Ft 2009 32

Flanders today

# 91

august 5 2009 Erkenningsnummer P708816

Free ly! week

I N D E P E N D E N T N E W S W ee k l y news



business



arts





active

w w w. f l a n d e r s t o d ay. E U



living



Simply silver......................... 8

Blooming lovely...................... 10

A Dutch court ruling on deepening the Scheldt has left the port of Antwerp high and dry, and infuriated the Flemish government. Relations run the risk of freezing up

Designers from 11 countries exhibit their “exquisite” new creations in silver at the Design Museum in Ghent. Veerle Devos found the entries exceeded expectations

Sunday is no day of rest for the flower sellers on the Kouter in Ghent, where Courtney Davis found everything from an azalea to a zinnea, with oysters and wine to follow

© shutterstock

Dutch back out. ................. 7

agenda



interview

Coasting along Far from resting on its reputation as a paradise for cyclists, Flanders just keeps getting better Dave Meyer programmes: With Trap & Tram, during the month of August you can rent a bike and buy a tram ticket for just €16. Simply pick up the bike in any one of the participating dealers along the seaside, bike until you’ve had your fill, then return the bike at another participating seaside dealership before taking the tram back to where you started. The programme is in its first trial phase this summer, but it has been years in the making. Even with the development of the Flemish Coast Route, and the Kusttram, the De Lijn tram which runs along the coast, it has been clear for some time that in sight of cycling’s ever increasing popularity, the infrastructure hasn’t always been up to snuff.

© Westtoer

I

f you’ve ever walked through a Flemish town on a sunny weekend morning, you have seen the crowds of cyclists out on their weekly ritual – all ages, all levels of fitness, all wearing colourful Lycra uniforms, the hum of Dutch conversation set to the melody of gliding packs of racing bikes. It can be like waking up along the route of the Tour de France. And then of course there are the bike parking lots at the train stations; the bike shops in every town; the bike paths linking villages; and the huts for long-distance cyclists... Add to this two new initiatives, the Trap & Tram (Pedal & Tram) programme along the coast and the Villo! programme in Brussels, and the question that always comes to mind is: What is it with Flanders and cycling?

First, a closer look at the two

➟ Continued on page 5

Chopper jailbreak gangster picked up ����������� A One of the gangsters who escaped from Bruges prison in a daring helicopter jailbreak two weeks ago was arrested on Monday in Molenbeek in Brussels. Abdelhaq Melloul Khayari, aged 41, was in possession of a substantial sum of cash, police said.

Both Khayari and his fellow escapee, Ashraf Sekkaki, were identified as members of a gang responsible

Khayari’s photo was circulated

by Interpol

for carrying out four armed robberies since the escape in Antwerp province. In one of the robberies, in Oud-Turnhout, the robbers are thought to have got away with more than €50,000. As Flanders Today went to press, it was reported that Khayari’s brother and another man had also been arrested. Khayari was immediately transported back to Bruges prison, where he was due to be interviewed by an investigating magistrate later in the day.

Khayari is known as the chief henchman of Hassan Maâche, a notorious gangster. Khayari has escaped from jail before, in Verviers, when he swapped identities with his

lan

Hope

brother, who had come to visit. He was last arrested in 2008 following a car-chase on the Brussels Ring when he opened fire on a police helicopter. He was sentenced to eight years by a court in Oudenaarde for a series of four armed robberies.

Meanwhile the other escapees, Sekkaki and Mohamed Johri, remain at large, as does the girlfriend of Johri who helped organise the escape (see p. 16). A friend of Sekkaki’s, Lahoucine El Haddouchi, also took part in the hijacking of the helicopter, but was left behind on the prison yard when the helicopter was too heavy to take off again.

Government to blame for Antwerp justice palace fiasco Costs can no longer be claimed back, auditors say

Alan Hope

The federal government’s buildings agency and the justice ministry were last week both slated by the Court of Auditors for their responsibility for the severe cost over-runs in the construction of the new Antwerp Courts of Justice (pictured, page 3). The building, a striking addition to the city skyline designed by the celebrated architect Richard Rogers, was started in 2006 (two years later than originally planned) with a budget of €75 million. By the time it was completed and opened last year the price had shot up to €250 million.

government of Yves Leterme to commission the audit. According to reports at the time, the government was hopeful of being able to reclaim some of what appeared to be inflated costs from the contractors and sub-contractors who had taken part in the project. To give one example: the doors at the rear of the building which are intended to be used by prison transports to bring prisoners to court were found to be too low for the standard size of van used by the prison service. They had to be ripped out and rebuilt.

But the court, in a report leaked last

The shock of seeing the bill led the

➟ Continued on page 3



News

Breaking news

CONTENTS News ������������������������������������������������������2-3  News in brief  Dutch creationists have eye on Flanders  First death from swine flu in Turnhout

Feature ����������������������������������������������������� 5  Flanders makes it a world fit for cyclists

Focus �������������������������������������������������������� 6  The Flemish Regional Indicators tell you all you need to know about our region

Business �������������������������������������������������� 7  Antwerp devastated by Dutch court decision on Westerschelde  Music Hall group blames rivals for Vampires show delays

Arts ��������������������������������������������������������8-9  Robin Vermeersch makes art at its most visceral  Exquisite silverworks on show in Ghent  Camiel Van Breedam’s work is a monument to peace

Active ����������������������������������������������������� 10  In one square in Ghent, Sunday is always Bloomsday

Living ������������������������������������������������������ 11  Luc Callebaut of Oudenaarde is the big cheese … of cheesemongers

Agenda ���������������������������������������������� 13-15  Three pages of arts and events

Back page ��������������������������������������������� 16  Face of Flanders: Lesley Deckers  Talking Dutch: our language expert looks at ontsnappen  The Last Word: what they’re saying in Flanders

FLANDERS TODAY Independent Newsweekly Editor: Derek Blyth

NV Vlaamse Uitgeversmaatschappij

Deputy editor: Lisa Bradshaw

Gossetlaan 28, 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden

Agenda: Sarah Crew

1702 Groot-Bijgaarden Tel.: 02.373.99.09 _ Fax: 02.375.98.22

Prepress: Corelio P&P

E-mail: editorial@flanderstoday.eu

Contributors: Rebecca Benoot, Robyn Boyle, Courtney Davis, Stéphanie Duval, Anna Jenkinson, Sharon Light, Alistair MacLean, Marc Maes, Ian Mundell, Anja Otte, Monique Philips, Saffina Rana, Chrisophe Verbiest, Denzil Walton

Subscriptions: France Lycops

Project manager: Pascale Zoetaert Publisher: VUM



Editorial address: Gossetlaan 30

Tel: 02.373.83.59 E-mail: subscriptions@flanderstoday.eu Advertising: Evelyne Fregonese Tel: 02.373.83.57 E-mail: advertising@flanderstoday.eu Verantwoordelijke uitgever: Derek Blyth

august 5, 2009

News in brief One quarter of newborns in Antwerp is born into a family where Dutch is not the mother tongue, according to family organisation Kind en Gezin.

Antwerp is already home to one in three of all children from economically disadvantaged families in Flanders, who account for one in ten of all children under the age of 12. Children born into families where Dutch is not spoken, Kind en Gezin said, face major challenges at school and later in the workplace.

More students have signed up for university courses at Flemish institutions in the coming academic year than last year.

Numbers at the Free University Brussels (VUB) are up 10%, with Antwerp up 15% and Ghent up 19% -- all with more to come.

Favourite courses include science, mathematics and law.

Flanders scores badly on the popularity of breastfeeding, according to CD&V senator Sabine de Bethune, in a speech marking the start of International Breastfeeding Week on 1 August.

While countries like Norway and Denmark see 99% and 98% of babies being breastfed at birth, Flanders scores only 63.4%. By comparison, Wallonia scores 77% and the Netherlands 83%.

The provincial governing body for Flemish Brabant has again refused permission for tobacco giant Philip Morris to extend its accommodation for lab animals in its research department in Haasrode. The company had applied to extend the lab from 1,600 to 6,850 places. A previous application was rejected by the provincial deputation, whose ruling was later overturned by the Council of State. Philip Morris is expected to appeal.

News editor: Alan Hope

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y

Get the news from Flanders online in English . and French at www.flanderstoday.eu



An Antwerp archive made up of the documents of businesses and individuals who went bankrupt has been declared part of the Memory of the World register of Unesco, the United Nations education and cultural organisation. The Insolvente Boedelkamer was set up in 1518 and is housed in the city’s FelixArchief (see Flanders Today, 18 August 2008), and is a unique and internationally important record of a trading city.

Also added to the register in the latest round of nominations were the diary of Anne Frank, and the Magna Carta.

Creationists take aim at Flanders

In a very short time, though probably not as short as six days, every home in Flanders will be receiving a brochure explaining to them how, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and how Charles Darwin got it all wrong.

The delivery of the 6,000-year-old news to believers and nonbelievers alike is the initiative of a group of Dutch Christian organisations, who have already carried out a similar operation over the border, reaching some 6.6 million homes. The occasion then was the bicentennial of the birth of Darwin.

The organisers claim to have had expressions of interest from across Europe. However the brochure exists for the moment only in Dutch, which explains why Flanders is being given priority. “Right now we’re looking into how we can cover the whole of Flanders in a systematic way, one of the organisers told De Standaard. “We have contacts with friendly organisations in Belgium, but they’re active only locally. We’re looking for a nationwide network whose services we can call on.”

The brochure, according to a version found online, attempts to present a logical case for the universe’s having been created

by God. Man can make only living things, it argues. And a room cannot tidy itself. Therefore, the brochure concludes, it is nonsense to suppose, with the Darwinists, that life in its many forms developed by chance. The only logical explanation for the existence of life is that it was created all at once by a supernatural being.

“It is technically not possible to prove whether man came on the earth through creation or through evolution, because it is an event in the past,” the document concludes, rather oddly.

“History is written from a given point of view, for particular reasons,” it claims, despite having used the Bible as evidence for some of its claims.

“Most people won’t even read it, I suppose,” responded Ghent university philosopher Johan Braeckman.

The eight-page brochure can be read online at

➟ http://www.creatie.info/books/bookid/3 Doctors in Belgium continue to prescribe too many antibiotics, according to an investigation by the consumer magazine Test-Aankoop. The magazine found four out of ten doctors spontaneously offered a prescription for antibiotics when faced with a complaint of sore throat. Almost half were ready to prescribe at the patient’s request.

Over-prescription of antibiotics leads to disease-resistant strains of microbes.

Almost three-quarters of the money taken in from fines comes from Flanders, finance minister Didier Reynders announced last week. In 2008 a total of €57.5 million in fines was handed out by the courts, mainly police courts

who deal with minor and traffic offences. Of that total, €43 million came from Flanders, €8.6 million from Wallonia and only €6.6 million from Brussels – less than Hasselt, Mechelen, Antwerp and Bruges.

For the first time in Flemish television history, a news broadcast was last week blacked out. Thursday’s bulletin at 18.00 on the VRT’s main channel failed to materialise, for technical reasons which the broadcaster was unable to explain. The 18.00 news has come in recent weeks from a special new studio known within the VRT as the Black Box. The news at 19.00, coming from the main studio as always, went out as planned.

© shutterstock

Smile please!

Half of all plastic surgery patients later said they were unhappy with the results, according to consumer magazine Test Gezondheid. 16% of women and 8% of men have “had work done”

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y august 5, 2009

fifth column

Law courts cost €175 million too much thanks to agency’s blunders week to De Tijd newspaper, have bad news for the government: the lion’s share of the responsibility for the cost fiasco lies in its own backyard, specifically at the Regie der Gebouwen, the government agency which, under the auspices of the finance ministry of Didier Reynders, operates and manages the government’s real estate. It was the Regie that was blamed two weeks ago for dragging its feet on improving security at prisons, leading to the recent helicopter jailbreak in Bruges.

The Regie did not intervene on the many occasions when costs went over budget, the report said. As a result, contractors can no longer be held responsible. “The Regie is the party who gave the green light, who took the final decisions, and who has the ultimate responsibility,” the report says.

According to the Regie, the prob-

lem was not so much an overspend, as an underestimate of likely costs at the outset. The initial budget was “unrealistic,” the agency said in a statement.

They also gave a list of the factors that were still unknown at the time the budget forecast was drawn up: location, cost of building land, architect and cost of financing.

“This is what laid the foundations for a fundamental lack of clarity during the design and implementation of the project,” the statement reads.

That “lack of clarity” was characteristic of the whole project.

