THE Dutch language is notoriously difficult for Brits to master.

Anything spoken in that rather guttural lowlands tongue sounds like, well, Double Dutch to most British ears, but there is one word used in the Netherlands that all of us in the UK might do well to adopt - 'gezellig'.

There is no direct English translation but it roughly equates to the way a person in Amsterdam, Haarlem or Utrecht might describe the feeling of being content or cosy, of being in a nice place, with nice people, having a nice time. The word nicely sums up how the Dutch feel about themselves and the polite, well ordered society most of them strive to create.

Any right-thinking Dutch person will be feeling particularly gezellig today after seeing-off the challenge of rabble-rousing racist Geert Wilders in Wednesday’s General Election.

Pollsters had predicted Wilders would lead his anti-immigration Freedom Party to a so-called ‘patriotic spring’ and topple the traditional parties of government.

Following the Brexit vote last June, Wilders’ result was also regarded as a bellwether for upcoming elections in Germany and France where parties standing on anti-immigration, anti-Islam tickets are threatening the establishment.

So does the Dutch result mean that a populist wave across across Europe has already hit its high water mark?

Not necessarily.

EU leaders welcomed the Dutch result as a good day for democracy and a blow against extremism. It was undoubtedly a poor result for Wilders after all of his bold bluster on the stump, but his party came second and he insists the genie is out of the bottle in terms of immigration being a key issue on which all politicians and voters must now take a view. 

In any case, the electorates in Germany and in particular France, where right-winger Marine le Pen has strong support, are a very different proposition compared to calm, liberal-minded Netherlands where a victory for the status quo was no great surprise.

"We want to stick to the course we have - safe and stable and prosperous," Prime Minister Mark Rutte said yesterday. That is a sentiment which makes sense in anyone’s language.

In voting for a progressive, tolerant and above all 'gezellig' future the Echo says: "dank je Nederland".