Vincent Weggemans

journalist, eindredacteur, geïnteresseerd in alles

[Toine Heijmans @toineheijmans]

De column, over prinses Laurentien en waar het echt om gaat

https://t.co/cRNUNTF8yq

[Yoni Appelbaum @YAppelbaum]

"The truth is that Trump’s record as president was the same as his record as a businessman: rich until the inheritance ran out," writes @DavidFrum:

https://t.co/2zbfpf0TZM

[Bill Madden @maddenifico]

This woman was immediately empathetic. Then she visted Elon Musk's X and remembered who Trump and Republicans are.

Yes, the shooter was a Republican -- and by the way, Hitler couldn't trust any of his supporters either.

Memo to JD Vance and Mike Collins: Delete your accounts.

[Benedict Pringle @benedictpringle]

Comedian Jon Richardson aping Margot Robbie in a bath, explaining Rishi Sunak’s career as hedgie, Big Short-style, is a thing of genius.

[Peter Vermaas @petervermaas]

Willem van Toorn (1935-2024): Nooit de erkenning gekregen die hij verdiende voor een buitengewoon veelzijdig oeuvre - https://t.co/TPV6sFIzlX https://t.co/TPV6sFIzlX

[Amanda Natividad @amandanat]

This Craigslist ad for a 1999 Toyota Corolla is a masterclass in copywriting.

[Robert Reich @RBReich]

Corporations say they were forced to raise prices.

But profits increased at a faster rate than costs — and hit a record high in 2023.

News flash: Corporations are using inflation as cover to get rich.

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

Baroness Bennett, "I rise with a heavy heart.. To this this dreadful international law busting bill"

"Amnesty international warned airline companies that many members of the public take an extremely negative view of the Rwanda policy"

"Those were unnecessary words because no company of any repute whatsoever is going to take part in the Rwanda scheme"

"We've had the abomination of the elections act, the elements of a policing act, we've had multiple indefensible restrictions on the right to protest. Now, we are letting through an attack on some of the most vulnerable, desperate people on this planet"

"What more will we let through?"

"I suggest to noble lords as they leave this chamber tonight to ask themselves that question. With a desperate flailing government bereft of ideas, and philosophy without principles. This house will keep being tested"

"So I ask these empty benches. You might be waiting for an election, but what kind of country will it be if you don't stand up now?"

[Col @Col19821]

Puik plan! 🤡🤡😂😂

[Sheila @SheilaTequilaHI]

Still the BEST sports commentary of all-time. 😂

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

Nate White, a British writer penned the best description of Donald Trump I’ve ever read:

“Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?”

A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.

• You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?' If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.”

[Michael Morgan @mikecmorgan]

I love how the usual suspect scumbag racists and cowardly anon cops come scuttling out of their holes whenever knife crime is discussed.

Tell these saps again @akalamusic…

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

Feargal Sharkey, "Ofwat the regulator has already highlighted and confirmed. We have already paid them all of the funding they ever needed for 30 years to fix this problem.

"We should be asking where our money's gone and what's happened to it and how you fix it"

"Water companies have learned they can pollute with impunity because the regulatory system simply isn't up to it and it has failed. And that's created the situation which has been exposed today"

Krishnan Guru-Murthy, "But that's going to require billions of spending, isn't it?"

Feargal Sharkey, "And here's the thing. We've already paid this money. The regulators confirmed it. Water companies have admitted it"

Krishnan Guru-Murthy, "But it's not sitting in a bank account somewhere ready to spend it. It is"

Feargal Sharkey, "The shareholders that have left those companies £60 billion in debt that have taken £72 billion of our money. They're the ones should be held accountable. Not a penny more of public money should go into these companies"

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

This

[Leo Lucassen @Leolucassen]

Waarom een (extreem) rechts kabinet migratie helemaal niet gaat beteugelen en wat het antwoord van links en het midden moet zijn. Mijn analyse in ⁦@trouw⁩ vandaag.

[HENRY MORRIS @mrhenrymorris]

Morning! Superb from @GreenJennyJones, as she calmly states blindingly obvious truths that alarmingly few other politicians are willing to.

[BladeoftheSun @BladeoftheS]

Tony Benn, Legend.

Where have Politicians like this gone?

[Fiona @FionaSmall]

Reminded of that great piece in The Irish Times about the monarchy and the British Royal Family, in particular these three paragraphs

[Boston Smalls @smalls2672]

He ain't wrong

[Historic Vids @historyinmemes]

The drone ran out of battery and provided a scene worthy of Hollywood