The justice ministry told the Regie how many courtrooms it required, but little else. While the project was underway the number of cells doubled from 50 to 100. Nobody had foreseen the presence of female guards, who would need separate showers and toilets. The width of all exits was extended on orders from the

Life for killer Belliraj Abdelkader Belliraj, the Evergem man arrested in Morocco in January last year on suspicion of terrorism, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Rabat on charges of murder, terrorist conspiracy and weapons offences. Belliraj, aged 52, has a wife and family still living in Flanders.

Shortly after his arrest his case made waves in Belgium, when he confessed to having carried out six contract murders here in the 1980s.

One attack saw the murder of the Imam of the Brussels mosque in the Jubelpark, as well as his assistant, who surprised the assassins. Another was the shooting in 1989 of Joseph Wybran, who as well as being a senior physician at Erasmus hospital was also a prominent representative of the Jewish community.

On hearing of the sentence, Prof.

Wybran’s widow Emmy Wybran said she would be “eternally grateful” to the Moroccan police and justice system. She was less complimentary of their Belgian counterparts,

however. “Since Belliraj confessed in February 2008 to the murder of my husband, not a single Belgian policeman has come to see me to explain what’s going on,” she said.

“I have seen no-one and heard from no-one, as if Doctor Joseph Wybran had never existed.” Yet Belliraj has admitted to carrying out the murders with accomplices, she pointed out.

“Some of them are still free, and living in Belgium. Is something going to happen here now that he’s been sentenced? I hope so.” 

Fraud rife in service-cheque businesses More than half of all companies working with service-cheques are engaged in fraud, according to an audit by the industry federation Federgon. The federation carried out checks on 184 businesses, and found fraud in 108 of them.

Service-cheques were introduced in 2004 to help provide jobs for unskilled workers and to tackle the black economy. The government subsidises the cheques: €7.50 buys a cheque which pays for one hour of work such as cleaning, ironing, cooking and shop-

ping at a rate of €20.80.

Flanders’ most powerful woman

© reporters

➟ Continued from page 1

Anja Otte

Antwerp’s law courts

fire service. Finally, star architect Richard Rogers demanded a fee of 7% of the building cost, higher than the standard 5%. He also submitted exorbitant travel and hotel expenses. It is estimated he walked away from the project

with €26 million.

For now, the Regie is stressing that the full report of the Court of Auditors has not yet been released.

When it is, the Regie will study its conclusions and “take the necessary steps”. 

Swine flu claims first Belgian victim A 34-year-old woman from Meerle near Hoogstraten in Antwerp province last week became the first fatality in Belgium from swine flu A-H1N1. The woman, who had not travelled abroad, was treated in the St Elisabeth hospital in Turnhout, where she presented flu-like symptoms including a severe migraine headache, but only a mild fever. Initially, she was diagnosed with a double lung infection, which can be a complication of flu. By the time she was tested and infection with A-H12N1 confirmed, her condition had worsened. “The woman was treated with anti-viral drugs, but unfortunately died,” said a spokesman for the federal health ministry.

Following the announcement, special attention was being paid to a man of about fifty in the Antwerp University hospital, where he had also been diagnosed with swine flu. His condition was said to be

critical. The two cases are not related.

The first death from swine flu came as a surprise because the woman does not belong to any of the risk groups: children, the elderly, those with a compromised immune system. But according to Marc Van Ranst, the man in charge of the government’s influenza commission, young people’s stronger immune system can put them at a disadvantage, by causing them to overreact to infection by the virus.

There is no reason for panic, the ministry stressed. The first fatality would not lead to a change in policy. “We knew this could happen,” the spokesman said, pointing out that some 15,000 people die every year from ordinary winter flu. The pattern of infection in the country has not changed, he said. And in comparison with other countries, the rate of infection in Belgium remains relatively low.

Major delays threat during E19 works

Numerous companies have sprung up to act as intermediaries, providing service workers while taking a percentage of the value. In 2006 there were 1,438 such, including big-name temping agencies like Randstad. By 2009 there were 2,340, with income in the first half of the year from nearly 38 million cheques.

Motorists were this week warned of severe delays and tailbacks of up to 30 km on the E19 motorway from 10 August, because of “the biggest roadworks in years”.

The motorway will be closed on the Brussels-bound side between Kontich and Mechelen South for resurfacing, with traffic restricted to 2x2 narrow lanes in contraflow.

Federgon has now asked the government to take measures to eradicate the “rotten apples” from the sector. 

The Flemish authorities have estimated peak tailbacks at 15km, but motoring organisation VAB

estimates a worst-case scenario could see double that, especially towards the end of the month when the holidays are over and many people are back at work.

The roadworks themselves are scheduled to last until 11 September. The VAB advises motorists to avoid the E19 if possible, using the alternative A12 via Boom, where police will be on points duty at crossroads to ensure a steady flow of through traffic. 

When Frank Vandenbroucke did not become a minister in the new Flemish government, this caused some bewilderment within socialist party ranks. At the same time, noone complained about who is to replace him: Ingrid Lieten, the new vice-minister-president and minister for (take a deep breath!) Innovation, Government Investment, Media and Poverty. Lieten is a so-called “white rabbit”, pulled from a top hat: her appointment is a surprise, as she did not stand in the elections.

No-one doubts Lieten’s competence though. She has gained respect all round as the director-general of De Lijn, the Flemish public transport authority, which she turned into a modern business. She did so in close co-operation with the political world she is now entering. She and Steve Stevaert (SP.A), who as minister for mobility appointed her at De Lijn in 2002, have always been close allies.

Moreover, no-one doubts her political affiliation.

Lieten calls herself a “pedigree socialist”, as her mother, Lisette Croes, was a socialist senator. Even when she was managing De Lijn, Lieten was considered “one of us” within the SP.A. She has been a party militant for years.

The only stain Lieten has to wash off is that she is very much “Steve Stevaert’s woman”. Stevaert recently quit as governor of Limburg province, as the strict neutrality required by that function did not match his personal ambitions. Stevaert became something of a legend when he led the socialists to electoral victory in 2003, but has now announced that he does not want to become a full time politician again. Yet at least two of the three SP.A ministers (Lieten and Freya Van den Bossche) as well as party president Caroline Gennez belong to his inner circle. Stevaert may not be re-entering politics, but he is clearly back in business.

Lieten has to prove she is her own woman now. Her portfolio does not include Mobility, which the socialists have claimed for years.

As a manager at De Lijn, Lieten was often called “Flanders’ most powerful woman”.

Now she really is. How hard can it be then, to get out from Stevaert’s (admittedly big) shadow?



CALL AROUND THE WORLD AT EXTREMELY LOW RATES CALLING INTERNATIONALLY

CALLING WITHIN BELGIUM

STARTING AT

€

0,12

STARTING AT

BE 0,20

*

€

PER MIN.

PER MIN.

SENDING SMS NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY ALWAYS

0,13

€

*

PER SMS

* Rates per 1 May, 2009 • Call set up fee 15 eurocent per call All prices are VAT included • For a complete overview of all rates you can go to www.ortelmobile.be

www.ortelmobile.be Available at:

*



Feature

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y



august 5, 2009

Coasting Along There’s no better place to hop on a bike than in Flanders bike trip anywhere in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

This is, of course, just a summary of the recreational cycling available to us mere mortals. When you really start to scratch the surface, Flanders is also a haven for international competitive cycling. It is home to the famous Eddy Merckx, and more recently Tom Boonen and Axel Merckx, as well as the Tour of Flanders, one of the most famous cycling races in the world.

It all begs that question again: What is it with Flanders and cycling? For an American such as myself, Flanders seems a bicycle Mecca. Going home on holidays, I am often surprised by how difficult it can be to ride even a few blocks in a small town without being forced onto the sidewalks, or how little space there can be to lock a bike when going into a store.

The sense of the bicycle as a mainstream means of transportation is still foreign to much of my home country. Ine Plovie shares this sentiment: “When you compare it with the USA, Flanders is indeed a cycling paradise.”

But why? Is it the flat terrain? The many famous Flemish cyclists?

Or maybe it is a sense of environmentalism that you can only get in a small country with such little wilderness left?

Or maybe it’s just that the grass is always greener on the other side? “[Belgian biking] culture is nothing in comparison with the Netherlands,” Plovie told me, “but we try our best! The bicycle paths in the Netherlands are really good

Websites about biking abound in Flanders ➟ ➟ ➟ ➟ ➟

www.trapentram.be www.villo.be www.vlaanderen-vakantieland.be/trekkershutten www.fietsroute.org www.routeyou.com

© Westtoer

A

s Ine Plovie, a Project Manager with Westtoer, the company responsible for implementing Trap & Tram, told me, “Normally you can take your bike on the tram, but in the summer they are too full, and so most bikes are refused. Trap & Tram was developed so tourists could explore a larger part of the Flemish coast without worrying whether they can take the tram back with their bike or get back to the rental point on time. With Trap & Tram they can leave their bike at the farthest point and still get back with the Kusttram.”

The programme is still in its early phases, with a second trial period planned for next year (from April to September), but things seem to be going well given the late start and limited publicity. “So far we rented about 100 bikes in a period of 20 days,” Plovie said. “A slow start has the advantage that we are able to test the system and that we can recognise small practical problems. Right now the promotion is only in Dutch, so we still have a lot of potential to grow.”

Hopefully, along with the summer sunshine, cyclists will keep taking them up on the offer.

In Brussels, people have certainly been taking advantage of another new initiative, recognizable by the network of blue and yellow rental bikes scattered around the city: Villo! This is perhaps not such a new initiative, you may think, as some may remember a previous programme called Cyclocity, which has passed on much of its infrastructure to Villo!.

Whereas Cyclocity had only 250 bikes spread across stations in the centre of Brussels, Villo! has up to 2,500 bikes throughout 16 of Brussels’ 19 communes. This makes for a total of 180 stations – or one station every 450 metres in the busiest areas.

Users can subscribe on an annual,

daily, or weekly basis, and no matter what the subscription, the first 30 minutes (enough time to cross most of Brussels depending on the hills) are free. The next 30 minutes cost only €0.50.

This makes Villo! not only more widespread than its predecessor, but cheaper and, with its new fleet of lighter-weight bikes, a far more pleasant riding experience.

The programme was launched in May, but already the citizens are responding. In the first two months of operation, there were 3,000 one-year subscriptions to the Villo! network, and 6,000 short-term subscriptions: that’s four times the amount of subscribers to Cyclocity.

Brussels is quickly following in the line of Flanders by making cycling a major policy priority. And this is to say nothing of the other areas of bicycle promotion. There are, for instance, trekkershutten, small huts scattered around Flanders, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg which can be rented by longdistance cyclists. In Belgium this is an initiative of Flanders’ Tourist Board, offering rustic wooden cabins that can sleep four people all along the routes for just €37 per hut per night.

And then there is the Fietsknooppunten (network of intersecting bicycle routes) as well – those small green numbered signs that seem to pop up every few metres along every Flemish country road and which have become a model for bike path organisations in other European countries. Then there’s the LF Cycle Routes, the easiest way to arrange a multi-day

and the Dutch are avid bikers, for functional as well as recreational purposes… Over the last few

years the government has really been trying to make biking safer, especially in cities like Brussels.” 

Best Coastal Rides

W

ith the Flemish Coast Cycle Route, spending the day on a bike along the seaside is too tempting to pass up. Here are some ride suggestions – some of which will be detailed in the Tyre Tracks column over the next few weeks: • The East End: From Knokke, head east away from the crowds along the coast past Het Zwin nature reserve, an ornithologist’s paradise. If you have the time, continue over the border into the Netherlands – though Trap & Tram bikes do need to be returned in Belgium!

• Ostend: Easily accessible by train and a major summer destination in its own right, Ostend is the perfect spot to begin lots of different rides along the coast. Heading west, the path follows the boardwalk on the water’s edge; heading east, it winds its way through the picturesque inland.

• West Side Ride: From Nieuwpoort, there are trails along the coast or inland through rambling sand dunes. This is another one where you can feel free to let your wheels wander – Dunkirk is just twenty kilometres away over the French border.

© Westtoer

➟ Continued from page 1





Feature

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y



august 5, 2009

Painting by numbers The latest regional indicators present a portrait of Flanders

E

very year, the research unit of the Flemish government produces a massive document called Flemish Regional Indicators (Vrind). In more than 400 pages, the Vrind presents a picture of the region in all its aspects: social, economic, cultural, demographic, educational, from the point of view of businesses, legislators, students, teachers and families.

The document itself is available (in Dutch only) in PDF or printed form from the address below. In the meantime, we present a selection of interesting items from its vast store of information.

Drawings by NL Shop at Shutterstock.

