Gareth Harding
@garethbxl.bsky.social
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Brussels-based writer, journalism lecturer and media trainer.
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Gareth Harding
Ben Coates
3 days ago
A quick reminder that a lot of people find this time of year very difficult - and even people who seem fine can be really struggling to stay afloat. If you think you know someone like this, call! send them a message! send a stupid gif or meme! It’ll take you 20 seconds & could literally save a life
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Kate from Kharkiv
12 days ago
Kaja Kallas: we have to be really clear-eyed. We have one aggressor and one victim. And the one that needs security guarantees is Ukraine, not Russia. In last 100 years, Russia has attacked at least 19 countries, some as many as three or four times. None of those countries has ever attacked Russia
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Gabriel Zucman
15 days ago
It has become received wisdom in Brussels and Washington that there is a new “euro-sclerosis”: that the EU economy is lagging the US This view is wrong A little primer on the measurement of productivity – and why reports of the economic death of Europe are greatly exaggerated🧵
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“A world where China and the US both wish to eat the EU’s economic lunch, and Russia harbours darker designs to the east, is no place for a romantic view of multilateralism..Europeans deserve far better than a continent made fit for Elon Musk.Time to fight back.”
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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The Guardian view on Trump and Europe: more an abusive relationship than an alliance | Editorial
Editorial: The White House is aggressively seeking to weaken and dominate the United States’ traditional allies. European leaders must learn to fight back.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/09/the-guardian-view-on-trump-and-europe-more-an-abusive-relationship-than-an-alliance?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
17 days ago
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Jon Worth
19 days ago
If European Digital Sovereignty is to mean anything, it ought to mean NOT posting on a platform owned and run by a fascist intent on undermining the EU! And don't give me the bullshit you have to be there for "balance" or "reach" - the rules are stacked against you from the outset
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This book could not be more timely on the day Trump has been named the most influential person in Europe by Politico. And there is nobody who writes with more vim and verve about America’s domination of Europe than
@davekeating.substack.com
. I’m ordering my copy now.
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18 days ago
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Ben Coates
19 days ago
Article 5 is now not just dead, but three times cremated and then buried at sea
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Gareth Harding
Jeremy Goldkorn
23 days ago
From R. Crumb's satirical "City of the Future" in Zap Comix (1968)
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“Europe is losing confidence, sinking into fatalism and justifying its passivity with the soothing thought that it has no real choice, as its cards are weak.” Excellebt op-ed by
@sbeverts.bsky.social
www.politico.eu/article/euro...
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Europe’s psychology of weakness
It’s time the EU ditched its failing strategy of “react, hope, repeat.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-psychology-of-weakness-ukraine-war-trade-trump-putin/
25 days ago
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Gareth Harding
John Burn-Murdoch
about 1 month ago
This chart (which applies even more to social media than it did to TV) lives in my head rent free. Social media enveloping traditional media means everything and everyone is now competing in the entertainment market. Boring stuff like policy that affects millions of lives doesn’t stand a chance.
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Anne Applebaum
about 2 months ago
Hundreds of thousands of people, dead because of a decision made by the world's richest man
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“The project is described as a prime example of 'belgo-belge' politics, where regional-federal tensions, party rivalries and symbolic posturing have overtaken practical problem-solving.”
www.brusselstimes.com/1829144/schu...
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Schuman's roundabout facelift project might end up in court
The canopy project has then been shelved after EU funding plea failed, resulting in tension between regional and federal bodies and laying bare Brussels party politics.
https://www.brusselstimes.com/1829144/schuman-roundabout-facelift-project-might-be-taken-to-court
about 2 months ago
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Petter Törnberg
about 2 months ago
In short, the ANES data shows: 📉 Social media use is shrinking 💥 Twitter/X posting has moved ~50 points to the right 🧩 Platforms are splintering 🔊 Fewer people are talking — but those still talking are more politically extreme
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Great reporting from my parents’ hometown of Caerphilly - where the leftist nationalist party Plaid Cymru saw off a threat from Farage’s far-right Reform party in a bitter by-election.
