iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Ben Coates

Gordon Darroch @gordondarroch.bsky.social · 11h

Colonial rule is alive and well in the Dutch Caribbean, it seems, after Maria Cortina Machado was apparently prevented from travelling to Venezuela last week thanks to the kind of chicanery that used to be sorted out over a couple of brandies at the country club. www.dutchnews.nl/2026/09/neth...

dutchnews.nl

Netherlands “blocked” Machado’s efforts to return to Venezuela - DutchNews.nl

The Dutch government has been accused of blocking the return of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado after two flights to Curaçao and Aruba were cancelled on the same day. Both flights we...

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 12h

One of Burnham’s biggest strengths is that he just seems to like Britain and the people in it and enjoys the prospect of helping them - which is much rarer than it should be. Almost every other world leader looks like they’d rather be somewhere else

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 14h

Some admirable things here but if you are already PM, pledging to scrap the triple lock, reform social care, reform the electoral system and reset Europe etc really means a lot less if you are actually pledging to do these things *in 2030 if you win the next election* www.bbc.com/news/live/c6...

bbc.com

Burnham giving first Labour conference speech as prime minister - watch live

Under the plan, the state pension will continue to rise each year in line with inflation or by 2.5% - but the annual earnings link will be dropped.

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 22h

The latest big thing in Rotterdam, apparently: tattoos of a cockroach which open out to look like de Kuip (the Feyenoord football stadium). One tattooist says he’s done a hundred of them recently. "Just like cockroaches, we Rotterdammers are impossible to wipe out“

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I keep trying to find something interesting to say about Rob Jetten but it’s very hard; he’s just so extraordinarily bland

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Reposted by Ben Coates

Bart @6artvde.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

yep noticed last week while hiking the Rheinsteig between Koblenz and Bonn

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The media cycle has largely lost interest, but the Rhine is still unprecedentedly low. At cologne, usual median low water is 1.14 metres. Previous record low: 69cm in 2018. And now? 40 cm. Catastrophic for shipping, factories, power plants and cruises www.dutchnews.nl/2026/09/dutc...

dutchnews.nl

Dutch river cruise stranded as Rhine falls to new record levels - DutchNews.nl

The river Rhine dropped to a new record low level at the weekend at the Dutch-German border, with no sign of fresh rainfall in the days ahead. The river measured 6.1m at Lobith, the point where it flo...

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Ladies, if you’re planning on committing a crime: do it in the Netherlands www.brusselstimes.com/2327242/neth...

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

in 1950 a zoo in Wuppertal took an elephant named Tuffi on a monorail. Passengers screamed, and Tuffi smashed a window and fell out. She was unhurt and had “a wonderful time” playing in the river below. One passenger was seriously hurt; when she woke up in hospital her 1st words were: how is Tuffi?

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Andy Burnham comes across as a decent guy who would have made a fine PM in, say, 2007-10. But the problem is it’s not 2007. The world is on fire. Russia is planning a wider war. NATO is collapsing. Fascism is back. AI might kill us all by the end of the week.

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Mark Carney gets it, in a way that many other leaders sadly don’t

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Mark Carney gets it, in a way that many other leaders sadly don’t

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Reposted by Ben Coates

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Leaving for a long holiday, I told the animal ambulance people: if you can’t find a home for those orphaned ducks, I’ll take them when I get back. No chance there’ll still be there in a month, I thought. Many weeks later, the phone rings. Fuck.

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

All across Europe, opinions which would have got you fired from any office job in 2010 are now pretty much mainstream

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

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Reposted by Ben Coates

Ian James @ianjames.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

The drying of Europe’s rivers presents not only an ecological hazard but also a major “strategic challenge,” Ben Coates writes. “Europe needs to begin thinking about its rivers more radically and more seriously — as a strategic asset.” www.nytimes.com/2026/08/15/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | Europe’s Great Rivers Are Dying. The Continent Is In for a Shock.

Climate change is beginning to tear up the old map of Europe’s power and wealth.

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Reposted by Ben Coates

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Pleased to have written a piece in the New York Times today, about skeletons in the Danube, the drying up of the Rhine, and why climate change is not just an environmental problem for Europe but a strategic disaster www.nytimes.com/2026/08/15/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | Europe’s Great Rivers Are Dying. The Continent Is In for a Shock.

Climate change is beginning to tear up the old map of Europe’s power and wealth.

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Reposted by Ben Coates

Okke Ornstein @ornstein.org · 16/08/2026

"For some in Europe, climate change seemed like a problem that mainly afflicted faraway places. In recent years, wildfires on the continent, together with heat waves and the drying of the rivers, have brought it home, where it’s beginning to alter the old map of Europe’s power and wealth."

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

nytimes.com

Opinion | Europe’s Great Rivers Are Dying. The Continent Is In for a Shock.

Climate change is beginning to tear up the old map of Europe’s power and wealth.