Satisfaction

Wired Flanders

Budget

A fraction under 70% of households in Flanders have access to Internet, slightly more than the national figure (64%) but far behind Germany (75%) and the Netherlands (86%). The EU average is 60%.

The Flemish government paid out financing, in decreasing order of expense, for the following areas: education (€9 billion), welfare and health, local government including urban policy, employment, roads and waterways, public transport, environmental measures, civil servants, science, culture and youth, housing, economic measures, media, and other.

Population

Languages In spring 2008, Flanders was more satisfied with life in general than the year before.

Across the board at all educational levels, people reported an average of about 3.2 on a scale of 1 (unhappy) to 5 (very happy).

The level of satisfaction with income rose according to educational level (2.6 to 3.1), while the reverse trend was seen on available free time, where the more educated you were, the less free time you felt you had (3.2 descending to 2.8 for graduates).

Feelings of anxiety did arise, though. The following table shows what people were most concerned about (percentage of respondents): Cause Men Women All Own health 65.7 74.9 70.4 Money 55.3 65.5 60.5 Future 52.3 62.9 57.7 Safety 51.6 62.0 56.9 Family 50.9 61.3 56.2 Politics 49.5 44.4 46.9 Unemployment 26.6 26.5 26.6

The population is growing fastest in Brussels region since about 2000, with the rate in both Wallonia and Flanders more slow and more steady. Flanders’ population will grow more slowly still than the other two regions in the years to 2060, even as the EU population as a whole climbs slowly to 2035, then begins to decline.

By far the majority of foreigners living in Flanders come from another EU member state, with fully half of the total from the Netherlands.

Origin %age of total EU 63.6 Other Europe 10.0 Africa 12.7 Asia 8.4 America 2.9 Oceania 0.1 Refugees 2.4

Tolerance

Marriage

“Trust in our fellow man is important for social capital and social cohesion in a society,” the report rather grandly states. Nothing much changed in 2008 for Flemish tolerance on the whole: young people aged 18-24 are more tolerant (3.1 on a scale of 1 to 5) than their elders, going down to a figure of 2.5 for those over 75. Half of all well-educated people think immigrants contribute to the good of society. So do 30% of young people, and a third of men. For the population as a whole, however, only onequarter of people think the same. Onequarter also feel severe mistrust of immigrants; the figure rises according to age and goes down with education.

The number of marriages in Flanders continues to rise, from a low in 2002 of about 22,000 to over 25,000 in 2007, just over the figure for 2000 when a decline started. In 2003, the region saw a high in the number of divorces at about 16,000.

That’s now down to under 15,000.

There are now more people living alone than in 1990, more children with one resident parent, more children with unmarried parents, more unmarried couples with or without children, more married couples without children, and more people living in an institution. The only two categories which have decreased since 1990 are children living with married parents, and married couples with children.

Barely 30% of children in primary schools in Flanders are learning a foreign language, compared to 55% in the French-speaking part of Belgium. The figure is, however, similar to that in the Netherlands. In the first year of secondary school, however, students are studying an average of 1.4 languages, rising to 2.5 later in secondary school. In the Netherlands the figures are 2.7 and 2.6; in French-speaking Belgium 1 and 1.8; and in the UK 1 and 0.6.

Alan Hope

Media

Het Laatste Nieuws dominated both the printed and online newspaper market, with 30% and 37% market share respectively.

Then came, in order: Het Nieuwsblad, De Standaard, De Tijd, Gazet van Antwerpen, Belang van Limburg, De Morgen. Both De Standaard (10/15) and De Tijd (4/8) achieved higher market share online than in print.

People in Dutch-speaking Belgium (Flanders + Brussels) now have less faith in the media (press, radio and TV) than they did in 2003. A similar decline was seen in the EU as a whole. Flanders has slightly more trust than Wallonia in its media, with the exception of the printed press.

The following were the grounds for complaints to the Council for Journalism in 2003 and 2008: Complaint 2003 2008 Careless reporting 26 146 Privacy 14 70 No right of reply 4 12 Failure to keep promises 1 12 Unfair trading 0 7 Conflict of interest 0 7 Libel, defamation 0 7 Undercover reporting 2 5 Other 2 7 Total cases 45 219

Tourism

Culture

As the new culture minister Joke Schauvliege reveals a preference for amateur theatre, the activities of amateur culture providers in Flanders show a rising trend. The umbrella organisations for various sectors have seen an increase in the number of local groups affiliated since 2004: dance, instrumental music, vocal music, folk and jazz, amateur dramatics and pop.

In Flemish cultural centres, the backbone of the cultural world in Flanders, there were 11,863 professional presentations in 2007, and 3,728 amateur shows. In both cases, theatre dominates. In the case of professional events, film and audiovisual follow, then popular music, humour and cabaret.

For the amateurs, theatre is followed by popular music, dance and classical music.

In 2008, people attended the following types of event: Type Never Once > Once Classical 69.2 15.4 15.4 Rock/pop 64.8 17.0 18.2 Jazz/blues 86.6 8.8 4.6 Folk 83.0 12.9 4.1 Opera 92.1 5.7 2.3 Ballet/dance 81.1 13.5 5.4 Theatre 56.6 21.3 22.1

“Flanders accounted for 58.7% of all tourism-related turnover in 2007, ahead of Brussels region (23%) and Wallonia (17.6%).

Investment in tourism by the regions was as follows: Region €million % Flanders 891 62.4 Brussels 193 13.5 Wallonia 308 21.6 None 38 2.7 Total 1,428 100 Flanders alone saw a decline in the number of overnight stays by tourists between 1999 and 2007. The 2007 figure of 23.3 million was down 1% on 1999. In Brussels (2007=5.1m) and Wallonia (2007=6.8m) there were increases of 19.5% and 1.5% respectively. Most of the fall in Flanders was made up of fewer Belgian visitors (down 3.2%) while there were more than double the number of Belgians lodging in Brussels in the same period. The number of foreign visitors was up in all areas. Overnight stays include hotels, campsites and holiday rentals.

By far the largest number of foreign visitors were the Dutch, up 18% to 3.35 million in 2007. They were followed by Germans (1.6m), British (1.4m) and French (1.1m).

The largest increase came from India – up 119% on 1999.

➟ http://tinyurl.com/vrind2009





Business



 10,000

pieces of luggage go missing every day at airports in Europe: one in 13 passengers is a victim, and 15% of lost cases are not recovered within 48 hours. Worldwide, the daily figure is 90,000

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y august 5, 2009

Antwerp hit as Westerschelde works suspended Port authorities hit out at Dutch government

The Westerschelde is that part of the Scheldt river between Antwerp and the sea, passing between ZeeuwsVlaanderen to the south and the islands of Zuid-Beveland and Walcheren to the north.

For almost twenty years now, the Antwerp port authorities, together with the companies who operate out of the harbour, have pressed for a deepening of the Westerschelde channel at 12 important points. Otherwise, they warn, the port will lose the custom of the larger container ships, as they are unable to navigate the channel and travel as far as Antwerp except at certain tide-times, which restricts access severely.

The problem is, the chief beneficiary of that development would be Antwerp’s main competitor Rotterdam.

At the same time, the greater part of the Westerschelde is in Dutch territory: the Belgian part extends only

Baby products • Chicco

Alan Hope

as far as the border about 8.5km north of Lillo. That work has been done, but it doesn’t tackle the main problem. The Dutch, however, have little incentive to deepen the Westerschelde. There’s little economic benefit for them, and the works would cause problems on their own territory, with some farms losing land through ontpoldering: as water levels rise, some of the land previously reclaimed from the Scheldt would be taken back.

After much discussion, the two sides reached a treaty agreement in 2005 by which the works would be carried out. But the Dutch continued dragging their feet. In his government statement following the election in June, in which he set out his priorities for the new administration, Flanders’ minister-president Kris Peeters mentioned the Westerschelde work as one area where progress would need to be made.

The Council of State has made that virtually impossible. Two nature organisations, the Zeeland Environment Federation and the Birds Protection agency, brought a motion to suspend the treaty, arguing that nature preservation areas would be adversely affected by the works. The Council

Chicco, the producer of baby products, has announced the recall of air humidifier Easy Vap, some models of which show signs of wear around the plug.

Customers can call free number 0800 62 007 from 08.30 to 12.30 and 13.00 to 17.00 for details on how to obtain an exchange.

Energy • Belwind

© Google

Two nature organisations have succeeded in halting works designed to allow the port of Antwerp to receive mega-container ships. In a decision last week by the Dutch Council of State, work to deepen the Westerschelde is suspended before it ever really began.

THE WEEK IN BUSINESS

The satellite image shows the Westerschelde from Antwerp in the east (A) to Vlissingen in the west (V). The lighter patches show the shallow areas in the channel

issued an interim suspension of the treaty, which seems likely to become permanent later in the year when the final ruling is handed down.

Antwerp, in the person of port affairs alderman Marc Van Peel, reacted furiously, blaming the Dutch government for failing to meet its treaty obligations, and for creating the latest situation. The government of Jan Peter Balkenende suddenly switched track in April from a plan which involved selective ontpoldering to one in which would have involved laying down estuarine marches outside the sea-dykes along the Westerschelde, raised areas which would provide

feeding and roosting terrain for birds which would partially flood at high water. But the nature groups argued that the government’s nature provisions were uncertain and vague. The Council of State agreed.

Retail • Fedis

Rudy de Meyer, director of Alfaport, the association of port employers, called the Dutch position “unacceptable,” arguing that the change from ontpoldering was directly responsible for last week’s decision. Kris Peeters, meanwhile, called on his Dutch counterparts to make it an immediate priority to put the Westerschelde treaty into operation in its entirety, including the nature-protection aspects. 

Steel • ArcelorMittal

Telecommunications • Alcatel Lucent Alcatel Lucent, which has offices in Geel and Antwerp as well as Namur, is to scrap 153 jobs in Belgium to restore profitability, the company announced. Most of the jobs will go from support services like book-keeping and human resources. © Tanz

musical market.

Musical van Vlaanderen is careful to stress its arms-length relationship with Music Hall, and its remit to provide quality musical theatre. Projects like Dans der Vampieren, MvV points out, cost a lot to put on and cannot necessarily count on mass popular success – unlike the shows aimed mainly at children produced by Studio 100. In addition, MvV said, Studio 100 did not even apply for subsidy, so can hardly complain at not receiving any.

Studio 100 in turn argue that they did not apply because they are working in a commercial sector in which the government has no business interfering, yet still they managed to produce a major success with the serious musical Daens!. “If there are two major players in the field of commercial musical productions, and then suddenly out of the blue one of them receives a subsidy, we feel we’ve been disadvantaged,” said Hans Bourlon, one of the founders of Studio 100.

This year’s summer sales, which ended last week, brought in more money than last year’s, according to separate figures from industry federation Fedis, which represents large retailers, and Unizo, which represents independent traders. According to Fedis, turnover was up 5% this year compared to last July, the “long tail” effect of a good fashion season in the first half. Even new autumn collections are selling well, Fedis said.

Unizo, meanwhile, estimated the increase in sales at 4%.

Steel producer ArcelorMittal announced the re-opening of its second high temperature furnace at its Ghent plant, several days before the forecast date. The furnace was closed down to reduce costs in April this year.

The show must go off The opening of a new Flemish production of Dans der Vampieren (Dance of the Vampires) will not go ahead in December in Antwerp as planned, the producers Musical van Vlaanderen (MvV) announced last week. The group, a non-profit spin-off of the commercial producers Music Hall Group, put the blame for the decision on Studio 100 and Stimuhl.

Studio 100 is the hugely successful multimedia company responsible for a string of children’s TV hits, for Kabouter Plop movies and theme parks, for K3 and for the latest Mega Mindy film (Flanders Today, 1 July). Stimuhl is a much smaller organisation, the Foundation for Contemporary Musicals. Both took a case to the Council of State seeking the suspension of a decision by former culture minister Bert Anciaux to give regional subsidies worth €2.45 million over two years to MvV. Stimuhl and Studio 100 claim the subsidy distorts competition in the commercial

Belwind, the wind-energy turbine park off the Belgian coast, is offering shares for sale to individual Dutch investors via the cooperative Meewind for as little as €1,000. A consortium including Meewind, Rabobank and holding company SHV (owners of Makro) recently took over the wind park when Econcern went bankrupt. Meanwhile supermarket chain Colruyt announced it would derive all of its energy from wind power in two years time. To that end, the company intends to invest €30 million in Belwind.

