Holidays Are Coming!

Miraculously passed shorthand, radio package is near completion, politics essay was described by Alastair as “not bad”. How on earth did that happen?

 

Now there’s just a local news story and a feature to produce and we’ll be cooking with gas.

The greatest Stirling goal ever

Brussels, a summary

 

Brussels Airport was a confusing place. I arrived on 12th November as part of a group of working and trainee journalists on a trip to the European Parliament. When our plane touched down I joined throngs of lost people wandering around this vast building trying to follow sporadically appearing exit signs. After half an hour of aimless wandering we found the correct area and shortly afterwards my bag arrived, looking conspicuous amongst the Samsonite suitcases after baggage handlers had applied masking tape to it as a quick solution to a faulty zip.

 

On the train it became apparent that it is not only Brussels Airport but Brussels itself that is confusing. Our instructions, given to us by the personal assistant of Alyn Smith, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) are to take the train in to the centre of Brussels. Unfortunately there are several centrally named stops such as Brussels Centrale and Midi. Somehow however, with much shouting in broken French and wild gesticulating we found the right stop and subsequently the hotel that we had been booked in to. So far so good.

 

Perhaps it is now appropriate to explain the purpose of our trip. Alyn Smith, an MEP for Scotland had arranged a fully subsidised trip for journalists to visit the European Union and learn more about its functions. My university, Glasgow Caledonian, managed to obtain three places.

 

Much of the centre of Brussels seemed fairly typical of many cities in this part of Europe. The majority of the streets were cobbled somewhat unevenly which made walking somewhat perilous.

 

Hidden amongst the three and four-storey buildings in the centre of Brussels we found the Grande Place, a vast cobbled square bordered by the city museum and the city hall. Lines of rectangular lights are strung from one end of the square to the other, lighting up the old buildings at night.

 

On our first night we sampled Belgian cuisine: shrimp croquettes, pork in béarnaise sauce and chocolate. Aside from the chocolate I hadn’t realised that either of these dishes were considered Belgian specialities. In fact I’m still not sure about this. The confusion, it seemed, was set to continue.

 

Later we drank in a pub, sampling fruit flavoured beer, which was good, and chocolate flavoured beer, which wasn’t.

 

Brussels seems rather similar to Edinburgh during the festival in that one can often tell the locals apart from the visitors by the supremely hacked off looks they give you. As we walked around the political centre of the city the following day it was surprising to see many cranes and construction sites. Overall, one had the impression that Brussels was not ready for the changes that were thrust upon it and is still in the process of catch-up.

 

The Espace Leopold, the European Parliament building is a remarkable building, looking like a large treasure chest with its curved roof. In a guided tour we learned about the parliament’s functions. There are 78 MEPs for Britain, 7 of whom represent Scotland. (Incidentally, Alyn Smith’s area of specialty is agriculture.) When the parliament is in session, MEPs are seated according to their place on the political spectrum. For example, if an MEP is aligned to a left-wing party they sit to the left of the President of the chamber, if they are aligned to a right wing party; they sit to his right…and so on.

 

Over the course of the rest of the day we listened to talks given by a variety of people involved in European politics and the media surrounding it. Apparently, members of the media working in Brussels have great difficulty getting the British media to accept their stories. This is in large part due to the fact that the work done in Brussels often relates to very specific areas which might not be deemed to be of interest to the general public. The other problem is that the setup in Brussels is more complicated than the British political system. In Brussels there is the European Commission which proposes legislation, which is then debated on by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. In addition to this the heads of state for each EU country meet several times a year to discuss key issues. This is apparently referred to as the Council of Ministers.

 

My head was spinning at this point and it was easy to see why people might find EU politics confusing, but then that seemed to be a constant theme in the city.

Road Rage

Why do BMW drivers all drive so badly? What came first I wonder, the chicken or the egg- were they like that before they bought their first beemer or does the car transform the man/woman?

 

The other day one came flying up behind me doing at least 90, it made the angry man even angrier.

Obama

Last night is the first time politics has been exciting in a long time. Personally, now that it’s over excitement has turned to worry. I really hope that Obama can prove the radical force that the US has needed but will it happen? Is it possible to be truly liberal when one is in charge of the largest capitalist country in the world? I wonder.

After all the Democrats are about as right wing as New Labour. Has the states ever had a truly liberal president? That depends on your point of view but thanks to the Bay of Pigs and his ambiguous views on Vietnam, I have never believed that JFK was as liberal as he was made out.

Time will tell I suppose.

Victor Meldrew 5.11.08.

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