@bencoates1
Author - 'THE INVENTION OF AMSTERDAM' out now! (https://amzn.to/2QJx3bh). Writer, aid worker, speechwriter, recovering Tory. Columnist @ADnl; articles NYT, Telegraph, New Statesman, Groene Amsterdammer etc. Buy my new book, it’s good!
I enjoyed the Birds exhibition at @mauritshuis.bsky.social
this morning, curated by Simon Schama.
It’s not big - just one room really - but a carefully-chosen and thought-provoking collection of pieces, from Rembrandt to Leonardo da Vinci, Fabritius and Tracy Emin. Nice to see
Jetten rows in behind other European leaders and (rather gently) turns against Trump.
“Attacks [on Iran] were launched without prior notification or consultation with other countries. There was no request for support or consent.”
nos.nl/artikel/2605...
🤨
voor het werk wel, maar niet voor de lol
Sorry to disappoint you but I do not walk around bookshops sorting by gender!
Weekend plans:
Trying to make a dent in one of the to-be-read piles
#yolo
There’s a lot going on but hardly anyone seems to have mentioned - the environmental impact of all this must be devastating
beats Lonely Planet!
🙏
Yeah I listened to that, I like their show
I’ve always liked the Dutch name for the extra family you acquire if you get together with someone who already has kids:
“Bonus children”
(It now also extends to royals: in Norway they have a bonusprince)
bsky.app/profile/ad.n...
unfortunately they will barely notice
In an unprecedented turn of events, the Dutch government turns out to be both stingier and less pro-Ukraine that it promised to be
www.dutchnews.nl/2026/03/dutc...
cancel season 8 of Black Mirror, we don’t need it
Also good to see the gift shop prioritizing the two greatest writers in the European canon
I enjoyed the Birds exhibition at @mauritshuis.bsky.social
this morning, curated by Simon Schama.
It’s not big - just one room really - but a carefully-chosen and thought-provoking collection of pieces, from Rembrandt to Leonardo da Vinci, Fabritius and Tracy Emin. Nice to see
isn’t real. You’ll own nothing and be happy. Trump is great and Putin is fine.
I’ve tried to engage but it’s hopeless. When someone’s so deep in a hole of misinformation, anything anyone else says is a lie. I’m not sure there’s any way back. But if it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.
be happy to vote for Starmer or Macron. And then Covid happened. Lost his job. Two years online reading conspiracies. The Plandemic. WEF controls the world. Bill Gates is pulling the strings. Trans people don’t exist. 15 minute cities are a communist plot. Vaccines are toxic. Covid
For no particular reason I find myself thinking this morning about a former colleague of mine. A lovely guy, similar age to me, kind and clever. A well educated professional. Generically centrist/liberal views, worried about climate change. The kind of person who’d
Someone really doesn’t like Gouda’s new parking fees
I love the way farmhouses in the Groene Hart look at night, surrounded by water, floating on their own reflections. Like something from Sherlock Holmes
an ordinary evening in Amsterdam. There’s nothing like it
this is terrific
I love the way farmhouses in the Groene Hart look at night, surrounded by water, floating on their own reflections. Like something from Sherlock Holmes
✅
If anyone is friends with any Georgian air traffic controllers, buy them a nice bottle of wine. As guardians of pretty much the only narrow gap still available between Europe and Asia that avoids both Iran, the Gulf, Ukraine and Russia, they are under some substantial pressure.
Nice news for book lovers in Brussels: Passa Porta is expanding into a new building
www.bruzz.be/select/liter...
Honestly, if this is the punchiest, most tweet-worthy thing you have to say then it’s probably better to say nothing at all
Jetten:
“We are looking at how we can begin to encourage a return to peace”
Looking at. How to begin. To encourage. A return to peace.
It’s not exactly Churchill, is it? I can understand why people hate centrists sometimes
I think a big part of it is Covid. Turned a lot of small state conservatives completely nuts
Relatedly, this is also a good piece on her husband, who unfortunately seems to have gone on a similar journey from fearless feisty conservative to MAGA loon afraid there’s communists hiding in his soup
www.thebulwark.com/p/how-niall-...