bencoates1.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Have a lovely weekend

submitted 21 hours ago • 0 comments

I feel so sorry for Elon, it must be awful to see the organization which you’ve lovingly built up over many years suddenly have all its government funding cancelled in a totally arbitrary way

submitted 1 day ago • 6 comments

I used to be anti digital IDs - until I lived in a place (Netherlands) where everything is done seamlessly online. Now it would seem insane to me to not be able to pay taxes, claim benefits, renew passports, register vehicles, order medications in an app. It’s 2025!

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

ABC in the Hague

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

Love the New Yorker but I HATE this thing where they list in the magazine print index things which are only available online. Feels like a total scam. Please let’s not make this a thing.

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

Number crunching $292 million: the amount Musk spent on getting Trump elected $34 billion: the amount Musk’s worth fell by yesterday after he fell out with Trump

submitted 1 day ago • 4 comments

I feel so sorry for Elon, it must be awful to see the organization which you’ve lovingly built up over many years suddenly have all its government funding cancelled in a totally arbitrary way

submitted 1 day ago • 6 comments

First Wilders and now Musk. Not a good week for weird paranoid internet guys who miss apartheid.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

This is the billionaires’ version of “I never thought the leopards would eat MY face”

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

the only thing worse for Musk’s business than ‘very publicly getting a white nationalist totalitarian elected’ is ‘very publicly getting a white nationalist totalitarian elected and then falling out with that totalitarian so he cancels your contracts and tries to jail you’. It’s hilarious.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

I know we shouldn’t expect everyone to speak English, but it feels like a big advantage for Europe that there’s now a German chancellor who’s completely fluent and comfortable in English (after Scholz and Merkel, who struggled)

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Former Belgian PM Alexander De Croo candidate for top UN position

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Credit to Merz, he handles this quite deftly.

submitted 1 day ago • 7 comments

😆 perfect bsky.app/profile/spel...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

A will-they-won’t-they which has dragged on longer than Ross and Rachel 🙄

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

The main legacy of the last year in Dutch politics is that the far right being in government has been normalized, and no longer seems offensive or remarkable. The PVV is treated more or less like any other party - far more gently than the AfD or RN. If Wilders comes back, there’ll be little outrage.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

and people say nothing exciting ever happens in the Groene Hart

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

A lot of clever people work in politics, so it’s baffling that centre right parties around the world keep making the exact same mistake. If the far right is winning votes by talking about how they’ll fix immigration, you will not beat them by constantly saying immigration is broken.

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

In Dutch there's a saying 'wie breekt betaalt' ie who breaks up the government, pays. Historically voters have punished the party responsible for a collapse of gov at the ballot box (ref VVD losing 10 seats in 2023 elections) Let's see...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Only just saw today’s Telegraaf - a sort of Dutch Daily Mail, usually devoted to the anti-immigration hard right. Totally brutal for Wilders - “FAILED… RIGHTWING VOTERS LEFT DESTITUTE”. The article says he’s a quitter and a failure. It’s like Fox News ripping Trump a new one.

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

What’s fueled the rise of the Dutch far right? Do the Dutch really think differently about race and religion? How have political faultlines fractured Amsterdam? And why is everything going to work out fine? Find the answers here! abc.nl/book-details... www.waterstones.com/book/the-inv...

submitted 4 days ago • 2 comments

A good overview of some possible coalitions here 👇 Elections are months away so the actual result may differ a lot from current polls - but there will probably be no easy option and it’ll be hard for anyone to piece together a majority. Interesting times!

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Elections will likely be on 29 October, which an advisory council says is the earliest date possible. Coalitions take an average of about 100 days to form; in 2023 it took 223 days. So Dick Schoof and crew will probably stay in office until February, and quite possibly much longer nos.nl/l/2569959

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Good news, the LGBT organisation you run is going to be profiled by EenVandaag! Oh great! That’ll really help our cause. Anything I need to do? No, just practice your lines and obviously make sure you don’t seem like a caricature of a loony woke leftwinger. Ok, no problem. I’ll just grab my hat.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

If you really wanted to defeat Wilders you’d: -focus on the economy/public services, not immigration -say you won’t govern with Wilders, meaning votes for him are wasted -take a measured, competent tone -build bridges with other parties incl. PvdA Today Dilan has done the opposite of all of these

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Meanwhile in Rotterdam, shit just got real

submitted 2 days ago • 4 comments

Netherlands announces new maritime security support package for Ukraine worth $456 million The package will consist of over 100 naval vessels, including ships, patrol boats, transport boats, interceptors, special operations vessels, and 50 maritime drones euromaidanpress.com/2025/06/04/n...

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

There’s a long way til election day, but judging by the first 24 hours, centre right parties have not learned their lesson at all

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Caroline van der Plas (BBB) wil dat er geen buitenlandse woorden in de plenaire zaal worden gebruikt omdat er mensen zijn die "überhaupt" moeite hebben met taal.

submitted 3 days ago • 60 comments

congratulations to het Parool for the most Amsterdam front page ever

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

The strange thing is that if he wanted to, Wilders could easily claim his government has been a success on its main aim: cutting immigration. Asylum claims are down 50% in Q1. But as always, he prefers to declare an existential crisis rather than run on his record

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

An interesting pivot from Mette Frederiksen: “Being a part of the Frugal Four is no longer the right place for us… For me, the most important thing is to rearm Europe...Because if Europe is not able to protect ourselves and to defend ourselves then it's game over” www.euronews.com/my-europe/20...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Not to piss on everyone’s chips but I’m afraid I don’t see much to celebrate in the demise of Wilders et al. (1/4)

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

Elections are not going to happen for a long time. October or even November, quite possibly. And then probably 3-6 months to form a coalition after that. So if you think you’ve seen the last of Dick Schoof, you have not. He will quite likely still be PM at Christmas!

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments