Ben Coates
@bencoates1.bsky.social
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!
in some of the most important areas, Starmer’s government is still doing admirable stuff
The United Kingdom is allocating the largest support package in its history to Ukraine - £500 million (over $680 million) to strengthen air defense capabilities.
This was announced by UK Defence Secretary John Healey at a meeting of the Ramstein-format Contact Group.
This was announced by UK Defence Secretary John Healey at a meeting of the Ramstein-format Contact Group.
February 12, 2026 at 8:29 PM
in some of the most important areas, Starmer’s government is still doing admirable stuff
I helped arrange for a friend in her 40s, from a landlocked part of Africa, visit the sea for the first time a couple of months ago. A cold North Sea beach on a grey, windy morning, and it blew her mind. She said it was even better than she’d been dreaming.
I think ALL THE TIME about people who've never seen the sea. If you grew up in a tiny country like Britain it's difficult to imagine. However poor your family was, you'll have been dragged to a lovably shit seafront before you were 15.
I vastly envy folks who grew up near the ocean. I am 23 years old and have never seen the ocean. It's 1000 miles away.
February 12, 2026 at 6:34 PM
I helped arrange for a friend in her 40s, from a landlocked part of Africa, visit the sea for the first time a couple of months ago. A cold North Sea beach on a grey, windy morning, and it blew her mind. She said it was even better than she’d been dreaming.
“You can continue to smoke marijuana and recognise 70 genders. That is your business. But threatening another country with punishment for its sovereignty crosses a red line” -Slovak PM Robert Fico today, after the new Dutch govt pledged action on EU authoritarians
www.euractiv.com/news/weed-an...
www.euractiv.com/news/weed-an...
Weed and gender: Slovak PM lashes out over Dutch threat on EU funding | Euractiv
"You can continue to smoke marijuana and recognise 70 genders. That is your business", Fico said
www.euractiv.com
February 12, 2026 at 6:08 PM
“You can continue to smoke marijuana and recognise 70 genders. That is your business. But threatening another country with punishment for its sovereignty crosses a red line” -Slovak PM Robert Fico today, after the new Dutch govt pledged action on EU authoritarians
www.euractiv.com/news/weed-an...
www.euractiv.com/news/weed-an...
Bear Grylls’ father was a Tory MP, whose career imploded after he was accused of taking cash for questions
This piece in The Spectator by @shippersunbound.bsky.social has an absolutely mad detail that I was not previously aware of spectator.com/article/auth...
February 12, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Bear Grylls’ father was a Tory MP, whose career imploded after he was accused of taking cash for questions
Lots of calls for (Kan)ye to be blocked from performing in Arnhem following antisemitic outbursts.
I understand the sentiment but am not sure it’s that easy, really.
He is bipolar and has explained at length that he wrote about Jews during a manic episode. At what point is it appropriate to forgive?
I understand the sentiment but am not sure it’s that easy, really.
He is bipolar and has explained at length that he wrote about Jews during a manic episode. At what point is it appropriate to forgive?
February 12, 2026 at 8:56 AM
Lots of calls for (Kan)ye to be blocked from performing in Arnhem following antisemitic outbursts.
I understand the sentiment but am not sure it’s that easy, really.
He is bipolar and has explained at length that he wrote about Jews during a manic episode. At what point is it appropriate to forgive?
I understand the sentiment but am not sure it’s that easy, really.
He is bipolar and has explained at length that he wrote about Jews during a manic episode. At what point is it appropriate to forgive?
has anyone asked what the people who work for him think of his comments? Or what his team will look like once he’s kicked out all the people from immigrant ancestry?
February 11, 2026 at 10:07 PM
has anyone asked what the people who work for him think of his comments? Or what his team will look like once he’s kicked out all the people from immigrant ancestry?
Reposted by Ben Coates
Forecast annual electricity consumption of a new data centre being built in Lelystad: 753 gigawatt hours
Current annual electricity consumption of all people and businesses in Lelystad: 402 gigawatt hours
🤯
www.nu.nl/klimaat/6385...
Current annual electricity consumption of all people and businesses in Lelystad: 402 gigawatt hours
🤯
www.nu.nl/klimaat/6385...
