Author - THE INVENTION OF AMSTERDAM is out now! (https://xitter.cf/t.co/T0jULUwrcm). Columnist @ADnl. Writer, aid worker, speechwriter, recovering Tory
Groene Hart, Netherlands
Joined July 2009
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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…
Pleased to have written a piece in the New York Times today, about skeletons in the Danube, the drying up of the Rhine, and why climate change is not just an environmental problem for Europe but a strategic challenge
nytimes.com/2026/08/15/opini…
Ben Coates retweeted
Just bought "The Invention of Amsterdam" by @bencoates1... loved "Why the Dutch are different", so can't wait to get started!
Ben Coates retweeted
A gentle reminder that I have largely left this place, after torrents of abuse and then being muted by the algorithm. But I still post quite a lot over on the other site, if you fancy taking a look.
A gentle reminder that I have largely left this place, after torrents of abuse and then being muted by the algorithm. But I still post quite a lot over on the other site, if you fancy taking a look.
Ben Coates retweeted
In the 1970s-80s measles was the single leading killer of children, 2-3 million died annually. Through EPI @WHO we brought it down to 450,000 kids who died annually by 2000. Through @gavi it came down to <100,000. Now the ignorant careless chuckleheads want to erase all our gains
Joe Rogan: "Measles was what everyone got when I was a kid, and what happened was you'd get sick for a few days, and then you'd be immune for life. They're making it look like everyone's dying from measles."
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Joe Rogan was born August 1967.
Due to Vaccines Measles rates dropped significantly - so when he was a kid "everyone didn't get Measles".
He might be confusing Measles with Chicken Pox, which was prevalent at that time
britannica.com/biography/Joe-…
statista.com/statistics/186…
A quick reminder that if you’re still finishing your shopping for Christmas gifts, then you could consider buying a fun and interesting book!
Or failing that, try this 👇
bol.com/nl/nl/f/the-inventio…
Ben Coates retweeted
The Invention of Amsterdam: Europe’s greatest city in 10 walks dutchnews.nl/?p=257983
“a vivid stream of observations, anecdotes and storytelling… Coates is a warm and witty guide, and it is easy to feel you are out walking with him, caught up in conversation”
Ben Coates must have used up a lot of shoe leather when he was out researching The Invention of Amsterdam: Europe’s greatest city in 10 walks. buff.ly/EvbtVs2
A nice review of my Amsterdam book from @DutchNewsNL
“Coates joins a Keti Koti parade, smokes weed,visits synagogues and revisits the site of the Bijlmermeer plane crash…he is a warm and witty guide, and it is easy to feel you are out walking with him”
dutchnews.nl/2025/11/the-inv…
Thanks! Hope you enjoy your trip
@bencoates1 about to finish The Rhine, which I picked up because I’m taking a cruise on the Rhine this winter. Excellent book- great info on the region. Cheers