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about 2 months ago
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Ben Coates
2 months ago
The Netherlands has issues but is an extraordinarily successful society - rich, safe, healthy and beautiful, with outstanding public services. Unfortunately a lot of people take this for granted, and believe politicians who claim to be patriots while claiming everything is terrible
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Gareth Harding
Dave Keating
2 months ago
It is wild that the 🇺🇸 Vice President is calling senior Republican staffers, men in their 30s, "young boys" in order to excuse their leaked racist, sexist and Hitler-praising text messages.
open.substack.com/pub/jill/p/t...
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POLITICO prediction vs reality.
2 months ago
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www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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Madeline Horwath on St George returning to England – cartoon
The St George’s flag is more popular than ever. It’s more complicated for England’s patron saint
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2025/oct/11/madeline-horwath-st-george-returning-england-cartoon?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
3 months ago
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Gareth Harding
Ben Coates
3 months ago
Christ this is grim, seeing it laid out this way. The far right is now the most popular party in the UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland… Unprecedented
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Gareth Harding
Anne Applebaum
3 months ago
"We took the freedom of speech away," says the president
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The EU: big on the small things, small on the big.
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3 months ago
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‘The Brussels bubble has found its voice. Unfortunately, it’s ChatGPT’s’. Brilliant, amusing, rant against AI slop in EU circles where dull, samey writing was already a problem.
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3 months ago
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Ben Coates
3 months ago
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Incredible insider account of Trump’s ignorance and petulance. But also of how effective his temper tantrums and bullying taxtics are.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
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‘I’m leaving,’ Trump said. ‘There’s no reason to be here any more’: inside the meeting that brought Nato to the brink
Former secretary general Jens Stoltenberg recalls the rollercoaster ride of dealing with Donald Trump – and how close the US president brought the alliance to the point of collapse
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/04/im-leaving-trump-said-theres-no-reason-to-be-here-any-more-inside-the-meeting-that-brought-nato-to-the-brink?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
3 months ago
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Gareth Harding
Ben Coates
3 months ago
It’s refreshing to hear someone - Zach Polanski, new leader of the UK Green Party - actually making the case for migration as a good thing. Not a view you hear very often at the moment, even from those ostensibly on the centre left
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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Gareth Harding
Anne Applebaum
3 months ago
exactly like the Chinese surveillance state
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Further proof that Britain’s far-right Reform Party is full of Putin puppets.
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3 months ago
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“Trump and Putin – like-minded, amoral, authoritarian apex predators – are working together, or at least in parallel, to undercut European democracy, security, prosperity and progressive values. It looks like a concerted pincer movement. It feels like 1939.”
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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Trump and Putin are threatening to carve up Europe between them. Suddenly, it all feels a bit 1939 | Simon Tisdall
Forget the US president’s seeming volte-face on Ukraine this week: he and Putin fundamentally agree that European liberal democracy is the problem, says Guardian foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisd...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/28/trump-putin-europe-1939-us-russia-ukraine-liberal-democracy?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
3 months ago
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Paul Bernal
3 months ago
This is the real threat to free speech.
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Gareth Harding
Andrew Stroehlein
3 months ago
Question to the room: which social channels do you use for EU-related communications? X: Almost no one raises hand. BlueSky or Mastodon: Almost no one. LinkedIn: Almost everyone.
#EUinfluencer
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Gareth Harding
Ben Coates
3 months ago
I KNEW IT!! it’s official, Dutch only makes sense if you’re drunk
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Gareth Harding
Andrew Stroehlein
4 months ago
Don't kill anyone. Don't spread hate. How about we all agree on that?
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Europe sacrificing its sovereignty for US protection came with two risks, writes
@davekeating.substack.com
- "that the US would become disinterested, or that the US would become adversarial. We are now in a nightmare situation where the US has become both."
open.substack.com/pub/davekeat...
