At the start of July I posted on Slugger O’Toole to introduce Somme Voices, a month-long series of daily tweets in remembrance of that dreadful World War One battle. I’m returning to Slugger to bring the Somme Voices project to a close with a final poem. The reason is that I’d like to quote this one in its entirety and Twitter is a less-than-perfect medium for something of considerable length. It does, however, give me the chance to make a …
That’s Belgium, not here. Belgium took the ‘no government’ crown from Iraq in February, and they just keep going… In the Irish Times, Arthur Beesley starts with a tale that sounds strangely familiar. IN THE metro stations of Brussels they pipe old pop hits for commuters. Songs in English, Spanish and Italian can be heard. They no longer play songs in French, the city’s main language, because Dutch-speakers took umbrage. No battle is too trivial in Belgium’s language wars. If the …
A Belfast Telegraph editorial today argues The campaign itself has been moribund with little vision and plenty of uncosted commitments which will have to be abandoned over the next few years. Honesty and realism have been fleeting visitors to the campaign trail. The good ship Duopoly appears to be sailing serenely with the DUP and Sinn Fein in what appears to be a stately procession back to power. ………….. We need strong, alternative parties to counter the Sinn Fein/DUP grip …
Crooked Timber’s Ingrid Robeyns ironically congratulates Belgium on setting a new world record without a government. As, indeed, do the Belgian people… 250 days and counting! Here’s a short CNN interview with Flemish comedian Geert Hoste And from a Guardian report On Thursday the word in Brussels was there would be fresh elections in April, a ballot likely to entrench the divide, deepen the crisis of political accountability and legitimacy, and result in yet further months of government-less squabbling. There is no talk of …
I think this point is worth highlighting more clearly. Below – Simon Johnson ex-CEO of the IMF – on who is owed money by the Irish banks German banks are owed $139 billion, which is 4.2 percent of German G.D.P. British banks are owed $131 billion, or about 5 percent of Britain’s G.D.P. French banks are owed $43.5 billion, which is approaching 2 percent of French G.D.P. But the eye-catching numbers are for Belgium, which is owed $29 billion – …
While The Observer questions the apparent consensus on the need for austerity in the EU, the next country due to take the EU presidency, Belgium, has been holding parliamentary elections. Belgium’s Flemish separatist party, the New Flemish Alliance (NVA), has won more than 20% of the vote in parliamentary elections, according to early unofficial results. If confirmed, the NVA would have the largest share of the vote, bringing the country closer to a split. But, as RTÉ reports, others are less convinced that a split …
