Jeudredi round-up 13/1/23

Tram lines

Whiling away grey days

Managing authoritarian populism in 2023. Some lessons for the new year from Míriam Juan-Torres González of OBI/Berkeley’s Democracy and Belonging Forum. In summary, it’s a long-term battle, and it’s not just two sided between good and evil. (declaration: I’m on the advisory board for which I receive a small stipend).

A drive through the Greek-Bulgarian borderlands, meeting the speakers of the Pomak language, a Slavic language spoken by a small community inside the Greek border, who spent decades in a sealed-off border zone where NATO faced off against the Warsaw Pact.

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Always-on TV. New Yorker piece (2020) on how Netflix has shifted TV from something you sit and watch to something you have on while you do other things. Watching my daughter wander around the house and cooking while “watching” a TV show, I can confirm (n=1) that it checks out.

Radio-Télévision Brussels

🎧 The House of Lords isn’t all bad. As those who read my Twitter feed will know I strongly support an elected second chamber in the UK. However, Professor Meg Russell of the UCL Constitution Unit makes some good points in this podcast. In particular, international comparisons are not quite as overwhelming as I had thought. I also agree with her that day one of a pro-reform government should involve a bill to abolish the hereditary peers, and would go further by putting the bishops of the Church of England on the same footing as the leaders of other faith groups - with life peerages for existing Lord Bishops to soften the blow.

📺 Tom Waes is all over screens in Flanders just now, presenting popular history documentary Het Verhaal van Vlaanderen (the Story of Flanders). However, I recommend checking him out in Undercover (Netflix), where over three series he plays a troubled (aren’t they all?) undercover cop. The first series, on the trail of an major ecstasy producer who runs his business out of a caravan park, is inspired by a true story.

🎧 Also on that topic, France Culture reported on the drug trade in Antwerp - who is involved, why is Antwerp such a hub, and what can be done about it? The episode came out before this week’s tragic death of an 11-year-old girl in Merksem, killed in her front room during a gun attack by a drugs gang (as it appears).

Vijfhoek

The Palais Stoclet (pictured above) is the building on Avenue de Tervueren / Tervurenlaan (🚊 Léopold II) with, if you ask me, a slightly threatening aura. It’s an art deco masterpiece, but also very closed. If you have ever wondered why it is never open for visits, the Economist has the answer for you.

The Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert celebrate their 175th anniversary this year, and a free exhibition in the basement of the Cinéma Galeries is worth a visit to find out about their history. The Galeries are not just the place where the praline was invented, but also the location of the first moving picture display in Belgium (the movies from that first showing can be seen in the exhibition).

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