Publicity still from a production in Oberhausen, Germany

The legal action, MvV went on to say, was putting at risk the employment of a large numbers of theatre workers. The December opening would now be postponed until September 2010, with the possibility the show might not go ahead at all if the Council of State in its final ruling went against the subsidy. Studio 100 pointed out that the production of Dans der Vampieren was not

listed in the subsidy application.

Dans der Vampieren is based on a 1967 film directed by Roman Polanski, called The Fearless Vampire Killers. Rights to the show are owned by the Viennabased Vereinigte Bühnen Wien, and it is in constant production in Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe, with shows also in Tokyo and New York. 

Wind turbines • Hansen Hansen Transmissions, the Kontich-based manufacturer of gearboxes for wind turbines, revised its order forecasts for the year downwards, from low to moderate growth down to no growth at all. Operators of wind farms, CEIO Ivan Brems said, are finding it harder to get investment for development, with a knock-on effect on orders.





Arts

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y



august 5, 2009

It’s in the details Robin Vermeersch’s art: the essence of life enlarged and on display R B ebecca

T

hirty-four-year-old Robin Vermeersch is the youngest member of a highly artistic family. “When you grow up in a family that is very artistic, you always see your father making paintings, your grandfather making sculptures, your brothers making drawings. Even my mother was a painter so I had contact with different kinds of art at a very early age.” He went on to study painting at the Sint-Lucas Academy in Ghent and has since then evolved more towards sculpture and drawing. Ultimately, “becoming an artist was something normal,” he affirms.

His latest exhibition is Watching Windows at Forum+, a new platform for contemporary art in Bruges located above the concert hall and offering a spectacular view of the city. One of the most striking features in his works are his use of depth and texture. His preference for pastel colours in his drawings is especially fitting with their organic, almost flesh-like nature.

A lot of elements in his work resemble human cells, organs, shells and other organic manifestations, calling up life and ultimately creation. It is also this aspect that interests Vermeersch the most: “The fact that I can create differ-

enoot

ent images and objects that are not yet in our society fascinates me. I mostly make sculptures, giving them new forms so I can create something previously unknown...

I take organic materials and then I start to reshape them. I like the art world because I can create my own universe and it's also a shell where I can hide... In my work many forms of nature come back because the most inspiring thing is seeing things grow. I try to create sculptures that have their own life and can grow further without my help.” The idea behind his work is thus that every new work of art becomes a new entity in this world, it is a life in itself.

get the feeling: So they call this art?, Vermeersch goes back to the beginning and lets basic beauty, elegant emotions and surreal simplicity do all the talking. “I can imagine that some people don't feel it and never understand it but I don't want them to have to read a text to understand my work. I want my work to be a soft confrontation, a feeling like they see something that they have lost.

You live and ask questions and you forget your emotions.”

Despite his apparent need for creation, Vermeersch doesn't have a message or hidden agenda with his blossoming art: “I don't have a big discourse. I want to do something that people can feel. I want people to be able to relate to my art on an emotional level. They have to be able to recognise and relate to it despite its being a new creation. I want them to be touched.

This is also why I try to create my own world because in this world a lot of the beauty gets lost. I make simple art that shows the essence and hopefully gets through to people.”

In an age where far too often you

Watching Windows

BE-PART in fact is an extraordinary and explosive creation filled with wave-like forms and a multitude of colours that are spectacularly contrasted with light and shadow. “I used paint on wood and different forms and I put them together with a lot of white-black contrasts – a lot like playing with the light. It was an idea I had done a few times before but now I only added a couple of holes to look through. And it is also something I liked to do as a child – make those small boxes where you can disappear briefly before returning to reality.

The most impressive part of the exhibition is a large diorama called BE-PART. “I made it in BEPART (contemporary art platform in Waregem) as artist in residence and I don't give titles to my works so that's why it's simply called BE-PART after the location.

I wanted the viewer to see that on the outside, it is just a box, but on the inside there is a totally different atmosphere. Just upon looking through a window, it’s like a whole new world opens up.”

Vermeersch really loves his dioramas and that's why he has also created a new one especially for Forum+. It is a large wooden platform with tiny holes showing a wide variety of organic and possibly even human features.

Not really knowing what you're looking at makes it all the more intriguing for the spectator and the artist as well: “Working in a different world and not really knowing what it is forces you to imagine what the forms might be,”

Silver Fever in Ghent

© www.glastrafoto.nl

Poetry in Silver: the rather lacklustre theme of the 4th edition of the Schoonhoven Silver Award all the same resulted in a diverse, surprising and distinctive collection of silver objects made by designers from 11 different countries. Until 13 September the results of this international competition for silversmiths are to be seen in the Ghent Design Museum Veerle Devos

This year’s Silver Award winner: Earth II – Reki by Hiroshi Suzuki



There are five Belgian designers among the 45 laureates, including the Ghent-based silversmith and jewellery designer Siegfried De Buck, whose Lavabo in infocentra manus meas was selected.

But it’s the London-based Japanese Hiroshi Suzuki who won the Schoonhoven Silver Award 2009, a prize named after the town in South Holland renowned for its traditional silver industry. “His impressive vase is archetypal and combines monumentalism with a refined and poetic feeling for detail and finish,” the jury says about winner Hiroshi Suzuki.

“He renders a transcription of a traditional silversmith technique, in which a perfected hammer stroke has gained a truly meditative character of its own by its performance and power of repetition. The hammered skin reflects the light in every direction and generates strength. This work of art convinces, the natural result of many years of personal development.”

Bernadette De Loose of the Design Museum is happy with the winner: “His vase is exquisite!

There’s so much movement in his

according to Vermeersch.

This diorama also ingeniously illustrates his love for detail, emphasizing the contemporary splintered world that we cannot fully grasp. “For me it's difficult to get the total picture so I focus on something, looking only at the details. For example, I might look at stones or grass and fantasize about what's under them or near them. The small things consume me more than the factual world which is nonetheless present in the details.”

Watching Windows isn't a large exhibition but it is a refreshing one. Vermeersch presents you with the inner beauty of a world that is often hidden below the surface, just behind the bigger concept.

This concept is also cleverly incorporated in the stunning location that offers you a panoramic view of the city on the outside and an exploration of the essence of our universe and of Vermeersch's art on the inside. 

➟ www.concertgebouw.be

design, like it’s made of wrinkled silver foil that has been smoothed out. The vase could be a sacred object for an offering, or an urn.

In short, to me it’s of an almost spiritual beauty,” she confesses.

The Design Museum is showing Suzuki’s winning vase and the other silver objects in a rather austere and traditional way, to make sure they get all the attention. After all, this museum has a long love story with silver, so whoever drops by for the Schoonhoven exhibition should also visit the permanent collection.

Discover old masterpieces by architect Henry van de Velde, contemporary design from Belgian designer-of-the-year Nedda El-Asmar (from cutlery to a silver condom holder), and key works like the Fruit Dish of Ettore Sottsass. Because although we may no longer dream about the traditional 30-piece silver service like our grandparents did, silver design remains very attractive. 

➟ http://design.museum.gent.be



Arts

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y



august 5, 2009

What remains in Flanders Fields Camiel Van Breedam takes loss as an impetus for creation

“This is a kind of reaction against the people who destroy everything, who throw away everything,” Van Breedam said at Ieper’s In Flanders Fields Museum, where he is the 2009 artist-inresidence.

Like all artists-in-residence at the museum, a position that is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Van Breedam was asked to create a work connected with war for a small gallery under the bell tower and within the permanent WWI exhibition.

For his new creation, entitled J’ai rendez-vous avec vous (7x7), Van Breedam brings together several threads. He made a first version of this work, which has as its core seven wooden panels, in 1988 for a childhood friend who died aged 49 (hence the 7x7 in the title). Using that as a basis, Van Breedam decided to rework it into something new, removing the ornaments associated with his home region and being inspired by the Westhoek area, where at least half a million people lost their lives at war. The artist has got to know this region and its history over the last few decades, largely thanks to two close friends who have since died; it was with them in mind that he worked on his new creation.

“Camiel Van Breedam expresses the loss of hundreds of thousands of human lives in the Westhoek during the First World War through the loss of just a few loved ones,” the museum’s information panel states.

The work is linked to war and loss of life and yet has a vitality to it. The seven panels resemble oversized gravestones, but they are made out of different woods, which generate a warmth that is accentuated by their smooth edges and spherical ornamentation. The earthy brown colours and the choice of natural materials make the work seem very much alive.

The idea behind the museum commissioning artworks is to provide an opportunity to reflect on war and peace. “They prompt the visitor to reach for an understanding that goes beyond simply absorbing historical material,” according to Piet Chielens, coordinator at the In Flanders Fields Museum.

“It’s not a happy subject but it’s done with such beauty and such power that in the end you go away from it feeling rejuvenated. It inspires you,” Chielens said.

Freedom first To mark the 10th anniversary of the museum having an artist-in-residence, Van Breedam was also asked to do a retrospective, on display on the ground floor. This exhibition comprises 76 of the artist’s works against war and violence – which together with the new piece upstairs brings the total to 77, that magic number again.

Much of Van Breedam’s work reacts against the power wielded by, for example, authorities, religious leaders and politicians, and recurrent themes are those of loss and the deprivation of freedom, often represented by using bars, walls and other barriers. Van Breedam, dressed in his trademark red, says he hadn’t realised before starting on the retrospective project just how many of his works had been against war and violence.

One particularly powerful work in the retrospective is The Wounded Knee Council, made in 1973 as a response to the Wounded Knee Uprising of Native Americans, who took up arms against the US government in protest against their living conditions. The work, which contrasts with the rest of the exhibition by its sheer size, makes for uncomfortable viewing. Life-size figures made of frayed hessian sacking, with missing limbs and heads bowed, sit in two rows facing each other.

© K.Blomme/IFFM

For Van Breedam, now 73, such objects are a source of inspiration to create something new; they act both as a reminder of what has been lost and as an opportunity to give them a new value. His artistic results vary from collages and boxes, to sculptures and installations; some are amusing, some uncomfortable, all reflective.

ered with leaves, among which gas masks are scattered. “The leaves were really the last thing,” Van Breedam says. He remembers wondering what on earth he was going to use to complete the work, to have “the same character, the same feeling” and then one day he was at home raking the leaves in his garden and suddenly thought: “That’s it!”

Camiel Van Breedam, In Flanders Fields Museum’s 2009 artist-in-residence

“The figures attending this gathering are beaten and wounded, robbed of all their illusions,” Etienne Wils writes in a book accompanying the exhibition. “They are defeated, not only because their fight against imperialism has found them unable to contend against their enemies’ weapons but also because their self-image has shattered.”

“Art is something to make people’s imagination work. That’s my idea,” Van Breedam said. It is important for him that his work provokes a response. He doesn’t seek a specific reaction, acknowledging that “you cannot ask that everyone likes what you make”, but he does want people to think and imagine.

The figures also acted as an inspiration for the In Flanders Fields Museum in 1998. “I was looking for a universal persona rather than a mannequin with a uniform” to represent the universal soldier in the museum,” Chielens explained. As a result, the soldier models in the main part of the war museum are made from the same hessian sacking.

The floor of the space, which is about 7m by 7m (seven is a figure that recurs in his work), is cov-

The fact that Van Breedam agreed to do a retrospective certainly doesn’t mean that he has

© K.Blomme/IFFM

C

amiel Van Breedam has always been fascinated by discarded objects. As a child he would root around in the workshop of his father, who was a plumber, finding pieces of zinc, wires or tubing. Growing up in the village of Boom, south of Antwerp, he saw the demolition of the region’s shipyards, brickworks and glass factories, his “former playground” as he puts it. Later in life he would forage through the flea markets of Brussels in search of interesting finds.

Anna Jenkinson

J’ai rendez-vous avec vous (7x7), a reflection on war and peace

stopped creating. His workshop at home, which is “more than full” with objects and finds from over the years, is a constant inspiration, he says.

He describes how he can rummage around his workplace and then stumble upon something he hasn’t seen in a while and be inspired by it.

When he’s creating, he’s happy, when he’s not,

he’s difficult to be with. Making art is essential for him. As he put is, “It’s a way of life, it’s a necessity.”

Van Breedam’s work is on display at the In Flanders Fields Museum until 4 October. ➟ www.inflandersfields.be





Active

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y



august 5, 2009

Easy like Sunday morning While Sunday has been designated a rest day across Flanders, one square is bustling with activity

Courtney Davis

O

nce a week, from eight in the morning until the late afternoon, the Kouter in Ghent is overflowing with flower and plant vendors. While most flower markets in Belgium are a combination of food and flowers or plants and clothing, Ghent’s market focuses simply on all things green and growing. This flower market is the only one of its kind in all of Flanders and this exclusivity is for good reason: only the best are sold here.

