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Ben Coates

@bencoates1.bsky.social

4.5K followers 600 following 2.1K posts

Author - 'THE INVENTION OF AMSTERDAM' out now! (https://amzn.to/2QJx3bh). Writer, aid worker, speechwriter, recovering Tory. Columnist @ADnl; articles NYT, Telgraph, New Statesman, Groene Amsterdammer etc. Buy my new book, it’s good!

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · Apr 17

A nice review in the TLS:

“The Invention of Amsterdam…. captures Coates’s infectious enthusiasm for his adopted home… The author… is an effortlessly charming guide… and has an excellent eye for the fetching fact”
www.the-tls.co.uk/world/travel...

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 10h

yes I’ve been to the Hague too

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 11h

Source:

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

How Donald Trump Got NATO to Pay Up

The Administration is strong-arming European nations to do more on behalf of their own defense. Is the strategy working?

www.newyorker.com

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 11h

Dutch defence chief says: in the event of war with Russia, Rotterdam will be defended at all costs but protecting Amsterdam “is not important to me” 😳

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 16h

Berlin

(Dussmann)

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 18h

Yes, sorry, you are right - I meant to say nature + water = 34%

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21h

Reclaimed a bit more I guess

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21h

(See also: don’t worry, China will definitely democratize as its middle class grows)

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21h

US liberals used to say: it’s ok, Hispanics vote Democrat, so demographic shifts will destroy the hard right in the long term. It ended badly.

Then Europeans said: it’s ok, young people vote leftwing, so demographic shifts will destroy the hard right in the long term. It’s ending badly.

Levi @levi98k.bsky.social · 2d

Wat zullen die ouders trots zijn...

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21h

I would honestly pay a premium to be the last one on

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21h

(figures are from a few years ago so housing has probably crept up a bit since then)

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21h

I found this interesting - how Dutch land is used (from CBS)

54% is agriculture
13% buildings and roads
and 34% water!

#NederlandIsVol

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 1d

but what if I want to pay 29.99 to board more speedily and then wait ages while everyone else gets on

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 1d

a close up of a man 's face with the words `` that 's a big if '' .

ALT: a close up of a man 's face with the words `` that 's a big if '' .

media.tenor.com

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 1d

A good line from Rutte on a damaged Russian submarine forced to surface off France:

“What a change from the 1984 Tom Clancy novel 'The Hunt for Red October'. Today, it seems more like the hunt for the nearest mechanic”

www.reuters.com/world/europe...

NATO chief mocks 'broken' Russian submarine as Moscow denies malfunction

NATO chief Mark Rutte mocked Russia on Monday over the "limping" condition of one of its submarines as Russian authorities denied it had been forced to surface because of technical problems.

www.reuters.com

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 1d

I go swimming most weeks, and remembering my locker number is never a problem.

Cuban Missile Crisis!
Fall of Saigon!
Treaty of Westphalia!
Cultural Revolution!

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 1d

There seems to be a uniquely British (or US-British) fascination with the cult of the political henchman. Campbell, Cummings, Steve Hilton…people love to think there’s a Svengali pulling the strings. I’m not sure people in the rest of Europe give a damn who their prime minister’s media strategist is

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 1d

The release of hostages is extremely good news. But the idea that the world’s dumbest and most orange racist is suddenly a benevolent Kissinger is absurd, and a lot of people will look pretty stupid when he inevitably reverts to form in about fifteen minutes

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 1d

- the end of WW2
- Camp David accords
- Good Friday Agreement in N. Ireland
- Dayton Accords in Bosnia
- Paris accords on Vietnam
- armistice in Korea
- the end of apartheid

Yes, a fragile ceasefire in a small piece of the Palestinian Territories definitely beats all of these!

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

MARCO RUBIO: This is probably one of the most important days for world peace in 50 years. That's not an exaggeration

TRUMP: Only 50?

RUBIO: Maybe 100

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 1d

An English bookshop, it’s excellent

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 1d

Not sure this is a new phenomenon? I did one at my (fairly crappy state comprehensive) school 25+ years ago. The optics probably aren’t great but it was life changing for me and worth every penny