Damian Thompson ✓

@holysmoke · London, UK · joined 20 Dec 2008

Associate Editor, The Spectator, presenter of its Holy Smoke religion podcast. Once described as 'A blood-crazed ferret' by the Church Times

43 204Followers

3 589Following

54 238Posts total

70.5KViews on collected posts

Against accounts of the same size

12 posts from the last 90 days, next to the 10K–100K follower range. ordinary reach for its size, weaker reaction than most.

Median views2 320this account1 637median for 10K–100K

Reach, %5.37%this account5.01%median for 10K–100K

Engagement, %1.15%this account1.81%median for 10K–100K

Metric	This account	Median for 10K–100K	Ratio
Median views per post	2 320	1 637	1.42×
Reach (views ÷ followers)	5.37%	5.01%	1.07×
Engagement rate	1.15%	1.81%	0.63×

Others in this range → Compare with another account → How these benchmarks are built →

Growth & engagement

How the posts we collected actually performed: views and reaction rate post by post, what the audience did with them, and where the follower count goes.

Views per post

20.7K2 Sep

5.6K3 Sep

2.2K

2.4K

6.8K

23.5K

1.3K

869

715

1044 Sep

4.3K

Last 12 collected posts, oldest on the left. The scale is logarithmic: one post can outrun the rest a hundred times over.

Engagement rate per post

5.31%2 Sep

3.02%3 Sep

0.13%

0.46%

0.90%

2.04%

1.02%

1.23%

1.50%

1.68%

0.96%4 Sep

1.06%

Reactions — likes, reposts, replies and quotes — divided by views. Median for 10K–100K accounts is 1.81%.

What the audience does

Likes81.3%1 453 in total

Reposts7.6%136 in total

Replies8.7%156 in total

Quotes1.2%21 in total

Bookmarks1.2%22 in total

Share of every reaction we collected for this account. Replies mean argument, reposts mean endorsement, bookmarks mean the post was worth keeping.

The follower curve appears once this account has two daily snapshots — we take one a day, and this one is on its first.

Latest posts

Why does everyone have to insert this stupid word ‘slop’ into their posts? 4.3K views · 29 likes · 0 reposts · 13 replies 04 Sep 2026 @holysmoke Yes and no. It's not that clean water is bad. It's that abandoning the faith to give it is not a requirement like the Vatican thinks it is. 104 views · 1 likes · 0 reposts · 0 replies 04 Sep 2026 @holysmoke I have nothing against Pope Leo advocating greater access to clean drinking water. In fact, I agree with his defenders on this in that it is proper for him to do so. This is, after all, a corporal work of mercy. What I have a problem with is that he doesn’t seem to und 715 views · 12 likes · 0 reposts · 0 replies 03 Sep 2026 @holysmoke It would appear @BreeSolstad seems not to understand that performing corporal works of mercy, and acting in furtherance of justice under its commutative and social aspects, is an integral part of being a ‘proper Catholic.’ She might benefit from reviewing the explanat 869 views · 8 likes · 2 reposts · 2 replies 03 Sep 2026 @BreeSolstad ‘But Lord, Lord, we devoted our prayers and ourselves to Our Lady of Sorrows like proper Catholics…’ https://t.co/BE9qTF7PLR 1.3K views · 14 likes · 1 reposts · 0 replies 03 Sep 2026 I paid no attention to the Pope’s comments, then read this. Edgar’s right. 23.5K views · 212 likes · 11 reposts · 14 replies 03 Sep 2026 I agree. It’s stupid to get angry or to spout conspiracy theories about one-world government. But… I think we’ve reached a point where we wish the Pope would do something about stuff he can actually influence, such as the chaotic counter-productive persecution of the old rite or 6.8K views · 108 likes · 14 reposts · 15 replies 03 Sep 2026 Indeed. And Hitchens was of course a notorious fridge-raider at York University on the grounds that all property is theft. 2K views · 17 likes · 1 reposts · 0 replies 03 Sep 2026 Having been rude to Georgia in the past (and she knows I can’t stand Radio 3) let me heartily endorse this message! David Hurwitz devoted an episode to Dolly Parton the other day… 2.4K views · 8 likes · 0 reposts · 3 replies 03 Sep 2026 @holysmoke He was deeply trained in Marxist-Leninist refrigerator management, Damian. Never forget that. There are very few people who have been. 2.2K views · 1 likes · 0 reposts · 1 replies 03 Sep 2026 Morning! I’ve written for The Spectator about why you should listen to music you think you don’t like. Includes reference to our forthcoming weekend at Handel Hendrix House! https://t.co/Y4Sir71R2g 5.6K views · 126 likes · 17 reposts · 23 replies 03 Sep 2026 Imagine getting angry about the pope promoting proper management of a resource we literally all NEED in order to survive 20.7K views · 917 likes · 90 reposts · 85 replies 02 Sep 2026