The flowers at this particular market mostly come from Flanders with a number of imports from Holland.

However, this isn’t bargain-hunting time. Coming to this flower market means seeking out the finest horticulturalists in Belgium. Ann VerbruggeJanssen of Lochristi says, “Only the best flower sellers survive in this market. If your products aren’t good or aren’t the best, you won’t be back.

There are too many excellent vendors for mediocrity to thrive.”

They are the only vendor who works every weekend, all weekend long.

While most flower sellers arrive and depart on Sunday, Ann and Guy set

© Julie van Schooten

She should know, coming from Lochristi, a small East Flanders town nicknamed the bloemengemeente (flower community), as the town earns most of its income from azaleas and begonias. A third-generation flower seller, Ann inherited her parents’ flower farm and runs the company with her partner Guy. The pair is quite well known, not just for having one of the largest spots staked out with two large tractor-trailers full of plants, but also for their obvious dedication. up shop on Friday and stay until Sunday, selling flowers the entire weekend. “Most vendors only come on Sunday but we don’t have children

Oysters and wine

W

hile visiting the flower market, it’s impossible to miss the classy corner with its small blue stand surrounded by high white tables where people gather every Sunday, casually quaffing champagne and, on a good day, enjoying the summer sunshine.

What better way to finish off a stroll through the flower market than with oysters from France, shrimp from Belgium and wine from Germany – this elegant reprieve is so very European.

Don’t be intimidated by the sound of all this luxury. The Blauwe Kiosk, an oyster and aperitif bar run by the same owners of the well known lobster restaurant Le Grand Bleu, is surprisingly affordable and accessible. Just walk up to the window and order a few drinks and plate of nibbles, be it salmon toasts or a dozen raw oysters.

A glass of white wine is €1.50 and a bottle of sweet Rheinischer Landwein is €10.

If you make a habit of having a drink on a Sunday afternoon at the flower market, expect to see some familiar faces, as this is a tradition shared by many Ghent locals. Rudy, 53, and Denis, 52, have been coming every few weeks for about ten years. “Even in the winter?” I ask. They laugh and nod, “Then we simply dress warmer.”

10

so we’re happy to work all weekend long. There were others before, but we persevered and now it’s only us.

We’re also here for the entire month of December selling our Christmas trees. We don’t mind. It’s what we are known for.” In other months, Ann and Guy specialise more in azaleas and orchids.

She explains how each vendor has a specialty and together, each seller in the market brings a different aspect to create a well-rounded flower market. It seems that in addition to each vendor being well respected by their peers, they all know their place, literally. The layout of the market is not haphazard but carefully planned.

Ann describes the layout of the market as being as well balanced as the products that are being sold there.

The main section of the square has vendors selling indoor and outdoor plants and flowers, creating a central lane that has the feel of a nature park.

Here you can buy a range of plants from raspberry bushes and flower

bulbs to small succulents, cacti and perfectly braided ficus trees.

Skirting the outer rim of the square are vendors selling simple cut flowers such as sunflowers, tulips and roses as well as gorgeous ready-made bouquets. This distinction between house and garden plants and florists appeals greatly to Ann and Guy Verbrugge-Janssen of Lochristi. “The separation of the two is really necessary,” she says. “It makes us both look better as it is visually cleaner, less cluttered. There is no competition between my potted orchids and their cut bouquets. Plus, it’s easier for the customers browsing to find exactly what they’re looking for.”

Many people travel from all over Flanders to wander the small market. The appeal isn’t simply the beautiful arrangements or exotic flowers but the entire atmosphere. In fact, Ann notes that she knows many people who come every single week, not necessarily to purchase anything, but simply

to soak up the atmosphere.

Sundays on the Kouter are by no means limited to those with a green thumb. From atop the kiosk in the centre of the square, various local brass bands perform free concerts.

On one end of the square is a coffee stand selling espresso drinks and pastries, while on the other a tiny wine bar. Strolling along, admiring the flowers and listening to music, it is hard not to feel relaxed.  Date and Hours: Sundays, year round, 8.00 to about 14.00 Concerts: May to September, 11.00 to 12.30 Getting there: Take tram 1 from Gent Sint-Pieters Station directly to the Kouter. There is parking underneath the square as well.

➟ www.visitgent.be



Living

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y



august 5, 2009

Dealing in cheese In this ongoing series on specialty food sellers, Flanders Today introduces you to the professions of cheesemonger, fishmonger, butcher and baker to determine what they do and why, and to help you learn how to discover the best cheese, the freshest fish, the most natural meat and the most amazing bread. First off, a little specialty cheese shop in Oudenaarde.

C D them to sample the various types of cheese, the products practically sold themselves.”

And the variety of cheese is staggering. Luc likes to have no less than 180 varieties of cheese in the shop at one time. In the holiday season, this reaches up to 250 types. With no cheese cave, this is quite a turnover. He has over 500 customers a week coming to his shop from all over the region.

On average, customers come once a month and 80% are regular.

But every day he has new people coming to his shop to discover truly quality cheese.

It makes sense that people keep coming back to a specialty shop.

When you compare Callebaut cheese with supermarket cheese, the difference is clear: “My cheese is good,” he deadpans. Eventually he breaks into a laugh and then adds, “No really, I don’t just sell cheese; I sell information and knowledge. I like every single cheese in here, so I know it’s good.

I can tell you a story about each and every one, from its producer to how I discovered it. And, I encourage you to sample until you find a cheese you really enjoy.”

Callebaut has even been selected the best cheesemonger in all of Belgium at the prestigious Caseus Awards competition in France.

But what qualifies for an excellent cheesemonger? Well, for starters, he must slice the cheese into five

avis

parcels of 250 grams… without weighing it. He must provide the discerning judges with an enlightening course on cheese tasting.

And furthermore, he must be able to identify six different types of cheese at a blind tasting.

After winning this honorary title, the number of people coming to the shop certainly increased. The first few years were difficult but over time, his business slowly gained momentum. He does no advertising or marketing. All of his success is based upon word of mouth and occasional press from the award he won last year.

This man knows his cheese. In fact, he loves his cheese. When I asked what his favourite was, he hesitated for a long time, unable to imagine making such a difficult choice. Finally, he just began listing off all of his favourites, per country.

Choosing a preferred Belgian cheese proved fairly easy for Callebaut: the famed Grevenbroecker, also known as Achelse Blauwe, or Achel Blue. It’s an award-winning blue cheese unique to one producer gaining fame across the world. As a sliver melted in my mouth, with a smooth, creamy texture and distinctive but not overpowering flavor, I could understand why.

Luc also commissioned a local cheese maker to produce two cheeses for him. Both are cow’s

© Julie van Schooten

“I found that whenever I travelled to other countries, or even other towns in Belgium, I was always drawn to the cheese shops. I had to go in and find out what was different and unique – to look, to buy, to taste. I realized that I have always had a big love of cheese.”

This passion turned into a calling ten years ago when he decided to sell his bistro and open cheese shop Callebaut Kaasmeester in Nederstraat, Oudenaarde. Initially, he sold what most other cheese sellers offer – the basic cheeses, which he describes as poor quality and mass-produced.

It wasn’t until he met some fellow colleagues and went to a Slow Food convention in Italy that he discovered the beauty of raw milk cheese and sampled artisan cheeses from small producers. “It was there that I lost my heart,” Callebaut admits. “I knew I had to have those cheeses in my shop.”

Three weeks later, he cleared out his entire inventory and started from scratch with all new products. “At first the customers objected because it was all so unfamiliar but after convincing

ourtney

For Luc Callebaut, selling cheese is both a passion and a calling

milk cheeses. One, the Adriaen Brouwer (named after the beer from local Oudenaarde brewery Roman) is a cheese made by adding the brown beer to the curds. The other, Sloeberken (also named after a Roman Brewery beer), has the cheese rind washed in the light blonde brew. Both cheeses were pleasantly mild, similar to Gouda, but also delicious with distinguishing flavours between them.

Callebaut’s enthusiasm is palpable.

Every question I ask is returned with a greater enthusiasm for his profession. When I ask what he

thinks of cheesmongering, he is off, “This is as good as it gets.

I don’t ever want to change my life. There is variety, change. I go to Paris every two weeks to select cheese, and I travel to Italy, the UK and Spain to meet producers. I get to talk to talented cheese makers in their own backyards. I am thrilled to be where I am.”

By the time I left his shop, I was ready to become a cheesemonger myself. But in the meantime, I’ll just be content with a hunk of the gorgeous Grevenbroecker. 

➟ www.kaasmeester-callebaut.be

Cheese 101 C

© Julie van Schooten

L

uc Callebaut was not born into the cheese industry. He does not come from a family of cheese producers or have experience working on a dairy farm. In fact, he became a cheesemonger almost by accident.

ATEGORIES: Cheese can be made from goat, sheep or, most commonly, cow’s milk.

In addition to the type of milk used, there are additional categories that give a cheese its distinct character: fresh cheese, blue cheese, washed rind cheese, white rind cheese and hard pressed cheese.

AMOUNT: For a meal, about 200-250 grams per person. Of this, you can split up the order into smaller amounts. For example, 50 grams of sheep’s cheese, half a round of goat cheese, 100 grams of blue cheese, etc.

STORAGE: Luc was quite adamant: “Don’t buy cheese to save it. Buy cheese to eat it. The sooner you can eat the cheese, the better it tastes.” However, keep it in the paper the shop gives you, place it in the fridge (preferably at the bottom of the vegetable crisper) or even better, a cellar or garage where the temperature is an even 10-13 degrees Celsius.

COST: Prices range from €18.50 on up until, well, the sky’s the limit. Luc mentions a €43 a kilo Testun Al Barolo that is a once-in-a-lifetime cheese that is worth the money. Don’t forget though – you are buying in grams. The Grevenbroecker is about €34 a kilo, no more than your average Rochefort cheeses.

PAIRING: Surprisingly, Luc advises against having a red wine with your cheese. Instead, if you are having a glass of wine, perhaps save the cheese for another time. If you are enjoying very nice cheese, however, then a soft, unassuming white wine will do. Not only do the flavours of white wine more readily complement cheese, but there is far less competition going on between overly bold flavours.

PARTY IDEA: If you were to have a dinner party, consider a cheese tasting menu, where you offer a nice variety of cheeses. Served on a platter with some fresh bread, fruit and nuts, this tasting menu means no cooking, no messy kitchen and a more interactive evening as everyone has fun discovering new cheeses.

MORE CHEESE SHOPS: There are a handful of cheesemongers in Flanders that offer high-quality cheeses. Luc suggests Peter Verbruggen of ‘t Kaasplankske, Onze Lieve Vrouwstraat, Beringen, Harry Schockaert, Ijzerenleen, Mechelen and Dirk Martens, Turnhoutsebaan, Schilde.

11

A warm welcome to Belgium!

We hope your days here are happy ones.

At KBC we’ll be glad to settle you in by providing you a full bank and insurance service.

Anne Marie Azijn and Leo Verhoeven, KBC Expat Advisers expats@kbc.be • +32 (0)2 429 18 57

www.kbc.be/expats

Ad.Expats380X255.indd 1

putting people first

24-10-2007 11:14:27



Agenda

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y



august 5, 2009

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW! Brussels Café Central Borgval 14; 02.513.73.08, www.umbrelladelika.com AUG 8 21.00 Egon Fisk (Live) + Reftsideligth (DJ) Fuse Blaesstraat 208; 02.511.97.89, www.fuse.be AUG 8 23.00 Resident night: Deg and Pierre

Deurne Openluchttheater Rivierenhof Turnhoutsebaan 232; 070.222.192, www.openluchttheater.be Concerts at 20.30: AUG 6 Clouseau Tour AUG 9 Mira + Stef Bos

Brussels

© Belga

Archiduc Dansaertstraat 6; 02.512.06.52, www.archiduc.net AUG 10 23.00 Wonderland

Pukkelpop If you're one of those people who ponders for hours about what to order in a restaurant, or if you have already missed the beginning of a film due to your indecisiveness, you should probably stay away from Pukkelpop, Hasselt’s renowned music festival. You'd be lost before even the first guitar riff, since Pukkelpop has eight (!) stages with an average of ten bands performing a day. And the festival, 20-22 August, lasts three days which means a few hundreds bands and countless possible combinations.

However, if you know what you want, or don't mind going with the flow, and you're a fan of alternative music in the broadest sense of the word, then Pukkelpop will be the high point of your musical year.

