Karin Spaink

Vandaag ben ik uit vrije wil gestorven, in het gezelschap van mijn beste vrienden. Het hoe & wat daarvan staat in mijn allerlaatste stukje: spaink.net/2026/05/08/exi….

Mijn website blijft nog 10 jaar in de lucht. Al mijn columns, essays, boeken en vertalingen heb ik testamentair aan het publieke domein vermaakt. Doe er je voordeel mee.

Het Parool en Follow the Money publiceren morgen, 9 mei, allebei een postuum interview. Ik word in besloten kring begraven.

Vandaag ben ik uit vrije wil gestorven, in het gezelschap van mijn beste vrienden. Het hoe & wat daarvan staat in mijn allerlaatste stukje: spaink.net/2026/05/08/exi….

De boze mensen in Loosdrecht kunnen wellicht even kijken naar het Gelderse Druten, waar een noodopvang is voor 100 asielzoekers, voornamelijk alleenstaande mannen. Vergelijkbaar dus met het centrum dat in Loosdrecht moet komen. In 18 maanden tijd kreeg de gemeente daar maar zestien klachten binnen. Nog niet eens eentje per maand. Eén klacht ging over een winkeldiefstal, vier over onder meer pakketbezorgers die de opvang niet konden vinden en daarom producten afleverden bij buurtbewoners. Twee klachten hadden te maken met geluidsoverlast van het brommende noodaggregaat van het centrum. Andere klachten? Asielzoekers die 's nachts soms op de fiets tegen het verkeer in reden. Zwerfafval in een weiland en meerdere klachten over één specifieke bewoner van de noodopvang die overlast veroorzaakte, zowel binnen de COA-locatie als daarbuiten. Waar hebben we het over, zeg? En ja, dit komt overeen met verreweg de meeste opvanglocaties. Ik kom maandag met een verhaal over dat de 'asielcrisis' op het gebied van onveiligheid een gevoelscrisis is. Mensen praten elkaar angst aan, terwijl uit de praktijk (zie bijvoorbeeld onderzoek Bureau Beke, WODC, NRC) keer op keer blijkt dat de overlast juist heel erg meevalt. Het is vaak niet meer dan wat je ook zal ervaren als er bijvoorbeeld 100 studenten in een centrum komen wonen. Mensen: trap toch niet steeds in het domme en xenofobe gezwets van de bekende makelaars in angst. En media: stop eens met die eenzijdige berichtgeving. Het is prima om te schrijven over wat er misgaat (en dat moet ook), maar zet het nou eens in de context allemaal.

…and for a few minutes, nothing else matters… 🎶🌈

Drie moties om de verkoop van DigiD te stoppen, maar Van der Burg (BiZa, VVD) heeft er lak aan en tekent begin mei nieuw contract. Grijpt de Kamer nog in? trouw.nl/politiek/ondan…

Dit geloof je niet. De Kamer spreekt 3x(!) uit dat DigiD niet uitverkocht mag worden aan de Amerikanen (op JA21 na). Deadline is 6 mei in reces. Regering: we reageren na het reces op de moties #bizar

🚨 BREAKING: Toronto Police just seized “SMS Blasters” fake cell towers never seen before in Canada. These portable devices hijack thousands of phones at once, blast fake bank/Canada Post texts, and knock out real service (even 911 calls). Tens of thousands of phones hit. Over 13 MILLION disruptions. Three men charged 🇨🇳 • Dafeng Lin, 27, of Hamilton • Junmin Shi, 25, of Markham • Weitong Hu, 21, of Markham This is next-level cyber crime on our streets. Stay alert. Never click surprise links. #Toronto #CyberCrime #ScamAlert

I miss Christopher Hitchens. He was a brilliant voice.

