Only the most extreme reasons (e.g. active war, pandemic) should be allowed to halt free movement of people. It ought to be the default right of human beings.

There is simply no world in which this clothing choice is a coincidence.

Crazy that the party that spent 45 years telling Americans that their government was their enemy are the ones who finally made it come true.

As a respite from a crazy world, try the William Nicholson show at Pallant House Chichester. He rivals Chardin in his capacity to paint silverware. The 18th century tea caddy which figures in several works is on show as well. The wonderful picture of the mug is from the Royal Collection 1/2

I'm glad this aged badly although it should have aged even worse

Modern architects and city designers never think about how buildings frame the sky, how to celebrate the biggest piece of nature we have in our cities. Classical architects do this intuitively.

1. This short thread is about the issue that dominates almost every aspect of politics, and causes or exacerbates most of our problems: the extreme wealth of a small number of people. Here’s the amazing thing: almost the entire political class aligns with the ultra-rich against the rest. 🧵1/10

Maybe the USA can become Canada's 11th province

Zoals ik al dacht heeft iedereen het over realisme. Maar zonder idealisme ontspoort ook realisme in het recht van de sterkste. Het doel moet nog steeds zijn wereldwijd democratie, vriendschap, vrijheid en solidariteit bevorderen.

What is the exact purpose of Americans traveling to Europe and giving aggressive and condescending speeches? Uniting their States with hate toward others? They will not do that, they move toward civil war.

Ingezonden brief van mij in het Parool. Er is wat geschrapt en geredigeerd door de redactie maar ik sta er wel achter. www.parool.nl/columns-opin...

PM Mark Carney: It seems that every day we're reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry, that the rules-based order is fading, that the strong can do what they can and the weak must suffer what they must⤵️

Just 5 seconds Amsterdam

Apparently this Sebastian by Guido Reno was over painted to be less sexy

7 kamerleden die nog 4 jaar lang 10.000 € per maand gaan krijgen voor hun persoonlijke hobbies. Plus 8% vakantiegeld

NOS artikel herinnert me aan een kostuum dat ik ooit maakte voor een feest in de Trut met een dieren thema. Een tweedehands hoed beschildert met latex, wit gaas en w.c. papier in golven geknipt. Ben nog steeds tevreden met het resultaat.

Let's do the luxury gay space communism thing

Drink not yet, first I’ll sing you a song! The song of sorrow shall resound through your soul in gusts of laughter. When sorrow draws near, the gardens of the soul lie wasted, joy and singing wither and die. Dark is life, dark is death. www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3OI...

right-wing people all over Europe

I have always thought that 'realism' is one of the most destructive approaches in politics. You need to have a vision about justice, freedom, democracy, equality for the law, love, friendship, truth. If you just deal with 'reality' the calculation is to give in to power until nothing good is left.

The thing that worries me most is the absence of moral speeches from political leaders. No prime ministers or presidents who give passionate speeches in which they explain democracy, separation of powers, warn how destructive the law of the jungle is, how friendship among nations is a real thing.

Batshit crazy

Trump in a letter to Norway: 'Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace'. There goes Svalbard!

I think Trump really crossed a line here. I don't know what counts as an act of war but this comes close. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Nederland verdubbelt troepenmacht op Groenland

Weird how foreign media write we (Netherlands) are sending troops but our own newspapers and our government remain silent www.newsweek.com/greenland-ge...

'Several allied countries.' I suspect we (Netherlands) are not among them because our government is consistently bowing to Trump.

The snow has melted

This is great stuff from @adambonica.bsky.social (and congrats on soon becoming a dad, dads rule!) open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...

It is hard for me to say these words and I'm still full of doubt but I think if Trump and an ally (to keep the USA in check) would topple the Iran regime this week, it would be good. To many protesters are dying there and have been dying in earlier protests. There is a risk of civil war but Iran 1/2

Look who got awarded for his campaign donations with a very profitable Big Brother Skynet system.

The bricklaying robot is gone, humans are back. That experiment probably caused 4 weeks delay. They will be functional eventually but not yet

Hand drawn animation is not a lost art

60 million euro donation for a new sculpture garden in the touristic center of Amsterdam. Very nice for me, I live close by. But it is another illustration of the problematic agglomeration effect. Amsterdam gets all the money and tourists. Other places like Almere could use this but they get nothing

Rufus Wainwright wrote this song about America 16 years ago www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtVy...

People a shot like animals just because other people like money and power. When I was young (I am from 1976) I expected it to be different in 2026 but no. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The problem is that a huge crisis is exactly what Trump needs to cancel elections. He doesn't care about the consequences for the US population. If his calculation is that conflict and isolation give him more power, he will choose it. That's what Maduro and Putin did: create crises and use them.

Since I am writing songs myself I know it is hard to make a good protest song, still I'm surprised how few big names have written protest songs against Trump or ICE so far. Maybe I missed them, but that is also telling.

Waren rechtse partijen in Europa niet altijd cynische machtspolitici? Ja, maar wat nieuw is dat ze chaos als tactiek zijn gaan omarmen. Geen masker van orde meer, vormgegeven met deals in achterkamertjes, maar een eindeloze reeks zelf gecreëerde publieke conflicten.

VVD zit definitief op het populistische pad van chaos en keiharde machtspolitiek. Er was natuurlijk goed te regeren met PvdA/GL maar dan krijg je iets hogere belastingen voor de rijken en wat meer windmolens. Dan liever een koers met constante crisis en kansen voor sabotage. nos.nl/artikel/2597...

'19th century architecture was dark and heavy, but thanks to modernism we now have light, space and air. This was only possible with the removal of ornament, which frees the building to be more pure and functional.' This kind of delusional thinking still happens in the minds of modern architects.

Trump never had this much reflection in the early stages of his corruption. Trump starts out a lot more rotten on the path of his moral decay and he will go further if he is allowed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML7b...

I think the international geopolitical situation is so bad that we need to do a one time offer to the UK to come back in the EU with all the privileges they had. If we want a strong European army and international presence, the UK has the experience practical means and the connections.

De platte daken kunnen de sneeuw niet aan. Zullen we weer scholen met puntdaken gaan bouwen?

Update #IranProtests (40): #Iran is on fire now 🔥 Vanavond zijn Iraniërs in heel Iran massaal de straat op gegaan om te demonstreren tegen het regime. De omvang van de protesten, het aantal deelnemers en het aantal betrokken steden is ongekend! Beelden uit Teheran nu!

Another short poem by Sara Teasdale set to music by me. The theorbo will be all the rage in 2026!

'Do you want a lake house with birds and trees, or a bustling city with nightlife and culture?' Amsterdam: 'why not both?' (Actually we have only 165 canals, the concept is still underused, despite the success of St Petersburg and Venice. Urban planners really like to do the wrong thing)

To stay in power after 2028 Trump needs a crisis. Greenland is ideal. US marines take over Nuuk. Denmark will only be able to fight for day. Nato members turn against the US, but fear the nukes. Protests in big US cities. Buildings on fire. Emergency measures, elections postponed indefinitely.

'we are the dominant predator force in the Western Hemisphere'