The different stages each have a different identity: the Dance Hall and the Boiler Room favour electronic music, the former with live acts and the latter with deejay sets. The Shelter is a gathering place for fans of punk and hardcore, whereas you'll have to look for the Club for the more intimate concerts, and the Château for experimental bands. And it goes without saying that the biggest names will be seen on the Main Stage.

That is, of course, unless a band has something special in mind, like dEUS this year. The Antwerp fivesome plays its only two Belgian concerts of 2009 at Pukkelpop and has specifically asked to be programmed on the Marquee stage, the single most important stage of the festival. But so far it's

Café Bonnefooi Steenstraat 8, www.bonnefooi.be Concerts at 22.00: AUG 5 Tributo à os maestro da Bossanova AUG 12 Giovanni Di Domenico en duo The Music Village Steenstraat 50; 02.513.13.45, www.themusicvillage.com AUG 8 21.00 Michel Mainil Quartet

Klinkers, Bruges ➟ www.klinkers-brugge.be Lokerse Feesten, Lokeren ➟ www.lokersefeesten.be Strandfuif, Glabbeek ➟ www.strandfuif.be Dranouter Folk ➟ www.folkdranouter.be

6 November, 20.00 Ancienne Belgique, Brussels Wilco, the American alternative rock outfit, is back touring stages and is bringing its best album to date along for the ride. Wilco was born in 1994 out of the remnants of country group Uncle Tupelo.

Frontman Jeff Tweedy led Wilco to the release of A.M. (1995) and since then it’s been smooth sailing for the now six band members.

The group’s originally pure country sound has evolved to reflect a diverse range of influences, from country to soul, folk, pop, rock and jazz. Given their talent for smoothly combining so many different music genres, Wilco’s success is not hard to understand. Easily one of the best bands in the United States at the moment, Wilco recently underlined this popularity with the release of its seventh album, simply entitled Wilco. To see Wilco live is an intense musical experience, full of highs and lows, but also just a lot of allaround funky jams to make your body move and shake!

➟ www.proximusgoformusic.be

Ghent Christophe Verbiest

top secret what Tom Barman and his cohorts have in store. Maybe the fact that dEUS, later this year, celebrates the fifteenth anniversary of its debut Worst Case Scenario has something to do with all the fuss.

Besides dEUS, the biggest names for the 2009 edition include Arctic Monkeys, Kraftwerk and the reunited Faith No More. Lesser known but equally alluring acts include Beirut (melancholic pop with a Balkan flavour), the king of sadcore Bill Callahan, the even sadder Bon Iver, the subtle and multi-layered Andrew Bird and the Belgian noise duo Madensuyu.

Club Reserva Jan Breydelstraat 32; 0498.54.11.17, www.hotclubdegand.be Concerts at 21.00: AUG 5 Bart Maris & Stijn Bettens AUG 6 Deneckere – Marquez AUG 7 Jumion et les Uklos AUG 8 Jokke Schreurs AUG 9 Eaudevie AUG 10 Vindaloo 5 AUG 11 Little Kim & The Alley Apple 3 AUG 12 Trio Deja Nero AUG 13 Emre ‘El Turco’ Trio

Deurne Openluchttheater Rivierenhof Turnhoutsebaan 232; 070.222.192, www.openluchttheater.be Concerts at 20.30: AUG 7 Cumbia Ya! AUG 12 Omara Portuondo

➟ www.pukkelpop.be Brussels

More FESTIVALS this week

Wilco

St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral Sinter-Goedeleplein; 070.22.21.07, www.ticketnet.be AUG 11 20.00 Xavier Deprez, organ: Van Den Kerckhoven, Sweelinck, Bach

Antwerp Cathedral of Our Lady Handschoenmarkt; 03.213.99.51, www.dekathedraal.be Until NOV 15 Reunion: From Quinten Metsys to Peter Paul Rubens, masterpieces from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts return to the cathedral Diamond Museum Koningin Astridplein 13-23; 03.202.48.90, www.diamantmuseum.be Until AUG 31 HRD AWARDS 2009 A Fairy Tale: diamond jewellery design competition Fotomuseum Waalse Kaai 47; 03.242.93.00, www.fotomuseum.be Until SEP 13 Fotografie in België tijdens het Interbellum (Photography in Belgium Between the Wars) Until SEP 13 Theatres of the Real, contemporary British photography Until SEP 13 Geert van Kesteren: Baghdad Calling + Why Mister, Why?,

13

Agenda



photos from the Iraq war Until SEP 13 Nick Hannes: Red Journey, photographs from Russia Until SEP 13 De film van mijn leven (The Film of My Life), prize-winners of the Canvas photography contest, plus photographs by Flemish photographer Lieve Blancquaert Mekanik comic book store Sint-Jacobsmarkt 73; 0495.48.74.50, www.art-trek.be Until SEP 12 Art Trek 6: Exhibition of work by 14 young graphic and illustrative artists from around the world

Cultuurcentrum Casino Zeedijk 150; 050.43.20.43, http:// cultuur.blankenberge.be/ Until OCT 4 Masereel en de zee (Masereel and the Sea), retrospective on the 120th birthday of the Blankenberge-born Franz Masereel, with drawings, wood cuts, paintings and ceramics

Bruges Arentshuis Dijver 16; 050.44.87.11, www.brugge.be Until SEP 27 The Museum of Museums 2009, intervention by contemporary artist Johan van Geluwe CC Brugge Sint-Jakobsstraat 20-26; 050.44.30.40, www.ccbrugge.be/Nomad Until SEP 1 NOMAD - 40 jaar Roland Patteeuw: Curator Patteeuw shows works by some 25 artists including paintings and drawings by Roger

DON’T MISS

Albert Baronian, Profession: Gallery Owner, works by contemporary artists

Zomer van Sint-Pieter

Elsene Museum Jean Van Volsemstraat 71; 02.515.64.21 Until SEP 13 Fading, works by 40 contemporary Belgian artists

Leuven’s twin festival to the Brussels Midi-Minimes offers four lunchtime concerts a week, at 12.15 in one of three venues. Highlights include the Talweg Trio with Shostakovich (6 August), Alfama Quartet with Schumann (7 August).

In Brussels, meanwhile, soprano Marianna Flores presents songs by Henry Purcell, together with the Clematis ensemble. Miniemenkerk 11 August, also at 12.15. ➟ www.zomer-van-sint-pieter.be ➟ www.midis-minimes.be

Belgian Comic Strip Centre 20 Rue des Sables (02.219.19.80), www.comicscenter.net Until SEP 27 Arithmetics of Troy, comic strips by Christophe Arleston (part of Brussels BD Comic Strip festival)

Modemuseum (MoMu) Nationalestraat 28; 03.470.27.70, www.momu.be Until AUG 16 Paper Fashion, garments made of paper and related materials concentrating on the 1960s

Blankenberge

Raveel, Dan Van Severen and Raoul De Keyser alongside creations by Jef Geys, Denisa Lehoçkà and Boris Ondreiçka, among others. Exhibition locations include Jan Garemijnzaal (Belfort, Markt), De Bond, Bogardenkapel, Boekhandel Raaklijn, Howest - Campus Lerarenopleiding, Smedenpoort. Guided tours available for groups

august 5, 2009

Brussels

Middelheim Museum Middelheimlaan 6; 03.827.15.34, www.middelheimmuseum.be Until SEP 27 Chris Burden, videos, sculpture and installations by the contemporary American artist

Rockox House Keizerstraat 12; 03.201.92.50, www.rockoxhuis.be Until NOV 15 A Gift to God, private patronage of religious art during Antwerp’s Golden Age

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y



Belvue Museum Paleizenplein 7; 02.511.44.25, www.belvue.be Until SEPT 20 Be-Arts, works by Félicien Rops, Hugo Claus, Henri Blès and Rik Wouters Bozar (Paleis Voor Schone Kunsten) Ravensteinstraat 23; 02.507.82.00, www.bozar.be Until SEP 13 Sophie Calle, photographs, audio and video works by the contemporary French artist Until SEP 13 Disorder, sculptures and paintings by conceptual artist Bernar Venet and comic strips about the art world by Jacques Charlier Until SEP 13 Portraits of Artists: 80 Years of the Centre for Fine Arts in Pictures Until SEP 13 Young Belgian Painters Award 2009, works by the finalists Until SEP 13 Repromotion, installation of sculptures and photographs by Belgian contemporary artist Jan De Cock City Hall Grote Markt; 02.279.64.35, www.brussel.be/artdet.cfm/4440 Until SEP 27 The Brussels Epic of Willy Vandersteen, works by the Flemish comic-strip artist (part of Brussels BD Comic Strip festival) Costume and Lace Museum Violettestraat 12; 02.213.44.50, www.brucity.be Until SEP 29 stoffen & +, textile works

by Marie Beguin, Kathrin Laurent and Charlotte Walry Czech Centre Troonstraat 60; 02.213.94.30

European Economic and Social Committee Belliardstraat 99 - 6th floor; 02.546.86.78 Until AUG 31 My Europe, art and design by 40 contemporary Czech artists

De Elektriciteitscentrale European Centre for Contemporary Art Sint Katelijneplein 44; 02.279.64.35 Until SEP 27 Nothing is Permanent.

Fondation pour l’Architecture Kluisstraat 55; 02.642.24.80, www.fondationpourlarchitecture.be Until OCT 18 De tijd van de boetiek, 200 years of shop windows and interiors Hallepoort Zuidlaan; 02.534.15.18 Until OCT 25 Archeologie om de hoek (Archaeology around the corner), archaelogical finds in Brussels over the past 20 years

World Bank Brussels Marnixlaan 17; 02.552.00.32 Until OCT 31 In the Eyes of a Woman: Roma Portraits, the lives of various Roma communities as seen through the eyes of female photographers.

Jewish Museum of Belgium Minimenstraat 21; 02.512.19.63, www.new.mjb-jmb.org Until OCT 15 Een geheugen op papier (A memory on paper), Jewish life in Belgium recorded in historic postcards

Deurle

MIVB Headquarters Koloniënstraat 62; 02.515.20.52 Until SEP 26 Metro Art Memory, retrospective and genesis of 80 works in the Brussels’ metro, with models, drawings and sketches by Pierre Alechinsky, Paul Delvaux and Hergé, among others Royal Museum of Art and History Jubelpark 10; 02.741.72.11, www.kmkg-mrah.be Until AUG 30 Vegetal City, how to reconcile city and nature, the vision for a sustainable future by Belgian

Get Flanders today in your letterbox each week Flanders today

# 91

august 5 2009 Erkenningsnummer P708816

Free y! weekl

I N D E P E N D E N t N E W s W E E k ly news



business



arts





active



living



Dutch back out. ................. 7

Simply silver......................... 8

Blooming lovely...................... 10

A Dutch court ruling on deepening the Scheldt has left the port of Antwerp high and dry, and infuriated the Flemish government. Relations run the risk of freezing up

Designers from 11 countries exhibit their “exquisite” new creations in silver at the Design Museum in Ghent. Veerle Devos found the entries exceeded expectations

Sunday is no day of rest for the flower sellers on the Kouter in Ghent, where Courtney Davis found everything from an azalea to a zinnea, with oysters and wine to follow

© shutterstock

Want to keep in touch with Flanders?

w w w. f l a n d e r s t o d ay. e U agenda



interview

Simply fill in the subscription form below and send it to: Flanders Today Subscription Department Gossetlaan 30 _ 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden _ Belgium

Coasting along Far from resting on its reputation as a paradise for DAve Meyer cyclists, Flanders just keeps getting better programmes: With Trap & Tram, during the month of August you can rent a bike and buy a tram ticket for just €16. Simply pick up the bike in any one of the participating dealers along the seaside, bike until you’ve had your fill, then return the bike at another participating seaside dealership before taking the tram back to where you started. The programme is in its first trial phase this summer, but it has been years in the making. Even with the development of the Flemish Coast Route, and the Kusttram, the De Lijn tram which runs along the coast, it has been clear for some time that in sight of cycling’s ever increasing popularity, the infrastructure hasn’t always been up to snuff.

© Westtoer

I

f you’ve ever walked through a Flemish town on a sunny weekend morning, you have seen the crowds of cyclists out on their weekly ritual – all ages, all levels of fitness, all wearing colourful Lycra uniforms, the hum of Dutch conversation set to the melody of gliding packs of racing bikes. It can be like waking up along the route of the Tour de France. And then of course there are the bike parking lots at the train stations; the bike shops in every town; the bike paths linking villages; and the huts for long-distance cyclists... Add to this two new initiatives, the Trap & Tram (Pedal & Tram) programme along the coast and the Villo! programme in Brussels, and the question that always comes to mind is: What is it with Flanders and cycling?