Datacenter slurpt straks meer stroom dan heel Lelystad, raad wist van niks
Bij Lelystad komt een datacenter dat meer stroom gaat verbruiken dan de hele stad nu doet. De gemeenteraad werd verkeerd geïnformeerd over het energieverbruik en het project van de Amerikaanse datacen...
www.nu.nl
February 11, 2026 at 1:02 PM
Forecast annual electricity consumption of a new data centre being built in Lelystad: 753 gigawatt hours
Current annual electricity consumption of all people and businesses in Lelystad: 402 gigawatt hours
🤯
www.nu.nl/klimaat/6385...
Current annual electricity consumption of all people and businesses in Lelystad: 402 gigawatt hours
🤯
www.nu.nl/klimaat/6385...
Gouda’s pubs are moving upmarket, it seems
February 11, 2026 at 12:11 PM
Gouda’s pubs are moving upmarket, it seems
is it just me or is having a phone conversation in a cafe on speaker, with your iPhone out on the table, just an absolutely deranged Dahmer-level lunatic way to behave? What’s the procedure to get someone committed?
February 11, 2026 at 9:59 AM
is it just me or is having a phone conversation in a cafe on speaker, with your iPhone out on the table, just an absolutely deranged Dahmer-level lunatic way to behave? What’s the procedure to get someone committed?
A 🇳🇱 commission analyzed 1000s of speeches in parliament, and found politicians’ hate speech leads to normalization of it.
“There is a direct correlation. A statement made in Parliament, then printed in a newspaper, then explodes on social media… [for example] when Wilders called Kaag a witch”
“There is a direct correlation. A statement made in Parliament, then printed in a newspaper, then explodes on social media… [for example] when Wilders called Kaag a witch”
February 11, 2026 at 9:35 AM
A 🇳🇱 commission analyzed 1000s of speeches in parliament, and found politicians’ hate speech leads to normalization of it.
“There is a direct correlation. A statement made in Parliament, then printed in a newspaper, then explodes on social media… [for example] when Wilders called Kaag a witch”
“There is a direct correlation. A statement made in Parliament, then printed in a newspaper, then explodes on social media… [for example] when Wilders called Kaag a witch”
on Oswald Mosley, and Brits never voting for fascism
February 10, 2026 at 8:23 PM
on Oswald Mosley, and Brits never voting for fascism
I have to say it is not great to see lots of the Dutch media doing their best to cheerfully promote Jake Paul, a racist scam artist who thinks Covid is a hoax, supports ICE and has been accused of multiple sexual assaults
February 10, 2026 at 2:45 PM
I have to say it is not great to see lots of the Dutch media doing their best to cheerfully promote Jake Paul, a racist scam artist who thinks Covid is a hoax, supports ICE and has been accused of multiple sexual assaults
I literally do not know a single person who works full time in an office now. Everyone spends part of the week at home, and most work part-time and also spend part of the week at home
Three in five Dutch employees can actually work from home www.dutchnews.nl?p=263411
Three in five Dutch employees can actually work from home - DutchNews.nl
Around 80% of companies in the Netherlands allowed employees to work remotely in 2025, with just over 60% of workers able to make use of the option in practice, new figures from national statistics agency...
www.dutchnews.nl
February 10, 2026 at 10:39 AM
I literally do not know a single person who works full time in an office now. Everyone spends part of the week at home, and most work part-time and also spend part of the week at home
An obvious point but it is insanely weird how MAGA/populist people spent years fantsising about Bilderberg conspiracies & the existence of secret paedophile rings and now there is an actual paedophile ring run by the world’s most powerful men they just do not care at all
Secretary Howard Lutnick lied to the country about his ties to Epstein.
Now we learned that they were in business together.
He has no business being our Commerce Secretary.
He should resign.
www.politico.com/live-updates...
Now we learned that they were in business together.
He has no business being our Commerce Secretary.
He should resign.
www.politico.com/live-updates...
Howard Lutnick faces bipartisan calls to resign over latest Epstein revelations
Recently disclosed records suggest a closer relationship than the Commerce secretary previously indicated.
www.politico.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:54 AM
An obvious point but it is insanely weird how MAGA/populist people spent years fantsising about Bilderberg conspiracies & the existence of secret paedophile rings and now there is an actual paedophile ring run by the world’s most powerful men they just do not care at all
Starmer made mistakes but his potential demise is nothing to celebrate.
A decent guy with a solid electoral mandate to fix the country- & he could barely hold together a majority and get the bills paid on time.
