds' fourth new signing this summer. The club, home to Dutchmen Joël Piroe and Pascal Struijk, paid 18 million euros for Udinese defender Jaka Bijol and signed free agent Lukas Nmechma. They also added Belgian defender Sebastiaan Bornaauw to the ranks from VfL Wolfsburg, where Paul Simonis recently took over as manager. Advertisement GBeNeFN | Max Bradfield
Telegraph
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
‘The Wendy house burnt down': My 16th birthday party from hell
'F---, it's getting crazy now!' says a wide-eyed partygoer as a car goes up in flames in the Netflix documentary Trainwreck: The Real Project X. It's a parent's worst nightmare: a girl posts a 16th birthday party invitation on Facebook, which subsequently goes viral, and thousands of drunkards turn up at the front door. I should know – because, at the same age, I also thought it would be a good idea to publicly advertise my party on Facebook. Let's just say my parents, who arrived home from a trip to the Yorkshire coast to find our belongings stolen and the Wendy house ablaze in the garden, weren't best pleased. The Real Project X tells the story of Merthe Weusthuis, a middle-class Dutch girl who, back in 2012, made a Facebook event for her birthday celebrations in the wealthy small town of Haren, near Groningen. She expected that only her friends would see the invite, but she'd inadvertently made the event public. More than 300,000 revellers clicked 'going'. Her parents desperately tried to cancel the event, but 4,000 drunk teenagers descended, and when they realised there was no party to attend, a riot ensued. It was even reported in the Telegraph at the time. 'Posh' Haren, we're told, was transformed from an idyllic neighbourhood to a war zone: cars were flipped and set on fire; protective fences erected by police were pulled down and trampled on; local shops had their windows smashed and contents looted. Grainy footage from the event – who knew cameras in 2012 would look so ancient less than two decades on? – shows young people chanting and downing alcohol, dancing and kissing in the street. In the film (which follows the Trainwreck strand's equally shocking series' about an infamous ' poop cruise ' and the violence that engulfed Woodstock '99), Merthe herself reflects on how, as a teenager, all she wanted was to be popular, but how the infamy gained by the event caused her to move away from her hometown for good. It made her a laughing stock among fellow Dutch people and her family pariahs, while the town's mayor at the time, Rob Bats, was forced to resign (he refused to appear in the documentary). Of course, teenagers are prone to making stupid decisions. Take the time I pierced my friend's lip with a rusty earring in the school bathroom before a Paramore concert, aged 14, or when I thought it would be fun to dye half of my hair pink. But top of the 'I can't believe I did that' low points is when I chose to make the Facebook event for my 16th birthday party – a party my parents had no clue I was hosting – at my very average-sized house, 'public'. The original guest list had included around 80 school friends – out of the 250 total people in my year group – but, in a fit of teenage girl anxiety that not enough people would show up and I'd be branded a loser for eternity, I opted for the 'public' invitation. Spoiler: a lot more people showed up. My parents' sheer fury the day after the party still gives me the shivers today, 13 years on. The documentary's title is a reference to Project X, Nima Nourizadeh's hit 2012 comedy about a house party in suburban California that gets wildly out of control: supercars are driven into swimming pools, ecstasy is hidden in garden gnomes, floors cave in. The film was released just a month before my 16th birthday and instantly became a word-of-mouth phenomenon between my friends and I. We had already hungrily consumed chaotic teen dramas such as Skins and 90210, which focused on beautiful teenagers attending legendarily messy parties – complete with limitless drink and drugs – and held them up as the barometer of Cool. Unlike our boring, sober successors Gen Z, nothing was more important to my generation than partying – and the wilder, the better. My party came about after my parents left me alone for the weekend. I was armed with a few crates of Strongbow and Carling, bought from a dodgy corner shop by a slightly older friend whose tattoos meant he had no trouble getting served, and the (false) belief the adults would never find out; social media hadn't yet become so all-encompassing or instant. An iPod was set up to blast out cheesy music – Drake, Arctic Monkeys and Kid Cudi probably featured heavily – and, if my memory serves me, I was wearing a black sequin skirt paired with a 'statement' necklace. It's all so very, tragically millennial. The first hour or so of fun quickly gave way to disaster, however, when way more people showed up than I had expected. Every room was full, there were so many people climbing the apple tree in the garden that it began to subside, and one friend quickly became an ex-friend when they were caught doing stuff in my little brother's Bob the Builder-themed bed. In the kitchen, meanwhile, some sneaky sod had stuffed a potato with metal kitchen utensils and then popped it into the microwave. Who said British teenagers can't be inventive? View this post on Instagram A post shared by Merthe Marije Weusthuis (@mertheweusthuis) Partly due to my quest to have The Best Party Ever (and partly due to the cheap cider I'd spent all night guzzling through a beer bong), I don't remember feeling stressed until a friend ran in shouting that the springs of the outdoor trampoline had been pulled out. Then came a broken TV in the living room, reduced to a spluttering, fuzzy mess after someone poured washing up liquid into the air vents at the top. The nightmare scenarios kept coming: some boys I didn't know were heard saying they were going to 'raise' (slang for steal) at the party and raise they did – I woke up the day after to find I no longer owned an iPod, Nintendo DS or Wii. My sore head wasn't helped when I spotted my little sister's Wendy house in the corner of the garden, partly on fire and with its plastic windows kicked through. Even furious neighbours couldn't save me, because my parents' detached house didn't have any in the immediate vicinity; the only adult I remember marching up the drive was a weird stranger who offered to buy us more booze. Luckily, although my friends and I were stupid enough to publicly broadcast my address on Facebook, we weren't naive when it came to creeps, and he was swiftly ejected. When my parents arrived home, my feeble attempts to clean up were immediately sussed out and I was told to 'get out!' As an angsty 16-year-old girl desperate for some drama in her life, I took this literally and packed a bag to move into a friend's father's outhouse for a few days; ignoring all the calls my poor mum was making begging for me to come back. So, if you're looking to put the fear of god into your children to stop them ever throwing a wild party – damaging your lovely cream carpets and embarrassing you in front of Linda from next door in the process – then switch on Netflix and let the horror unfold. Or if, like me, you still cringe at the memory of how hopelessly silly you were at 16, watch it through your fingers while vowing to never hold a party again.
