I’ve posted before about the environmental impact of meat eating, and some of the half truths of high food prices. The German magazine Spiegel looked at the issue last week (article in English here), specifically with regard to beef production, and came up with the stat that 1kg of organic […]
Conundrum: lots of cable TV channels at home in Belgium thanks to Coditel, but just an old TV connected to the cable TV box. But in the other room sits a nice iMac with a 24″ LCD screen. So why not get the cable TV channels on the iMac? There’s […]
Female readers of this blog, forgive me. This entry is directed at men. Perhaps men behaving this way have also posed a problem for female readers? But anyway I digress. To the point: men’s legs and wha’s between them. What is it about men that makes them sit in positions […]
Rounds are fired, politicians posture, and families flee. So is the story from Gori today and from Mostar at the start of the 1990s. As war in the Caucasus turns to nervous truce I’ve been watching the news reports and reflecting on the goings-on while spending during two weeks in […]
At Kön/Bonn Airport yesterday as 3 NATO surveillance planes took off one after the other, bound for Afghanistan I subsequently discovered, but reason for reflection nevertheless. I picked up a copy of Süddeutsche Zeitung when boarding my plane and one particular article caught my eye, a column entitled “Für Georgien […]
The debate about the new 10 Downing Street website has been rumbling on for a short while and having commented about it on a few blogs it’s probably worth summarising what I make of it. I have had nothing whatsoever to do with the development of the site – this […]
CaféBabel has an interview with Commission President Barroso (hat tip: European Union Law Blog) and they have a good go at him, which is refreshing to see. He declined to answer the question “Why didn’t you resign after the Irish referendum? It would have been a strong political message to […]
Norwegian Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs Helga Pedersen has got in a flap about the film of a British registered trawler throwing 80% of its catch overboard after leaving Norwegian waters and entering British waters – see the video and read the news story from The Guardian. The article […]
When it comes to the Strasbourg seat of the European Parliament it’s silly season all year round (not just in August). This time it’s news that 80m2 of the roof inside the plenary chamber of the Strasbourg building has fallen in – although no-one was inside at the time. Have […]
On the northern side of the dual carriageway leading from Brussels towards Zaventem Airport there’s an enormous no-mans land. A billboard resplendent with an artist’s impression dotted with light, glass and smiling people announces this is to be the site of the new NATO Headquarters, due to be opening in […]
I’m awaiting the delivery of a package from the courier firm UPS and it’s such a damned effort to manage to get it. It seems that even international corporations are infected by the Belgian lack of customer service (that I’ve recently enjoyed). Just like everything in Belgium there are loads […]
I’ve been skating on and off all summer and when skating marathon distance in Québec recently I thought to myself – why not? I’ll sign up for a competitive marathon on inline skates. So on 27th September I’ll be joining thousands of others skating 42km around the streets of Berlin. […]
