Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.
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Costa Coffee rêve de devenir le roi du café en Belgique < non merci plus.lesoir.be/395341/article…
Thu 16 Sep 2021 · on Twitter
Tag: belgium
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Links from the week of 13 September 2021
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Talking with a friend in a bar last night about the need for pan-Belgian media.
Talking with a friend in a bar last night about the need for pan-Belgian media. @lesoir and @destandaard are all very well but (particularly if the next state reform gives us a whole-country electoral constituency like NL) there’s still too little across the taalgrens.
@LeVif and @Knack I think share some stories and things like @VRT_Flandreinfo & LENA are great but it would be good to have something that’s bilingual default like @el_Periodico in Catalunya (with identical editions in Catalan and Castilian) – perhaps even in FR/NL/EN.
The floods and covid have shown, I think, that people in Flanders and Wallonia aren’t just thrown together by circumstance – shared history, families and culture also matter. And pooled resources could make for better reporting on international issues too.
Finally, Europe’s capital could also use a better home town paper. Anyways, I appreciate the media economics (let alone politics) probably doesn’t open up a path to this, but it feels like a big gap.
Originally posted as a thread of 4 tweets on Twitter on 4 September 2021. View the original thread.
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Links from the week of 9 August 2021
Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.
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Rapport du Giec: pourquoi pas un Codeco et un commissariat Climat? plus.lesoir.be/388584/article…
Tue 10 Aug 2021 · on Twitter
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Interesting on the fundi/realo development of the Pirate Parties around Europe www-politico-eu.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.politi…
Thu 12 Aug 2021 · on Twitter
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Sitting on East Croydon station, train delayed, feeling travel dislocated, and a welcome blast of Belgitude pops up in my feed (reportage from the World Shrimp Peeling Championship). rtbf.be/info/insolites…
Fri 13 Aug 2021 · on Twitter
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Links from the week of 26 July 2021
Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.
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VB politician invests in the future of a bar with photos of Nazi collaborators on the walls. No dédiabolisation here … levif.be/actualite/belg…
With De Wever calling for annexation of Flanders by the Netherlands it gives Flemish voters the choice between the two historic opponents of Belgian independence.
Sun 1 Aug 2021 · on Twitter
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Going to keep the football stuff mostly to @totalfriteball but if you want to know why…
Going to keep the football stuff mostly to @totalfriteball but if you want to know why I’m enjoying the hijinx and up and coming stars of the Pro League the @BelgianPodcast season preview is worth your time. twitter.com/totalfriteball…
Does the @ProLeagueBE have Messi and Ronaldo? No. Is the defending often a bit slapstick? Yes. But it has clubs with history, great new emerging players (and some returning greats @SimonMignolet @VincentKompany), a deep football culture and,
most of all, it’s got the challenge of trying to make Belgian football successful when its league covers just 11 million and can’t hope for the money in the Prem or La Liga. Plus frites sauce carbonnade.
Originally posted as a thread of 3 tweets on Twitter on 19 July 2021. View the original thread.
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I notice that since Apple introduced Private Relay* (or whatever it’s called) all my…
I notice that since Apple introduced Private Relay* (or whatever it’s called) all my Twitter trends are from Sweden rather than Belgium. Bra!
* using the Public Beta of MacOS because I like to live dangerously during important presentations.
Twitter also gives me no way to say “hé, j’suis en Belgique, fieu !”
Oh hang on, if I turn OFF localisation, I get my Belgian trends again. OK then.
Originally posted as a thread of 3 tweets on Twitter on 19 July 2021. View the original thread.
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Links from the week of 5 July 2021
Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.
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The future of Brussels as seen by the current Minister-President and someone often mentioned as his possible successor: international capital, knowledge city, university town. (Makes sense to me given its multiculti and crossroads nature) lecho.be/economie-polit…
Sat 10 Jul 2021 · on Twitter
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Working and half-watching the #TourDeFrance2021 go through some of my favourite bits of France. A question from @dzyrl prompted me to stumble on this interesting article on diversity in road racing. bicycling.com/culture/a34850…
Sun 11 Jul 2021 · on Twitter
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Links from the week of 28 June 2021
Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.
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Baromètre social 2020: «L’écart social de Bruxelles avec la Flandre et la Wallonie pourrait encore se creuser» plus.lesoir.be/381315/article…
Tue 29 Jun 2021 · on Twitter
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Nice little bit about Greek life around Schuman on @BRUZZbe with @mapsara bruzz.be/en/videoreeks/…
Wed 30 Jun 2021 · on Twitter
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I would like British politics to deserve these people’s citizenship applications. But it doesn’t (at least, it doesn’t in England). economist.com/leaders/2021/0…
Sun 4 Jul 2021 · on Twitter
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More on Belgium #4regions in @lesoir tonight
More on Belgium #4regions in @lesoir tonight: plus.lesoir.be/367939/article…
There isn’t an answer that doesn’t have inherent problems – with #4regions there will have to be a federal level, there will have to be inter-entity co-operation on culture, education and other things.
Then the questions of cash arise again – not just the question of tax revenue across entities, but also solidarity between regions. Will a move away from inter-regional solidarity be overtaken by increasing EU fiscal consolidation? #4regions
My unexamined gut feel is in favour of smaller entities with high solidarity, combined with a federal level that’s powerful on strategy and rule setting but doesn’t deliver much – combined with multilingualism in politics and public services.
But the state reform more than anything is about balancing different political priorities rather than technocratically perfect solutions. That’s why it’s interesting that the proposals start from a citizen engagement exercise.
Originally posted as a thread of 5 tweets on Twitter on 22 April 2021. View the original thread.
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Woke up to the trailer on @lapremiere: « Remember David Cameron?
Woke up to the trailer on @lapremiere: « Remember David Cameron? The former British prime minister who launched the Brexit referendum because he was sure he would win? He’s back in the news because of a lobbying scandal – find out what happened to him at 0720 ». Can’t wait 😐
Ten minutes of having David Cameron’s greatest hits played back to me by Belgian radio and I’m quite glad they’ve moved on to reviewing the latest Lucky Luke comic book.
From Dodgy Dave to Lucky Luke (they didn’t say)
Originally posted as a thread of 3 tweets on Twitter on 20 April 2021. View the original thread.