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As Russia attacks Poland, an unstable America spirals out of control
With its incursion yesterday, Russia was testing US interest in defending Europe. But as American domestic turmoil rapidly escalates, Europe is in the nightmare scenario so many warned about.
https://open.substack.com/pub/davekeating/p/as-russia-attacks-poland-an-unstable?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
4 months ago
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“European federalists, rejoice! The European Union finally has a bona fide president. The only problem: He lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., aka the White House.” Spot-on op-ed lead by
@nicholasvinocur.bsky.social
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4 months ago
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Dave Keating
5 months ago
"Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu declared that 'all Gaza will be Jewish' and the Israeli government 'is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out'" In the Knesset on Tuesday "participants spoke of Gaza as an ideal site to relieve Israel’s housing crunch"
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Column | As Gaza starves, Israel’s far right sees a dream coming true
Members of Israel’s government embrace the Trump-inspired vision of a Gaza of gleaming towers, ritzy tourism and pristine neighborhoods, but without Palestinians.
https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2025/07/25/worldview-gaza-hunger-crisis-israel
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No. Next question.
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5 months ago
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Highway to Halle headline, surely?
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5 months ago
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Ben Coates
5 months ago
An extraordinary front page from a newspaper not normally known for its leftwing sympathies. The tide is slowly, belatedly turning.
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Gareth Harding
Ben Coates
5 months ago
Far right conspiracist grifters form a far more globalized network than the WEF could ever dream of
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Mythical Belgium: Ahead of national day I write about the seven awe-inspiring places that make me proud to live in this cool, quirky country. 🇧🇪
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5 months ago
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Do you know the words to the Belgian national anthem? Do you accelerate after you’ve passed speed cameras? And do you prefer ketchup or mayonnaise with your frites/fritjes? As Belgian national day approaches, find out how Belgian you are by taking my tongue-in-cheek test.
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5 months ago
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Dave Walker
6 months ago
New drawing: Hire bike Notes on this cartoon:
open.substack.com/pub/diagramc...
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"Les Engagés has appointed someone to lead University Hospital of Liège, and someone else to head the Spa-Francorchamps circuit while MR was given the choice over ONE." Pretty staggering how public posts in Belgium are divvied up according to political affiliation. And family ties in Bouchez's case.
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6 months ago
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The Brussels Times
6 months ago
A Brussels Times investigation reveals a public sector where systemic blurring of norms has led to potential budgetary fraud.
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Special report: Brussels Region allegedly misused EU funds to pay off debt
Special report: Brussels Region allegedly misused EU funds to pay off debt
https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/1656111/special-report-brussels-region-allegedly-misused-eu-funds-to-pay-off-debt/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Bluesky#Echobox=1752071960
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The UN is dying. Will anyone fight to save it?
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
6 months ago
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Gareth Harding
Ben Coates
6 months ago
I honestly can’t imagine hearing 14 homeless refugee girls (girls!) are coming to live in your town and thinking: let’s go and smash the home up and set fire to it before the girls get here. People are despicable sometimes - and the leaders who rile them up are worse
www.dutchnews.nl/2025/07/prot...
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Protests in Drenthe over plans to house 14 teenage girl refugees - DutchNews.nl
The mayor of Coevorden has introduced an emergency order in the Drenthe town’s Tuindorp neighbourhood after several nights of unrest over plans to house teenage girl refugees there. Dozens of proteste...
https://www.dutchnews.nl/2025/07/protests-in-drenthe-over-plans-to-house-14-teenage-girl-refugees-2/
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Gareth Harding
Ben Coates
6 months ago
Fourteen million deaths. Remember this next time a Republican says they’re “pro life”
www.ft.com/content/945a...
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USAID cuts threaten 14mn extra deaths by 2030, warns study
Slashed US aid agency’s funding is expected to harm the fight against diseases including malaria and HIV/Aids
https://www.ft.com/content/945a0301-2bf5-4e0f-bdc4-f07f82891cb1
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