First, a closer look at the two

Continued on page 5

Chopper jailbreak gangster picked up ����������� A One of the gangsters who escaped from Bruges prison in a daring helicopter jailbreak two weeks ago was arrested on Monday in Molenbeek in Brussels. Abdelhaq Melloul Khayari, aged 41, was in possession of a substantial sum of cash, police said.

Both Khayari and his fellow escapee, Ashraf Sekkaki, were identified as members of a gang responsible

Khayari’s photo was circulated

by Interpol

for carrying out four armed robberies since the escape in Antwerp province. In one of the robberies, in Oud-Turnhout, the robbers are thought to have got away with more than €50,000. As Flanders Today went to press, it was reported that Khayari’s brother and another man had also been arrested. Khayari was immediately transported back to Bruges prison, where he was due to be interviewed by an investigating magistrate later in the day.

Khayari is known as the chief henchman of Hassan Maâche, a notorious gangster. Khayari has escaped from jail before, in Verviers, when he swapped identities with his

lAn

Hope

brother, who had come to visit. He was last arrested in 2008 following a car-chase on the Brussels Ring when he opened fire on a police helicopter. He was sentenced to eight years by a court in Oudenaarde for a series of four armed robberies.

Meanwhile the other escapees, Sekkaki and Mohamed Johri, remain at large, as does the girlfriend of Johri who helped organise the escape (see p. 16). A friend of Sekkaki’s, Lahoucine El Haddouchi, also took part in the hijacking of the helicopter, but was left behind on the prison yard when the helicopter was too heavy to take off again.

Fax: 00.32.2.375.98.22 Email: subscriptions@flanderstoday.eu

Free tion! ip r c s b su

Government to blame for Antwerp justice palace fiasco Costs can no longer be claimed back, auditors say

AlAn Hope

The federal government’s buildings agency and the justice ministry were last week both slated by the Court of Auditors for their responsibility for the severe cost over-runs in the construction of the new Antwerp Courts of Justice (pictured, page 3). The building, a striking addition to the city skyline designed by the celebrated architect Richard Rogers, was started in 2006 (two years later than originally planned) with a budget of €75 million. By the time it was completed and opened last year the price had shot up to €250 million.

government of Yves Leterme to commission the audit. According to reports at the time, the government was hopeful of being able to reclaim some of what appeared to be inflated costs from the contractors and sub-contractors who had taken part in the project. To give one example: the doors at the rear of the building which are intended to be used by prison transports to bring prisoners to court were found to be too low for the standard size of van used by the prison service. They had to be ripped out and rebuilt.

But the court, in a report leaked last

The shock of seeing the bill led the

Continued on page 3

The newspaper version will be mailed to subscribers living in any of the 27 countries of the European Union. Residents of other countries will receive a weekly ezine.

Name: ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Street: ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Postcode: . ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

City: ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Country: .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... e-mail: ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Privacy policy: We fully respect Belgian legislation on the protection of personal information. The data we collect will only be used for distribution of publications and will not be disclosed to any third parties without express consent.

14

Royal Museum of Fine Arts Regentschapsstraat 3; 02.508.32.11, www.fine-arts-museum.be Until AUG 23 Alfred Stevens: retrospective of the Belgian artist (1823-1906) Until SEP 6 Art and Finance in Europe: 16th-Century Masterworks in a new light, works from the museum’s collection WIELS Van Volxemlaan 354; 02.347.30.33, www.wiels.org Until AUG 16 Tina Schulz, Alexander Hempel & Hans-Christian Lotz and Eiko Grimberg Until SEP 13 Ben Cain: The Making of the Means, large-scale installation by the former artist in residency

Le Botanique Koningsstraat 236; 02.226.12.57, www.botanique.be Until AUG 9 Stephan Vanfleteren: Belgicum, black-and-white photographs by the contemporary Flemish artist Until AUG 9 From Belgium, 25 Belgian photographers illustrate “their” Belgium in celebration of Botanique’s 25th anniversary. Free outdoor exhibition

Until SEP 10 Jiru: Two generations of photographers, prints by Czech Vaclav Jiru and his nephew Jiri Jiru, who, upon his return to the Czech Republic after living in Brussels for 20 years, became President Vaclav Havel’s official photographer

architect Luc Schuiten

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens Museumlaan 14; 09.282.51.23, www.museumdd.be Until SEP 13 When the mood strikes...

Wilfried & Yannicke Cooreman’s collection of contemporary art, with works by Franz West, Thomas Schütte, Jean-Marc Bustamente and Jan Vercruysse among others Until SEP 13 Robert Devriendt, paintings

Gaasbeek Gaasbeek Castle Kasteelstraat 40; 02.531.01.30, www.kasteelvangaasbeek.be Until AUG 16 Paul & Cie, a look at Paul Arconati Visconti (1754-1821), eccentric resident of Gaasbeek Castle and fervent admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte

Ghent

Caermersklooster Vrouwebroersstraat 6; 09.269.29.10, www.caermersklooster.be Until SEP 13 Deftig vermaak, ijdel vertier (Distinguished leisure, vain diversion), paintings and photographs of Ghent’s bourgeoisie from the mid19th century to the Belle Epoque Design Museum Jan Breydelstraat 5; 09.267.99.99, http://design.museum.gent.be/ Until OCT 11 Yrjö Kukkapuro, retrospective of the Finnish designer, from the late 1950s until the present day Until OCT 11 Ceramics by Raoul Dufy, 1877-1904, works by the French artist Until OCT 11 Schoonhoven Silver Award: Poetry in Silver, silverware competition with 55 international artists Dr Guislain Museum Jozef Guislainstraat 43; 09.216.35.95, www.museumdrguislain.be Until SEP 13 Burland Toyland, works made from recycled materials by Swiss outsider artist François Burland Until SEP 13 Unknown Secrets, paintings by Serbian artist Goran Djurović Until SEP 13 De Tentoongestelde Mens: Andere culturen als amusement (Exhibited People: Other Cultures as Entertainment), posters and photographs from carnival shows and asylums that put the physically or mentally handicapped on display MIAT Minnemeers 9; 09.269.42.00, www.miat.gent.be Until AUG 23 Felt: From Tradition to Modern Art, work by István Vidák Until OCT 18 Ghent on porcelain cards from 1840-1865



Agenda

Museum of Fine Arts Fernand Scribedreef 1 – Citadelpark; 09.240.07.00, www.mskgent.be Until SEP 20 Raoul de Keyser, Artist in residence, works on paper (1964-1979) by the contemporary Belgian artist Sint-Pietersabdij Sint-Pietersplein 9; 09.243.97.30, www.gent.be/spa Until SEPT 6 Walder De Mulder, photos of conductors, photographers and other artists from the 1960s to the 1990s by the Ghent-based photojournalist Until SEPT 6 Walter De Buck Verbeeldt (Represents), sculpture and drawings by the Ghent artist, singer and founder of the legendary Gentse Feesten Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (SMAK) Citadelpark; 09.221.17.03, www.smak.be Until AUG 23 Beyond The Picturesque: Interpretations of Landscape in Contemporary Art Until AUG 23 Meteoriti, sculptures by Bizhan Bassiri Until AUG 30 Carl De Keyzer: Trinity, photographs on power and violence by the Flemish Magnum agency photographer

Hasselt Modemuseum Gasthuisstraat 11; 011.23.96.21, www.modemuseumhasselt.be Until OCT 31 In Her Shoes, trends and evolution of women’s shoe design, from 1900 to contemporary designers AUG 8-31 Ti + Hann, temporary shop II, installation/pop-up store HASSELT Z33 33 Zuivelmarkt (Béguinage) 011.29.59.60, wwwz33.be Until SEP 27 Werk Nu, group show on the world of work by 20 international contemporary artists

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y



Leuvensesteenweg 13; 02.769.52.11, www.africamuseum.be Until AUG 31 Omo: People & Design, functional objects made and used by the Omo people of southwestern Ethiopia Until JAN 3 Persona: Ritual Masks and Contemporary Art, masks from the museum’s collection and other European museums and private collections, shown alongside works by contemporary African artists

Ypres CC Ieper – Lakenhallen Grote Markt 34; 057.23.94.80, www.acci.be Until OCT 4 Wat overblijft (What remains), recycled assemblages by Camiel Van Breedam

Beaufort 03 - Art by the Sea: Third edition of the contemporary art triennial, with works by 29 Belgian and international artists Until OCT 4 at Ostend’s Kunstmuseum aan zee as well as outdoor installations and sculptures in various locations on the Flemish coast 070.22.50.05, www.beaufort03.be Roller Bike Parade: Four months of rollerblading in the streets with technical staff on hand to help with rollerblade and equipment rental and maintenance Until SEP 26 in Brussels (every Friday), Antwerp (every Saturday), Koksijde (every Sunday) and Hasselt (every Monday); all parades confirmed or cancelled by 16.00 www.belgiumrollers.com

august 5, 2009

www.klinkers-brugge.be MAfestival: Entitled Modern Times in Early Music, the Bruges leg of the Festival of Flanders includes music performances and talks Until AUG 9 in several venues in the city 050.33.22.83, www.mafestival.be

Brussels Bruparck: Four themed family weekends, including music and dance activities, acrobatics, pirate shows, comic strips, Knights of the Round Table and more Until AUG 23 at Bruparck, Eeuwfeestlaan 20, Heysel www.bruparck.com Brussels Beach: Urban beach with sand, concerts, beach sports, family entertainment and 50 straw huts selling exotic food and drink Until AUG 23 on the banks of the Akenkaai (Sainctelettesquare) 02.279.50.49, www.brusselbad.be Brussels by Water: Guided boat tours and other activities in the port of Brussels and surrounding rivers and canals Until SEP with departures from Brussels, Vilvoorde and Halle 02.203.64.06 www.brusselsbywater.be Bruxellons 2009: Annual theatre festival featuring popular theatre, music, cabaret and a children’s programme, plus buffet and bar Until SEP 26 at Château du Karreveld, Jean de la Hoeselaan 3 02.724.24.24, www.bruxellons.net

Antwerp

Midi-Minimes Festival: Classical music festival with short, lunchtime concerts grouped according to historical period.

Until AUG 28 12.15 at Miniemenkerk, Miniemenstraat 62, and Royal Conservatory, Regentschapsstraat 30 02.512.30.79, www.midis-minimes.be

Jackyland: Concerts every Thursday by local talent, followed by after-parties Until SEP 10 at Magiq Spiegeltent, Oosterweelsteenweg (Noordkasteel) www.jackyland.be

Mini-Europe by Night: Sound and light show with fireworks Until AUG 15 22.30 at Bruparck, Eeuwfeestlaan 20 www.minieurope.com

Tervuren

Zomer van Antwerpen: Annual summer arts festival featuring concerts, theatre, circus, open-air film, sunset barbecues and a woodland bar; most events free Until AUG 30 across Antwerp 03.224.85.28, www.zva.be

Royal Museum of Fine Arts family events: Art workshops for children (ages six to 13; in Dutch) Until AUG 28 at the Fine Arts Museum, Regentschapstraat 3 02.508.33.33, www.fine-arts-museum.be

Royal Museum for Central Africa

Blankenberge

Kemzeke (Stekene) Verbeke Foundation Westakkers; 03.789.22.07, www.verbekefoundation.com Until NOV 15 Artificial Nature, outdoor sculpture and installations by contemporary Belgian and European artists

Mechelen Speelgoedmuseum (Toy Museum) Nekkerspoelstraat 21; 015.55.70.75, www.speelgoedmuseum.be Until JAN 3 Thirty-five years of Playmobil

clearly

NOT MOVED

by

GOSSELIN

Palm Parkies: Series of concerts in parks across Flanders, including BBQ and drinks Until AUG 26 19.00 across Flanders www.parkies.net

Comedy Summer 2009: Comedy festival featuring stand-up comedians An Nelissen, Wouter Deprez, Raf Coppens, Iwein Segers, Freddy De Vadder, Ygor, Gunter Lamoot and Xander De Rycke Until AUG 14 at Belgium Pier, Zeedijk 261 0900.00.600, www.comedysummer.be Sand Sculpture Festival: Annual sand sculpture festival with pirate-themed show including sound, light and water sculpture and a tribute to the late Michael Jackson Until AUG 31 at Blankenberge www.zandsculptuur.be

Bruges WE KNOW HOW TO MOVE PEOPLE Belcrownlaan 23 | B-2100 Antwerp - Belgium T +32-3-360 55 00 | T +32-2-772 34 87 F +32-3-360 55 79 WWW.GOSSELINGROUP.EU | INFO@GOSSELINGROUP.EU

