Joost van Spanje

Privileged interests on the party agenda: Bitcoin-related issues in two countries since 2020 - Acta Politica What explains whether and how much political parties give attention to a policy issue? Parties are expected to cater to the interests of privileged groups and to be dismissive unless an issue offers a...

Fascinating, thanks.

For a somewhat related study, see the (open access) study by @costinciobanu.bsky.social, Greta Arancia Sanna, and myself:

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Russian disinformation campaigns against Hungarian opposition figures, 457 political ads in 6 weeks and AI-generated videos once again Until the elections in April, we closely monitor social media and traditional media, with a particular focus on disinformation related to the elections and false or misleading content spread by the ca...

Meta claims to have banned political ads in the EU

Ahead of the Hungarian elections, 457 political ads appeared in the first 6 weeks of 2026 from Orban’s Fidesz and 2 opposition parties.

The no-political-ad policy is not well enforced.

Source: Lakmusz

www.linkedin.com/pulse/russia...

Eight out of ten apples in Spain have toxic pesticides in them A study coordinated by PAN Europe across 13 countries has found that 85% of conventionally grown apples tested contained multiple pesticides at the same time. In Spain, the figure stands at 80%. The c...

85% van ALLE (!) appels in EU bevat een pesticiden-cocktail

"In 8 of 13 countries surveyed — including Germany, Poland, NL and Croatia — every single sample contained multiple pesticide residues"

"Denmark: just 20%"

www.euronews.com/culture/2026...

Update:

As @robfordmancs.bsky.social said to @theguardian.com, zero net migration may offer Labour "the opportunity to steer the domestic political agenda away from" Reform's key topic.

Other experts stress that Labour loses votes to Greens & LD.

Yes, *for now*, but Labour may play the long game.

UK migration could be negative this year – how will that hit the economy? Universities, builders and health trusts are feeling the squeeze, as thinktank says effect of zero net migration could be similar to Brexit

@robfordmancs.bsky.social in @theguardian.com:

"zero net migration would provide Starmer with the opportunity to steer the domestic political agenda away from" migration
(..)
will tumble down the list of voters’ concerns
(..)
“voters could peel away from” Reform

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Today in Dutch newspaper @parool.nl:

"Who wants the CBDC?"

For an answer to that question, I have carried out high-quality surveys among Dutch and UK citizens since 2024.

Of course, the first answering option was "I do not know what CBDCs are".

Those who know could indicate their position to it.

Yesterday in @volkskrant.nl:

"Discriminatory statements by politicians about certain groups are strong predictors of discriminatory social media reactions"

For such study of 9 countries by Rachid Azrout & me, see "Prosecuting Politicians for Hate Speech & the Consequences for Democracy" (OUP 2025)

Vandaag in @volkskrant.nl, een interessant interview met voormalig directeur @leefomgeving.bsky.social Klaas van Egmond.

Ouch!

The D66 communications crowd are having a bad day.

Today in Dutch newspaper @volkskrant.nl:

"D66 the PM, VVD the policies
(..)
Comparing the government coalition agreement with each of the three party manifestoes leads to the conclusion:
the VVD receives a lot while D66 gets just a little".

Trump wants our attention. Let’s stop falling for his geopolitical clickbait | Catherine De Vries Whether he’s targeting Greenland, tariffs or Iran, Trump’s agenda is to distract – because a Europe that is always reacting is never planning, says political scientist Catherine De Vries

Great @theguardian.com piece by @catherinedevries.bsky.social:

"attention itself has become a strategic battlefield of int'l politics.
Attention wars aren't won by reacting faster.
They're won by deciding what deserves focus.
Europe (..) needs to outplan" Trump.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Vandaag in @volkskrant.nl:

"Cijfers over hoeveel Nederlanders (..) direct cryptomunten in bezit hebben zijn beperkt beschikbaar."

Die heb ik, sinds 2020, en daarbij antwoorden op vragen omtrent percepties, houdingen, (beleids)voorkeuren, prijsverwachtingen en koopintentie.

Plus vragen over CBDCs.

Sinds 2020 stelde ik elke paar maanden telkens >1.000 Nederlanders (en Britten) een fors aantal vragen.

O.a. naar de rol van criminaliteit, volatiliteit en verwachtingen.