Between 2016 and 2024 Britain looked ungovernable. The current mess confirms it still is.
A decent guy with a solid electoral mandate to fix the country- & he could barely hold together a majority and get the bills paid on time.
Between 2016 and 2024 Britain looked ungovernable. The current mess confirms it still is.
February 10, 2026 at 7:18 AM
Starmer made mistakes but his potential demise is nothing to celebrate.
A decent guy with a solid electoral mandate to fix the country- & he could barely hold together a majority and get the bills paid on time.
Between 2016 and 2024 Britain looked ungovernable. The current mess confirms it still is.
A decent guy with a solid electoral mandate to fix the country- & he could barely hold together a majority and get the bills paid on time.
Between 2016 and 2024 Britain looked ungovernable. The current mess confirms it still is.
Reposted by Ben Coates
Still one of the coolest buildings in Europe
(the Boijmans Depot art gallery in Rotterdam)
(the Boijmans Depot art gallery in Rotterdam)
February 9, 2026 at 11:13 AM
Still one of the coolest buildings in Europe
(the Boijmans Depot art gallery in Rotterdam)
(the Boijmans Depot art gallery in Rotterdam)
Reposted by Ben Coates
BREAKING: “in my 24th year of my quest to settle the planet Mars, I have just been informed of a basic fact of celestial mechanics.”
February 9, 2026 at 10:31 AM
BREAKING: “in my 24th year of my quest to settle the planet Mars, I have just been informed of a basic fact of celestial mechanics.”
“Vote Reform and be forced to go to the office every day again”
I’m not sure they’ve thought this through
I’m not sure they’ve thought this through
BREAKING: Nigel Farage calls for an end to working from home and the focus on work-life balance
"People aren't more productive working from home - it's a load of nonsense”
Whatever you do JUST DON’T VOTE REFORM!
"People aren't more productive working from home - it's a load of nonsense”
Whatever you do JUST DON’T VOTE REFORM!
February 9, 2026 at 6:53 PM
“Vote Reform and be forced to go to the office every day again”
I’m not sure they’ve thought this through
I’m not sure they’ve thought this through
The mandelson scandal is so damaging partly because it confirms lots of people’s worst suspicions about the political elite; things which they’ve always suspected but never seen proved in writing before:
Finance and politics are incestuously intertwined. Politicians spend their careers plotting how
Finance and politics are incestuously intertwined. Politicians spend their careers plotting how
February 9, 2026 at 4:49 PM
The mandelson scandal is so damaging partly because it confirms lots of people’s worst suspicions about the political elite; things which they’ve always suspected but never seen proved in writing before:
Finance and politics are incestuously intertwined. Politicians spend their careers plotting how
Finance and politics are incestuously intertwined. Politicians spend their careers plotting how
Still one of the coolest buildings in Europe
(the Boijmans Depot art gallery in Rotterdam)
(the Boijmans Depot art gallery in Rotterdam)
February 9, 2026 at 11:13 AM
Still one of the coolest buildings in Europe
(the Boijmans Depot art gallery in Rotterdam)
(the Boijmans Depot art gallery in Rotterdam)
Overall I think we are now at 9 female cabinet ministers out of 21 positions named so far, which is not bad. But some parties ratios are woeful - and the Netherlands seems about as close to getting a female prime minister as it does to hosting the Winter Olympics
VVD justice minister David van Weel, asked why only 3 of his party's 9 cabinet members were women, replied: “We selected on quality.”
D66 just appointed the first female lieutenant-general in the Dutch army as housing minister.
The quality's there if you look for it.
www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/...
D66 just appointed the first female lieutenant-general in the Dutch army as housing minister.
The quality's there if you look for it.
www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/...
Luitenant-generaal Elanor Boekholt-O’Sullivan wordt minister van Volkshuisvesting namens D66
D66 heeft luitenant-generaal bij de Luchtmacht Elanor Boekholt-O’Sullivan voorgedragen als minister van Volkshuisvesting en Ruimtelijke Ordening. Dat meldt de partij maandag op haar website. Boekholt-...
www.nrc.nl
February 9, 2026 at 10:19 AM
Overall I think we are now at 9 female cabinet ministers out of 21 positions named so far, which is not bad. But some parties ratios are woeful - and the Netherlands seems about as close to getting a female prime minister as it does to hosting the Winter Olympics