I'm not sure if I remember correctly, but does Belgium go through this sort of thing every once in a while?
Belgium is not doing so well.
fnbrill wrote:
Tin-Tin!
fnbrill wrote:
Quote:
Name five famous belgians. I said famous.Rene Magritte
Rossmer (sp? Left-commie)
Pierre Celis (founder Hoegarten Brewery, single handedly brought back Wit style of beers)
Jacques BrielDon't know
Jacques Brel (no i 
) was an amazing song-writer! 
fnbrill wrote:
Pierre Celis (founder Hoegarten Brewery, single handedly brought back Wit style of beers)
Wow the Wit style single-handed eh? 
Tbh i have my own embarrassing Belgian beer confession - i like that raspberry flavour. And the other fruity ones.
Tho this is my fave Belgian:
Lone Wolf wrote:
Jacques Brel (no i
Yep, i'm a crappy speller in a number of languages.
Lone Wolf wrote:
Tbh i have my own embarrassing Belgian beer confession - i like that raspberry flavour. And the other fruity ones.
Lambic fruit beers are actually quite complex beers. The basic beers is a "gueze" sour beer that's open fermented with wild yeast, aged for 3 years, then mixed with young gueze and fruit.
Hey thanks for the beer info. Didn't know my tastes were so complex 
- i am just used to peeps rolling their eyes and mumbling "lightweight" when i mention likening them. 
I v. rarely drink so having one or two of these is a rare treat.
I freaked my comrades the night before Bookfair by producing a bottle of red wine i had still had from 1991. I think it was given as a gift in about 97 but even so... heh!
You know a lot about beer - are you in the trade?
Love
LW XX
Devrim wrote:
jef costello wrote:
so much political discussion, so little time.Jef, I haven't been following this. Do you think that Belgium could really fall apart?
Devrim
With the EU it does seem fairly pointless to split the country. Basically the French areas are hit much worse by social problems and the flemish think that they are holdin them back, add that to a perception that the french get a disproportionate share of power and there's a fair bit of resentment. I don't see a split, but rather a lot of sectarian spoiling and political manoeuvring. Although the fact that there's not been a government for so long does suggest that this has gone a bit further.
Lone Wolf wrote:
Hey thanks for the beer info. Didn't know my tastes were so complexYou know a lot about beer - are you in the trade?
Lambics are considered pinnacles of brewing, but decepitive,
Yes, I sell beer for a living - eg I hang out in bars all day and get paid for it. I would like to think I know allot about beer/beer styles and since my boss and various brewers agree who am I to complain?
BTW If you are a light weight comes to flavour or alcohol content?
Great people from Belgium: (which haven't been named ealier)
Annie Cordy http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=HvSSDxIuHq0
Benoît Poelvoorde: http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=QstpINuGZ2c
Arno http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=OwzWDuK1Hfk&feature=related
Cécile de France
Franquin ( Gaston Lagaffe)
Morris ( Lucky Luke)
add chips ( aka fries) plus beer, a flat land and a grey sky, unemployment, peadophilia, a kingdom and you get: troubles every ten years. A battlefield which had to have a name, put a german king on it and there you go...
Aksak Maboul were Belgian!
RPG wrote:
I rather like the fact that they are able to run their country for 3 months or more without a government, makes you wonder...
The same thing happened when I worked in the Czech Republic, but I think for longer. They have a parliament of 200, and they had 100 on each side, and couldn't form a government until eventually two social democrats defected.
Devrim
After 150 days without managing to form a government Belgium now has another conflict between flemish and french speakers.
Basically a law was proposed splitting Brussels from it's suburbs, the result would be that the 120000 french speakers who live in the suburbs would no longer be able to vote for francophone candidates. All the French deputies refused to vote and the law was passed.
There's renewed talk about splitting the country again and there are also calls for the king to step in. He can name a person to form a government and become prime minister.