Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Joost

@almodozo.bsky.social

1.4K followers 810 following 4.4K posts

Holland > Hungary > Spain Same @almodozo as on Twitter, just without the Országház. Worked at OSF and CEU, but that's a long while ago. Studied East-European History, but that's even longer ago. Now, somehow, I ended up in Extremadura.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · Sep 21

Not going to update my ancient Twitter bio, but I mostly post about:
— Elections and polls
— Central/East-European politics
— The war in Ukraine
— Maps and charts
— Dutch and Spanish politics
— Budapest memories, life in Extremadura
— The left, a love/hate relationship
— Media, archiving, minorities

1 17

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 3h

Nice book placement

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 3h

Huh. Enig idee waarom het aantal opeens zo toenam in die laatste twee jaar?

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 3h

They just keep digging and digging

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 3h

Counting down the days until we get a poll where Labour, the Tories, the LibDems and the Greens all get the exact same vote share.

Cool? Kinda. Except for the part where it probably translates into a parliamentary majority for Reform on less than 30% of the vote

Europe Elects @europeelects.bsky.social · 5h

UK (GB), YouGov poll:

REFORM~NI: 27%
LAB-S&D: 20%
CON~ECR: 17%
LDEM-RE: 16% (-1)
GREENS-G/EFA: 13% (+1)
SNP-G/EFA: 3% (-1)
PC-G/EFA: 1%

+/- vs. 5-6 October 2025

Fieldwork: 13-14 October 2025
Sample size: 2,321

➤ europeelects.eu/uk

1 7

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 4h

true

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 4h

Not the main point here I know, but he's a *Young* Republican?

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 4h

Sure, no, I feel ya. It all sucks.

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 4h

It's like clickbait journalism. That career is cursed, so you know that esp young journos do it cos they've gotta start somewhere, and they gotta eat. And some end up doing good work later. But also, people shouldn't stop pointing out that clickbait journalism sucks. Hate the game, not the player &c

1 1

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 4h

We all do whatever we gotta do to get by in our respective fucked up job markets, even if it does make things objectively worse. Easy to empathise with that. But I dunno. It's also okay for people to point out that it's making things objectively worse, and want it all to stop

2 1

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 9h

From a Facebook memory. Still true.

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 11h

Do you think there's anything to the various suggestions about who might be "behind" these new revelations? Besides the obvious claims of an attack to sabotage the coalition talks, I've also seen speculation that the leak might have come from ANO itself, trying to clear out awkward prospects

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 11h

TikTok's take-over by Trump allies completes the right's hegemony over social media in the U.S. But there's a global problem too. Take Spain, where Vox has around 750,000 followers on TikTok: more than double *the combined following of all other main parties*.

english.elpais.com/technology/2...

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 11h

Previously, Turek "has been investigated over an image that appeared to show him making a Nazi salute and also over allegations by his ex-girlfriend, who accused him of rape and abuse."

www.politico.eu/article/czec...

Speaking of the latter, is this guy a dead ringer for Pete Hegseth?

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 11h

Some context about Turek's party: bsky.app/profile/almo...

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · Jan 23

AUTO rails against "green fanatics," gender ideologues "who question our biological nature," and Fiala's "leftwing" (read: centre-right) government — and the supposed moral bankruptcy and industrial decline they caused. Unsurprisingly, the party has joined Orbán's Patriots for Europe group.

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 12h

Babiš will almost certainly have to rely on the "Motorists" party to govern, but now faces more revelations about would-be Foreign Minister Filip Turek's track record of vile social media posts in which, for example, he applauded the injuries a two-year-old Romani girl suffered in an arson attack.

Erika Schlager @erikaschlager.bsky.social · 3d

Is this *really* the man who will represent the Czech Republic’s foreign policy? The 2009 firebombing of a baby was an exceptionally notorious hate crime raised across international fora.
romea.cz/en/czech-rep...

Czech media release archive of ultra-right politician's deleted social media posts including his praising of a Romani infant almost being burned to death by neo-Nazis in 2009 - Romea.cz - Everything a...

On the evening of 10 October, Czech media outlet Deník N published an archive of deleted social media posts by Filip Turek, now the lawmaker and honorary chair of the Motorists Unite party who is alle...

romea.cz

1 2 2

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 12h

Ken Loach and others wrote an open letter to sound the alarm about recent developments in Your Party: "Unless immediate steps are taken to ensure transparency, accountability and real democracy, the credibility of the whole project is at risk."

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

An open letter to the leadership of Your Party

Please complete this form if you would like to sign the open letter. See full text below.

docs.google.com

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 12h

Labour is struggling in Caerphilly, presaging a historic defeat in Wales next year. “To understand the magnitude of this collapse," consider this: it has been 102 years "since Labour was not the largest party in a major Welsh election – the longest such streak of any party anywhere in the world.”

Watching Caerphilly: Welsh byelection may be bellwether for political transformation in UK

Plaid Cymru and Reform are polling above Welsh Labour in race for Senedd seat experts say may be ‘canary in the coalmine’

www.theguardian.com

2 3

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 12h

And an older thread:

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 12h

Context: as of June last year, CIS had overestimated the left-wing vote in 41 of the most recent 42 elections. This helps nobody. Chart by Kiko Llaneras:

1 1

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 12h

CIS, Spain's government-affiliated polling agency, is plumbing new depths of improbability.

On the left: CIS polling this past year. On the right: overall polling average for the same period.

1 1

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 12h

"Leaderless movements are explicitly branding themselves as gen Z and adopting the emblems of protesters elsewhere as a statement of solidarity."

This global, viral exchange of protest motifs has been a fascinating phenomenon in recent years, doubtlessly supercharged by social media:

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 12h

From Morocco, Kenya and Madagascar to Nepal, Indonesia, the Philippines and even Peru, the jaunty flag of anime hero Monkey D Luffy's pirate crew is being flown at youth protests against whatever forces are in power in these respective countries:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Guardian view on gen Z protests: these movements share more than an interest in anime | Editorial

Editorial: A new global wave of unrest is unfolding, driven by generational discontents and taking cues from each other

www.theguardian.com

1 1 3

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 1d

To be fair, there *was* always a little notebook with phone numbers next to the phone. With little pages by letter

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 2d

It's the speed of it all which is sobering too. When was ChatGPT launched, less than three years ago? And we're already putting it on charge of our love life. That's a pretty stunning trajectory

Joost @almodozo.bsky.social · 2d

This is the closest, in the whole article, to a rationalisation that makes any of it seem *halfway* excusable, but it also just underlines how dystopian dating must have become (and it's still an insane thing to do)