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Ben Coates
@bencoates1
Author - THE INVENTION OF AMSTERDAM is out now! (amzn.to/2QJx3bh). Columnist @ADnl. Writer, aid worker, speechwriter, recovering Tory
Groene Hart, Netherlands
ben-coates.com
Joined July 2009
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    Apr 17, 2025
    A nice review in the TLS: “The Invention of Amsterdam…. captures Coates’s infectious enthusiasm for his adopted home… The author… is an effortlessly charming guide… and has an excellent eye for the fetching fact” the-tls.co.uk/world/travel/t…
    27K
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    Mar 25, 2023
    In Paris, a new “Everything Is Fine” gif is born x.com/marjo_beb/stat…
    14M
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    Mar 18, 2024
    I believe this means Boeing has selected a new CEO
    Breaking Aviation News & Videos
    00:00
    Breaking Aviation News & Videos
    4.7M
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    Jun 4, 2024
    Americans: I have to own a big car because I sometimes need to move things around Dutch:
    Sikkom
    00:00
    Sikkom
    3.7M
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    May 28, 2018
    Man, that new French citizenship test looks tough
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    Apr 17, 2020
    In case you were wondering how Sweden’s “no lockdown” experiment is going:
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    Jan 25, 2020
    In case you missed it, video of the week: Dutch PM checks his bike into a big underground parking place. Attendant (of Kurdish origin) is amazed: “He has to check in and out like a normal person! This is how you run a country. I’m never leaving” x.com/shadraouf/stat…
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    Sep 25, 2019
    Big fan of Kenyans analyzing Britain the way Brits analyze them
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    Jun 20, 2023
    Titanic tourists sink in submarine: whole world watches as navies spare no expense to find them Hundreds of migrants sink in overcrowded boat: Hope you can swim, losers
    988K
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    Nov 15, 2024
    Dutch cabinet in the process of collapsing over (allegedly) racist attitudes towards Islam and they discuss it over Indonesian takeout. The writers at Veep couldn’t script it better.
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    Irene de Kruif
    @irenedekruif
    Nov 15, 2024
    Indonesische catering afgeleverd bij het @catshuis #kabinetscrisis
    00:00
    667K
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    Oct 18, 2024
    Most Dutch story of the day: When Jo Goossens was 13, her parents bought her a new bike to ride to school. She’s now 82 and still riding the same bike. “I only buy something new if it’s necessary”, she says. ad.nl/buitenland/jo-…
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    Aug 22, 2018
    if you're thinking of learning German, don't.
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    Apr 16, 2020
    She is just so good
    Benjamin Alvarez
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    Benjamin Alvarez
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    Ben Coates
    @bencoates1
    Aug 19, 2024
    There is no mountain so high, no desert so vast, no beach so isolated, no national park so remote that if you go there you won’t find a cheerful Dutch family already there enjoying the scenery - probably having driven there in their own car
    427K