BREAKING: Iran says the strait is closed. BREAKING: Trump says the strait is open. BREAKING: Hegseth says the strait is open. BREAKING: Bloomberg says 3 ships crossed. BREAKING: Iran says those 3 ships are Iranian. BREAKING: Maersk says it needs clarity. BREAKING: The strait is a philosophical concept at this point. BREAKING: A fourth ship attempts to cross. BREAKING: The fourth ship turns around. BREAKING: The fourth ship's captain says he "needed to think." BREAKING: Insurance for the fourth ship is now $47M. BREAKING: The fourth ship is still thinking. BREAKING: Trump posts on Truth Social that Hormuz is "TOTALLY OPEN, BEAUTIFUL, LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN." BREAKING: 800 ships remain trapped in the Gulf. BREAKING: Trump posts again that this is Biden's fault. BREAKING: Iran announces tolls of $2M per ship. BREAKING: Iran announces tolls must be paid in crypto. BREAKING: Iran has not specified which crypto. BREAKING: Someone on CT says it's XRP. BREAKING: XRP is up 34%. BREAKING: It is not XRP. BREAKING: Russia and China veto the UN resolution on Hormuz. BREAKING: Russia proposes an alternative resolution. BREAKING: The alternative resolution does not mention Hormuz. BREAKING: Nobody is surprised. BREAKING: Israel bombs Lebanon. BREAKING: Iran says this violates the ceasefire. BREAKING: Trump says the ceasefire does not cover Lebanon. BREAKING: Netanyahu says the ceasefire does not cover anything Netanyahu is currently doing. BREAKING: Ceasefire is now 11 hours old. BREAKING: Iran closes Hormuz again. BREAKING: Hegseth says the strait is open. BREAKING: Trump floats joint US-Iran toll venture to manage the strait. BREAKING: The White House clarifies Trump was "just thinking out loud." BREAKING: Iran says it will consider the proposal. BREAKING: Trump says Iran's 10-point peace plan is "not good enough." BREAKING: Trump says it is "a workable basis." BREAKING: Both statements were made within the same hour. BREAKING: 20,000 seafarers are still trapped on ships inside the Gulf. BREAKING: The IMO says the priority is evacuation. BREAKING: Iran says passage requires "coordination with armed forces." BREAKING: Nobody has coordinated with the armed forces. BREAKING: Hegseth says the strait is open. BREAKING: The strait remains closed. BREAKING: This is day 41. BREAKING: We will keep you updated.

I worry about the boomers.

Pysanka, the Ukrainian tradition and art of decorating eggs with wax and dye.

This interview is a uniquely valuable perspective. Please watch.

@chrisklomp Godver. Sterkte, en verder: zelfs met rotziektes kun je nog lang een goed leven hebben, weet ik uit ervaring.

Als de nog jonge dokter mij sterkte wenst, ontsnapt er nog een laatste zin uit zijn mond: zo jong nog. Hoewel ik tot dat moment redelijk ontspannen was, greep het korte zinnetje mij toch even aan. Inderdaad: zo jong nog. Mooi kut. chrisklomp.nl/zo-jong-nog-ka…

I want there to be a day when I don’t have to share this speech anymore

“Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response: 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.

Baby stingrays look like little aliens trapped in ravioli

Who did this!?!?! 🤣🤣🤣

Congrats to all the news orgs that signed syndication deals with this company. You’ve licensed your journalism to be a core component of Trump’s illegal war machine. Great job everyone 👏

An Iranian man left this comment on my YouTube channel. This is without a doubt the single best explanation of the reality facing Iranian people today👇 "As an Iranian, I can tell you the situation is no longer just political—it's existential. We are trapped between two collapsing structures: one internal, one external. On one hand, we face a deeply dysfunctional government, led by the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republic’s unelected institutions. Decades of economic mismanagement, suppression of dissent, and brutal ideological control have alienated multiple generations. No one believes in reform anymore—because every attempt has either been co-opted or crushed. But here's the paradox: We are also terrified of regime collapse—because we've watched the aftermath of Western intervention in countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. Each was promised freedom; each descended into chaos, civil war, or foreign occupation. So no, we don't trust the U.S. or Israel. Not because we support our regime—but because we know how imperial powers treat ‘liberated’ nations in the Middle East. Freedom, in their language, often means vacuum, fire, and permanent instability. Right now, many Iranians live with three truths at once: The Islamic Republic is morally and politically bankrupt. The alternatives offered by foreign actors are not liberation—they’re collapse. A bad government is survivable. No government is not. We are not silent because we agree. We are cautious because we’ve learned—too well—what happens when superpowers decide to "help." In a sentence: Iran is a nation held hostage by its own regime, but haunted by the fate of its neighbors. We are stuck in a house we hate, surrounded by fires we fear more."