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

“In 2010 stelde Andy Burnham zich kandidaat als Labourleider, maar hij eindigde met slechts 10% van de stemmen. In 2015 deed hij opnieuw een gooi, maar behaalde slechts 19%. Wat veranderde er tussen 2015 en 2026, wanneer hij de steun kreeg van 94% van parlementsleden? In één woord: Manchester.”

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Reposted by Ben Coates

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I am supposed to be staying offline but I accidentally wrote a piece for the Groene Amsterdammer about Andy Burnham, his Dutch romance and how Manchesterism could save the UK 👇😃👇 “Het VK heeft sinds 2016 inmiddels evenveel premiers gehad als Nederland sinds 1977” www.groene.nl/artikel/de-w...

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I am taking a few weeks off social media. I hope you all have a lovely summer. If you need me I will mostly be riding my bike, reading books in the garden and watching 30 Rock.

static.klipy.com

White Man With Hair 30 Rock

ALT: White Man With Hair 30 Rock

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Reposted by Ben Coates

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

This is your regular reminder that if you have somehow failed to do so, you absolutely should order and read my book on Amsterdam. Romans, colonialists, slave traders, artists, poets, Nazis, rock stars, stoners… they’re all there. It’s a jaw-droppingly good read www.waterstones.com/book/the-inv...

waterstones.com

The Invention of Amsterdam by Ben Coates | Waterstones

Buy The Invention of Amsterdam by Ben Coates from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

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Reposted by Ben Coates

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

can I gently suggest that if you are already, six minutes into his premiership, massively disappointed with all the ways the nefarious Andy Burnham has let you down then perhaps your expectations were a bit off to begin with

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Reposted by Ben Coates

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Interesting piece I’m not sure I’ve ever articulated it well but one thing I admire about the Netherlands is the way people seem able to appreciate life’s small pleasures a lot High status job with an important title? Who cares Cycling to the cafe for a piece of apple pie in the sun? Everything

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

You’re all going to regret those tattoos

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Reposted by Ben Coates

Georg von Harrach @georgvh.com · 21/07/2026

Prime Minister Andy Burnham told NATO chief Mark Rutte this morning that the appointment of John Healey, as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer "was a signal of his intent" In other words, expect the UK to spend even more on defence.

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I thought this was a very good episode - a blistering (but not unfair) accounting of Starmer’s failures One point I found particularly strong: the idea that he presided over a collapse of cultural norms around racist rhetoric. “The share value of dog whistles has really fallen”

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

The only pundit you need Don’t have a substack, buy my books

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I am pretty relaxed about most of AB’s choices but it really seems odd to me that a moment when your own chancellor is predicting war in Europe in a couple of years, you would give all your top foreign policy jobs to people who never seem to have had any interest in it at all

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

one notable thing about Burnham is his lack of interest in foreign affairs - he’s never worked on it, rarely mentions it, hasn’t traveled much It’s therefore odd that his big picks - Miliband at FCDO, Streeting Defence, but also Purnell etc - are also people with no background. an odd vacuum

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Reposted by Ben Coates

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

replacing Keir Starmer with Andy Burnham is like deciding your Ford Puma ST is a totally useless and badly designed piece of junk and replacing it with a Ford Puma ST-X

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Reposted by Ben Coates

Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Cameron - Oxford May - Oxford Johnson - Oxford Truss - Oxford Sunak - Oxford Starmer - Oxford Burnham - Cambridge Change is possible!!

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Andy Burnham’s wife has organized a special welcome party at Downing Street tonight

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

the Milibands are the Dulles brothers of the twenty-first century Surely the first siblings to both serve as foreign secretary?

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

If you don’t know much about Andy Burnham then this interview (from four years ago, with @mrjamesob.bsky.social) is a good place to start Burnham comes across as a pretty decent bloke podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/f...

podcasts.apple.com

From The Vault: Andy Burnham, MP for Makerfield and Mayor of Greater Manchester

Podcast Episode · Full Disclosure with James O'Brien · 18 June · 58min

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

I am curious to see how long it takes for the British public/media to decide that this latest blandly-centrist friendly-football-dad middle-management type is in fact the dumb racist spawn of Thatcher and couldn’t be trusted to clean a carrot, let alone run a country. Five weeks? Eight?

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Cameron - Oxford May - Oxford Johnson - Oxford Truss - Oxford Sunak - Oxford Starmer - Oxford Burnham - Cambridge Change is possible!!

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

replacing Keir Starmer with Andy Burnham is like deciding your Ford Puma ST is a totally useless and badly designed piece of junk and replacing it with a Ford Puma ST-X

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

is this.. like the peace prize? it sounds a bit like the peace prize

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Ben Coates @bencoates1.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

when it comes to being wrong, there can only be one world champion

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Reposted by Ben Coates

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 08/07/2026

Trump: "Spain is a wasted cause. We don't want to do any trade business with Spain anymore, by the way. I'd like to cut it off. Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. Cut off all trade with Spain, please. Including visits. We don't want anything to do. They're hopeless. Bad people."

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