AdGosMovExpats01DRUK.indd 1

Klinkers: Cultural summer happening featuring free concerts as well as two paying side events, Klinkers Intiem with a focus on tango and flamenco, and Klinkende Kroegen, a historic pub crawl Until AUG 8 in the centre of Bruges

22-01-2009 22:59:57

Dranouter Dranouter Folk Festival: Folk and pop music. Line-up: CocoRosie, Milow, Sharon Corr, The Veils, Moriarty, Katzenjammer, Flip Kowlier, Yevgueni, Mary Gauthier, Karl Hlamkin, Tom Pintens, Aka Moon & Black Machine, Konono N° 1, Madensuyu, Rudy Trouvé Septet, Blackie & the Oohoos AUG 7-9 at Dranouter (West Flanders) www.folkdranouter.be

Ghent Parkkaffee: Activities in the park for the whole family including live music, magic school, circus workshop, tarot card reading, campfire, plus food and drink Until AUG 31 at Parkkaffee, Groenestaakstraat 37, Mariakerke 09.227.99.94, www.parkkaffee.be Glabbeek (Vlaams Brabant) Strandfuif: 30th edition party on the beach featuring Dr Lektroluv, Arsenal and Front 242 AUG 7-8 at Bunker, Grotestraat 29 www.strandfuif.be

Hasselt Muscadet – Aperitiefconcerten: Outdoor live music ensembles, choirs and orchestras every Sunday morning Until AUG 30 11.00 at Het Stadsmus, Guido Gezellestraat 2 011.23.98.90, www.hetstadsmus.be

CAFE SPOTLIGHT

Courtney Davis

Knokke-Heist International Cartoon Festival: Cartoon festival highlighting the increasing role of internet and television in cartoons as well as Press Cartoon Belgium, featuring the best cartoons from the press this year, with guest cartoonist Kevin Kallaugher Until SEP 27 at Lagunahall, Krommedijk 050.630.430, www.cartoonfestival.be

Leuven Zomer van Sint-Pieter: Classical music festival with short, lunchtime concerts grouped according to historical period. Sister festival to Brussels’ Midi-Minimes Until AUG 28 across Leuven 016.23.84.27, www.zomer-van-sint-pieter.be

Lokeren Lokerse Feesten: Summer music festival featuring, still to come: A Brand, Starsailor, Ozark Henry, The Subs, Nid and Sancy, Etienne de Crecy, Orbital, De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, Cypress Hill, Primal Scream, Vive La Fête, Alain Clark, Ultravox, Simple Minds, Dr Lektroluv, The Chart Birds, Ray Davies & Band, The Black Box Revelation, The Hives Until AUG 9 at Festival terrein, Sportlaan and Grote Kaai www.lokersefeesten.be

Lommel Lommel Leeft 2009: Free concerts in parks and public squares Until AUG 27 in Lommel (Limburg) 011.39.97.99, www.lommelleeft.be

Mechelen Parkpop: Concerts by pop, rock, blues, salsa, reggae, disco or soul groups every Thursday evening Until AUG 27 20.30 in de Kruidtuin, Bruul 129 015.29.78.68, www.parkpop.be

Ostend Theater aan zee: Multidisciplinary arts festival organised by Royal Flemish Theatre KVS and curated by Arno.

Music, theatre, literature, exhibitions and family events Until AUG 8 in venues around Ostend.

059.56.20.16, www.theateraanzee.be

Ronse Bruul 2009: Free summer music festival with performances every Friday, featuring Raymond Van Het Groenewoud, Sons of Queen, Sois Belle, Paul Severs and Freddy Birset Until AUG 21 20.00 at Bruulpark, Ronse (East Flanders) 055.23.27.94, www.bruulronse.be

Watou

De Mythe Heerweg Noord 33, Zwijnaarde (Ghent) Zwijnaarde is a small village outside of Ghent where a short bike ride over a bridge brings you to a lovely little café. De Mythe is hard to miss with its restored authentic windmill. This small oasis features a large sunny terrace where you can while away the remaining days of summer watching the sheep graze nearby and forget that you just crossed the E40 highway to get there.

Owners Carole and Maxime Florin welcome you to the charming spot where the sun blazes on the patio until late in the evening. This little secret is perfect for an after-work drink Monday to Friday, as it is open every day from 11.00 (closed at weekends). If you come earlier in the day, there is a homemade daily special for €9 featuring Flemish classics such as Gentse waterzooi and Gentse stoverij. The kitchen is open from 12.0015.00 and 18.00-22.00. Be warned, the owners are on holiday until 16 August, so make sure to come in the last days of the month to secure your spot outside for an idyllic piece of countryside, sample one of the twenty beers available and soak up the remaining rays of waning sunshine. ➟ www.brasseriedemythe.be Zulte Hoeverock: Fourth edition of this free rock/blues festival, featuring concerts every Tuesday Until AUG 25 19.30 in Het Gouden Hof, D'hoyestraat 32, Olsene (East Flanders) http://hoeverock.wordpress.com

Poëziezomer: Annual festival of contemporary art, architecture and poetry. This year’s theme is Verzamelde Verhalen (Collected Stories, which looks at the relationship between image and language) Until SEP 6 in indoor and outdoor venues in the village of Watou, near Poperinge 059.56.45.98, www.watou2009.be

15

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y august 5, 2009

FACE OF FLANDERS

Alan Hope

TALKING DUTCH

Alistair MacLean

Lesley Deckers It’s not often a young girl falls so hard for a boy she winds up the subject of a Europewide manhunt, and an APB from Interpol, but that’s what happened last week to Lesley Deckers, aged 24, from Hoboken outside Antwerp.

Deckers is one of two people who, on Thursday 23 July, rented a helicopter from a company in Diksmuide under the alias Kelly Verstraeten, ostensibly to fly over Bruges to see how pretty it is. Instead, they put a gun to the pilot’s head and forced him to land in the exercise yard of Bruges prison, which is not pretty at all. They picked up three prisoners, and dropped off one of the hijackers. Since then, no sign of the escapees, or of Deckers, has been found.

The police identified Deckers from her voice, after she had left a recorded message on the answering machine of another helicopter company in Wetteren. They got a search warrant for the house where she still lives with her mother, and found “concrete evidence” of her involvement.

Deckers role in the escape answers one question: how come Mohamed Johri was one

Sharon Light

of the three escapees? Johri is, compared to seasoned gangsters Ashraf Sekkaki and Abdelhaq Melloul-Khayari, very small potatoes indeed, with a series of petty robberies of a supermarket and a toyshop on his record.

Just why he would be taken while a friend of Sekkaki’s, who helped hijack the chopper, was left behind, was a mystery that’s now been solved: Johri’s girlfriend supplied the helicopter.

Deckers, converted to Islam at school, claiming in an interview with the Gazet van Antwerpen newspaper in 2004 that she had been impressed by its peace-loving nature. In De Morgen, meanwhile, a community worker claimed she was one of those Flemish girls who turn to Islam more from a sense

of belonging to the group. “It’s always the same sort of girl,” Arafat Bouchaba told the paper.

“No stable personality, little selfesteem and no friends. Some of them even take over the way of talking, and speak Flemish with a Moroccan accent. Nobody took her seriously.”

They’re taking her seriously now, as police in Flanders, across Belgium and via Interpol continue to look for the criminals. The three escapees, by a strange loophole in Belgian law, face no charges for escaping from prison (perhaps like British POWs they’re expected to do so) but Deckers is another story: aiding and abetting a jailbreak is an offence. Deckers is facing a jail sentence of up to two years.

bite

Sun-Wah With its unobtrusive entrance on the Vrijdagmarkt in Gent, you might easily walk by SunWah every day without ever knowing what lies inside. Once discovered, however, you’ll barely be able to pass by without stopping in for your favourite Asian products.

Sun-Wah does seem to contain just about every edible Asian item under the sun. And fortunately this formidable selection can also be found in their Antwerp and Borsbeek branches.

Their chilled collection is kept by the door, including fresh products and the always fantastic Sun-Yi tofu, whose firmness

16

ontsnappen

far exceeds anything you can pick up in your local GB. Your stir-fries will never be the same.

After the beverages, including Chinese wine (some for as little at €2.50 per bottle), make your way through the snack food section, full of Chinese, Japanese, and Thai treats, both savoury and sweet; then things get serious.

Sauces and spices abound, including some Indian and Mexican items. Sun-Wah has their own store brand with a rainbow of sauces, produced in Holland, but you’ll also find all the usual suspects, such as Amoy and Kikkoman, and a panoply of Sriracha hot sauce.

This is followed by an extensive selection of hot-pot ramen noodles.

Some products seem to be arranged according to country of origin. In their ample Japanese section, you can load up on a selection of quick-cooking noodles (including Hakubaku somen, udon, and ramen noodles, a personal favourite), or buy all the supplies you need for a home-made sushi experi-

ence. For those needing further instruction on that, a largely Dutch-language cookbook section provides all the background you need on pan-Asian cuisine.

Sun-Wah makes some extra effort in the ambiance department, with lots of woodcoloured shelving and walls, and red paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. The store makes up for a fairly narrow width and modest entrance by extending much deeper than you would expect.

On your way out, you’ll receive a copy of RolicNews, a monthly half-English, half-Chinese newspaper covering events in China and Chinese culture. If you can read the Chinese part, the news seems to extend worldwide (the June edition features, among other things, an article on Susan Boyle). You’ll also find a few recipes, whose ingredients can all be bought at – surprise!

– Sun-Wah. As if you need an excuse to make a return trip.

➟ www.rolicstores.com

With most people off to the sun or beach, the last place you want to be is cooped up in an office, or worse, a prison.

Being locked up most of the day gazing through the bars at the sparrows on the ledge must drive most inmates to despair.

The only thing to look forward to is the chance to stretch your legs in the exercise yard. No chains round the ankles as in the old black-and-white films but still an impossibly high wall on all sides.

So when a prisoner manages to escape from Alcatraz or a Bruges jail, some ingenuity is required, combined with some negligence on the part of the jailers. And that’s what happened a fortnight ago.

The headline read: Topgangsters ontsnappen uit gevangenis met helikopter – Top gangsters escape from prison by helicopter. A man and a woman hired the helicopter, supposedly for a tour, but then forced the pilot to land in the prison exercise yard.

The man sacrificed himself and got out while the three lads got in and off they flew.

Nets are in the pipeline but surely a couple of study poles would have been deterrent enough. The three had done their homework: a number of banks have since been held up, so putting two and two together, they have probably been financing their freedom. The gangster’s mole, who hired the chopper, has been



identified and of course articles are appearing that examine what makes nice girls fall for gangsters. I liked the article titled Ontsnappen uit gevangenis niet strafbaar – Escaping from prison is not punishable, as long as escapers don’t use violence and no other crime is committed. Recent attempts to criminalise escaping from prison gained little favour in parliament: “De vrijheidsdrang is aangeboren – the desire for freedom is innate” was the position taken, which is quite enlightened. So using a handy ladder is only natural.

More prosaic was last week’s jailbreak (I suppose this is just a coincidence: it’s not as if there’s one every week and it was from another jail). Six made it over the wall; two took to their heels but one of the prisoner’s mother picked up the other four in her little Toyota. A different image to the dare-devils in the sky: a 62-year-old mum carefully driving her Yaris with her blueeyed boy beside her; it must have been quite a squeeze. She has been arrested and, unlike her on-the-run son, can be prosecuted for her part in his escape, just like the helicopter passenger.

It makes you wonder how the ones left behind feel. Happy that a handful of their mates made a getaway? Certainly there will be lots to talk about when they all get back together.

The last word  Every day we eat an average of eight insects. Mostly we don’t even realise we’re eating them. If you buy broccoli, there are even allowed to be two in among the leaves. But it’s not a problem. Insects in themselves are not harmful.

Insect expert Raymond Lambie at the opening of a new insect museum in Zutendaal in Limburg You would really be perfect as prime minister of Belgium.

Prince Laurent to LDD leader JeanMarie Dedecker. The prince later explained he was joking

Ach, I’d rather be King.

Dedecker replies to the prince, also presumably joking I think it’s terrible to be 60. I’ve stopped smoking, and I don’t drink as much as before because I can’t stand the hangovers anymore.

Rock star Arno, who launched Theater aan Zee at the weekend with a world-influenced concert My daughter likes to play princess at home. I let her play, but I never read her stories about princes and princesses. I don’t want to, and I can’t do it.

Delphine Boël, illegitimate daughter of King Albert II, in De Morgen