Ondanks aanwijzingen voor het tegendeel is de wijdverbreide perceptie dat Bitcoin er vooral is voor criminelen en terroristen.

Hoeveel Nederlanders hebben cryptovaluta?

Wat vinden we van Bitcoin, andere crypto, en CBDCs?

Moet Bitcoin worden verboden?

Wat zijn de verwachtingen van Nederlanders?

Hoeveel is Bitcoin in het nieuws, hoe negatief, en met welke insteek wordt erover bericht?

Voor data hierover, vraag me gerust.

De dag die je wist dat zou komen:

De dag dat een Nederlandse bank "beleggen in cryptovaluta" zou gaan aanbieden.

Today in Dutch newspaper @parool.nl:

2% of working people in the Netherlands live in poverty.

Half of these 175,000 working poor live well below the poverty line.

Even for people with average salaries, it can be difficult to make ends meet.

And, it is often impossible to find affordable housing.

Smallbones died in 1976. He seems never to have talked about what he did. I suspect like others he felt guilt at not saving more.

The British Government acknowledged the existence of the Smallbones Scheme in 2008.

He was posthumously awarded the medal of a British Hero of the Holocaust in 2013 /22

Today in Dutch newspaper @volkskrant.nl:

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Sok Yeol sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.

This is the first of several court cases surrounding his 2024 coup attempt.

Just as, for instance, Jair Bolsonaro's plans in Brazil, this coup attempt will not go unpunished.

Portugal is having a presidential election tomorrow (Sunday).

It is a fairly unusual one, which is representative of how much the political landscape has changed in the country.

Here is some quick context about it, in case that is of interest:

1/9

Miku Matsunaga & @joostvanspanje.bsky.social : The stigma on right-wing parties: perceptions and voting behaviour 🔗 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

⏰ Last chance to apply to this postdoc in the LSE Government Department today 👇

PLEASE SHARE

📣 Multi-position (PhD and postdoc) call for an interdisciplinary project on "AI in the News Ecosystem: Navigating Trust and Authenticity”

Project @ddc-sdu.bsky.social (Digital Democracy Centre (SDU)).

Multiple positions with different backgrounds and profiles.

Links in🧵

#commsky

Dit zijn de voor- en nadelen van een minderheidskabinet volgens de experts Een kabinet van partijen met een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer lijkt na de bezwaren van VVD en CDA tegen PvdA én GroenLinks niet langer haalbaar. Daarom wordt er in Den Haag hardop nagedacht over een...

Kennelijk vroeg ik vijf jaar geleden aan @sldelange.bsky.social en @joostvanspanje.bsky.social wat de voor- en nadelen van een minderheidskabinet zijn.

Hun antwoorden van toen zijn nog steeds relevant:

www.nu.nl/formatie-202...

"the closest precedent for dealing with Venezuelan debt is the savage (..) diktat that resulted in Iraq's creditors getting roughly 10 cents on the dollar"

Like Venezuela, Iraq had immense resources, experienced collapse and could have satisfied its debt
- but only at the cost of delaying recovery.

Great piece by @emmarjanssen.bsky.social:

"insiders shouldn’t get rich off of policy decisions—but even more concerning is the possibility that people are skewing policy outcomes to make their bets pay off
(..)
Donald Trump Jr., adviser to Kalshi & Polymarket, has invested millions into Polymarket"

Maybe Machado should swap the Nobel for the FIFA Peace Prize

Great point.

Nor is there any reason to believe the US government is interested in bringing democracy or in anything else but US elite interests.

Just as for previous governments during previous involvement in Latin America, authoritarianism will typically do, as long as it serves these interests.

You may have a rough day, but imagine winning the Nobel Peace Prize, then dedicating that award to a U.S. President who had already illegally bombed countries, and even lauding his illegal bombing of your own country, only to get trashed by him before an audience of millions worldwide that same day.

Een afrekening in het criminele circuit. Gaan we nog vaker zien dit jaar, vrees ik.

Vlotjes geschreven, vaak leerzaam, altijd interessant:

het boek met de geweldige titel "Het kon minder: De lessen van Johan Remkes" door Thijs Broer en Peter Kee (2025).

Vele dossiers waar Remkes zich sinds de jaren zeventig, gevraagd of (soms) ongevraagd, tegenaan heeft bemoeid passeren de revue.

De EO brengt The Lobster in de praktijk.