Putting Atlantic Sentinel (Largely) on Hold

Between a new job and my political involvement, I won’t have much time for journalism.

Loyal readers may have noticed the lack of fresh content. My apologies for the radio silence. I wanted to wait until the news was final: I started a new job today! Which is exciting for me, but also why I’m largely quitting journalism, at least for a while.

I’ve been hired by the Animal Coalition (Dierencoalitie in Dutch), the joint lobby of seventeen animal-protection and -welfare organizations in the Netherlands. I’ll be working on issues like the protein transition, farm reform and European animal welfare legislation. Some will be new, others familiar from my work at XPRIZE and in Liberal Green, the sustainability network of my political party, where I lead the team for agriculture and food.

Liberal Green does not do animal welfare per se, so the positions should be complementary. But between a paid job and the time I volunteer in Liberal Green, continuing to do journalism may just be a little too much.

The Atlantic Sentinel will still be here. I may write a few things about the Dutch election, which is November 22, and opinion pieces every now and then. The LinkedIn and Substack versions of the newsletter will also remain in place, so if you are subscribed you will still receive my stories that way, just fewer.

I don’t think it’s fair to continue charging readers for subscriptions, though, so I’ve disabled paid subscriptions in Substack. If you signed up recently and paid for a year, you should get part of the money back.

All Dutch readers (or readers with a .nl email address) have been automatically enrolled in my personal newsletter, which contains an archive of everything I’ve written in Dutch as a journalist, and where I’ll write about the issues that touch on my lobby and political work. I hope to see some of you there!