Even if you’ve been a hundred times before, the Mauritshuis still has the power to astonish. Is there any other museum of its (smallish) size which packs more world-famous pieces in?

I’ve never been a “fuck capitalism” kind of guy, but…

It feels like the Democratic Party leadership would literally rather see the US descend into fascism than risk being seen as a bit left wing

If you haven’t read Ben’s thread yet, uh, yeah, you should do that.

The Hague 1710 / 2025

Wow here he is! Kampala’s sixtieth most popular rapper

A polite reminder - if you are interested in the Netherlands, in how a small country got so rich and built an empire, in how its politics have been upended in the last few years and what challenges it faces in the future -then you might enjoy a book about its capital! www.amazon.nl/-/en/Ben-Coa...

This is an incredible thread, I highly recommend taking a moment and following it!

🧵 Worth it, if only for the last line.

Even if you twig what this is about, the last post is still worth it

Dit is een goed verhaal! Wel helemaal lezen tot het eind.

Wat. Een. Verhaal!!!

Can I tell my NYC mayor story again today? Ok, fine.

Fact of the day: Frans Timmermans is one year older than Tom Cruise Caroline van der Plas is the same age as Pamela Anderson

ICYMI: After counting overseas votes, D66 (Jetten) and PVV (Wilders) finished on 26 seats each. It was thought overseas votes might push D66 to 27 but this didn’t happen, so they’re tied. But Jetten got 28k votes more than Wilders, so gets 1st shot at forming a coalition nos.nl/collectie/14...

It makes no difference to me who wins, but it is extremely nice to see someone running for high office on a platform which is unashamedly pro-diversity and immigration, unafraid of challenging Trump and Musk head on, and relentlessly upbeat about the future

It still blows my mind that in 2025 I am raising my family in a place (Gouda) where the mayor comes from a party (SGP) which says women should not be allowed to run for public office

There’s many things going wrong with the world, but the bikeification of Antwerp (and Paris, and to a lesser extent Brussels) since Covid has been a wonder to behold

<extremely quiet voice, staring at the floor> I don’t have any strong opinion about Dick Cheney

As we're remembering that Dick Cheney killed a million Iraqis, remember that the death toll from cutting USAID funding will be still larger than that. www.npr.org/sections/goa...

It says a lot about the current state of the US that if Cheney were active now, he’d be considered quite a rational and diligent and centrist actor, too leftwing to be welcome in the Republican Party

The Dutch Bible Belt has traditionally been defined as the place where there’s a high vote for the SGP (the Christian Taliban party) The Belt has faded a little over time but you can still see it clearly on 2025 maps Rotterdam SGP vote: 0.7% Amsterdam: 0.2% Staphorst: 33% Reimerswal: 36% Urk: 54%

ICYMI: After counting overseas votes, D66 (Jetten) and PVV (Wilders) finished on 26 seats each. It was thought overseas votes might push D66 to 27 but this didn’t happen, so they’re tied. But Jetten got 28k votes more than Wilders, so gets 1st shot at forming a coalition nos.nl/collectie/14...

It’s fascinating comparing the front page coverage of the Huntingdon train attack (below) with how the British press treated another case 30 years ago. I’m referring to the 1995 Netto supermarket attack in Birmingham in which a man stabbed 10 people, killing one of them.

Fact of the day: Frans Timmermans is one year older than Tom Cruise Caroline van der Plas is the same age as Pamela Anderson

Ben Coates is one of my favorite journos to follow ‘back home’; his view of the Netherlands is clear, fair, genuine. While operating as a corro abroad and frantically trying to track The Hague’s changes (especially on Election Day!) I really appreciate the informed outsider’s view.

It’s so important not to fall into a false sense of security as we’ve seen in so many places in the West (think the US when Biden won). The seats that the PVV lost have just shifted to other Far Right parties (namely JA21 and FvD): they remain a real threat to justice, freedom and democracy.

Anyway, we need some joy, so here's the Egyptian foreign minister being given a Lego Pyramid by the Danish foreign minister.

Of course. But I do find it notable that after an election widely portrayed as a stunning defeat for the far right, there are still huge swathes of the country where they’re very popular. You could easily drive from the North Sea to Germany or from Belgium to Groningen without leaving PVV territory

All this does feel like the logical endpoint of a country soending many years glamorizing and idolizing the police and military, and giving even small town cops the equipment they need to cosplay Zero Dark Thirty

There’s still an awful lot of the country where Wilders’ PVV (light blue) is the most popular party

We’ve had a lot of strong entries, but the 2025 prize for Foreign Media’s Most Complete Misunderstanding of the Dutch Electoral System goes to…

I find it notable that Wilders et al haven’t said a word about the Huntingdon attack You don’t always have to comment on everything, of course. But we all know that if the suspect had been Muslim they’d have been all over it. It’s never about the victims, always about their their own prejudices

“We live in a post-Christian land” Religious types are not happy at the idea of a gay prime minister. It’s funny, I’d think a cabinet which slashed foreign aid, promoted the far right and pledged intolerance of majorities was also not very Christian. But what do I know. www.rd.nl/artikel/1126...

In the first nine months of 2025, *33 percent fewer* people applied for asylum in the Netherlands than in the first nine months of 2024. But sure, ASIELCRISIS!!!! still had to dominate the election

Jetten triumphant Trump’s unpopularity hitting new heights British voters starting to see through Reform Mamdani about to crush it in NYC If you’re in a good mood, it is just about possible to see a way out of all this

1,000 rapists in every English village. Happens all the time.

Scheveningen beach, during the Nazi occupation

The screeching handbrake turn from Everyone Left Of Norman Tebbit Is A Fragile Snowflake to Don’t Go Outside, It’s Full Of Blacks And Crime has to be seen to be fully believed

Excellent, thanks. Happy reading!

A House of Dynamite (on Netflix) is an extraordinary, outstanding film. Believable and terrifying.

This weekend I will be eating an awful lot of pumpkin (not grown by me, bought from a farmer for €1 each) Have a lovely weekend, everyone

France recently had a female Prime Minister. Britain has had three in my lifetime. Germany had a female chancellor for sixteen years, Denmark has a long-standing female PM and Belgium recently had one too. But yet again, it looks like the Netherlands won’t even come close.

Before the election some leaders talked about agreeing a new coalition by Christmas. That won’t happen. Since 1946 the average formation took 103 days Fastest ever (1948): 31 days Slowest ever (2021): 299 days In recent years it has typically taken 6+ months Dick Schoof doesn’t need to pack yet!

However low the bar is, Wilders will always manage to goose-step through it

Straight out of the Trump playbook. No proof other than a few anonymous claims, but deeply dangerous and irresponsible. An unpleasant reminder that even out of government, he’s still here, and still capable of causing trouble

This is your regular reminder that if some very online guy was confidently sharing their expertise about Germany two weeks ago, France a week ago, the Netherlands now and god knows where next week - then it’s possible they don’t really know much about any of them

Apart from the fact that an extra seat for D66 (or VVD or CDA) would give the right wing variant with JA21 a majority. Currently it doesn't which would help Jetten to keep Yesilgöz off his back about this route.

Breaking: “According to the ANP election service, D66 has become the largest party in the parliamentary elections. Although not all votes have been counted yet, Rob Jetten's party can no longer be overtaken by the PVV”

So if the survival of Europe's industrial base wasn't enough of a motivation not to go for a Chinese EV, not having your car weaponized against you sounds like another solid one.