What's the most Japanese place in Brussels? Well, you can't get more Japanese than an imitation Japanese temple built by Belgium's half-German emperor-king that was inspired by a visit to a Parisian world expo.

New aftershave in Lidl: gives you the precise aroma of a widowed policeman investigating the murder of his daughter, drawn into a wide-ranging political conspiracy involving nuclear weapons.

Good morning!

That none of Jurassic Park, Minority Report or Catch Me if You Can come close to the top 10 speaks to the depth Spielberg's back catalogue (saying nothing about possible contrarianism from @donaldclarke.bsky.social)

FIFA - rolling in money; morally banrupt.

Did you know Brussels is home to a full-scale, 52m-tall replica Japanese pagoda? This, and my views on Matcha lattes, in today's World Cup newsletter

Everything at this World Cup except for the football (and probably that's just my self-delusion) will be repugnant.

Brussels Notes World Cup Diary - Day 9: Japan I explore how Brussels used to engage with the "Far East" a century ago, and how it does today. I also try a Matcha Latte for the first time. I won't spoil it, but you can imagine which I preferred.

Me and the kids were very confused about how a car can fall into a tunnel.

More seriously, this is what you get when you centre your urban mobility around a system so fragile that one driver's idiocy/inattention paralyses the whole network

Do you know what never fell into a tunnel, blocking traffic for half the city? I'll give you a clue, it's got two wheels and drives reactionaries demented

I mean, they were daydreaming when they thought they could host this in Ireland without any serious issues www.rte.ie/sport/soccer...

Don't they say that cats sit on people who they can smell are about to die? Not sure I should be worried, but one of our cats has been lying on my chest a lot lately

I got a little melancholy on main today, daydreaming over a good bottle of New Zealand Chardonnay (*not* Marlborough Sauv Blanc) about the road not taken

Brussels Notes World Cup Diary - Day 8: New Zealand Week 2 of my trek through each of the 48 World Cup participants (without leaving Brussels) finds me in a wistful mood.

Well deserved! A massive social housing block in #Anderlecht dating from 1976 housing 378 families renovated by Karbon architects wins the Flemish #architecture prize. Insulation was improved & balconies were added all along the 95 m. long building. More pics & background: karbon.be/fr/projets/1...

Brussels Notes World Cup Diary - Day 8: New Zealand Week 2 of my trek through each of the 48 World Cup participants (without leaving Brussels) finds me in a wistful mood.

When an "institution" has spent decades agitating against comprehensive sex Ed in schools, it's easier to blame reduced teen pregnancy on social media than accepting that CSE works.

Look, I just want to apologise in advance to all my Australian friends and readers Brussels Notes World Cup diary, day 7: Australia

But what's the point of travelling then? Surely the idea is to try to understand the place the place you're going to and find out what places fit your interests.

Travel guidebooks opened a new world of travel possibilities for people The Internet democratised travel Both still required you to actively engage with your holiday planning, to do the work. With AI, you're just delegating the work to the same bots as millions of other people. Why?

Friends worry he's entered his crank era.

I understand the public service impulse behind articles like these (Conor is after all on the consumer protection beat), but I cannot understand the attitudes expressed in it. Do the work people! Buy the book/trawl Reddit! Stop being so lazy! The research of a holiday is half the fun!

Do these people have any aesthetic sensibility at all?

The great thing about having a poured concrete floor in the kitchen, is that every stain tells a story. For example, now I will always know that that big splash is from when I dropped a half full cocktail shaker and it splattered Blue Lagoon everywhere.

Today's challenge was: how many Australian tropes could I fit into 500 words. I thought I was successful when I went to bed, and then my wife asked, "Any spoons?" 😢

Look, I just want to apologise in advance to all my Australian friends and readers Brussels Notes World Cup diary, day 7: Australia

World Cup Brussels, day 6: Curaçao I told you things were going to get tangential.

"My mother’s favourite cocktail was the Blue Lagoon. A measure of vodka, four measures of lemonade, and a measure of Bols Blue Curaçao."

World Cup Brussels, day 6: Curaçao I told you things were going to get tangential.

"Good times create Liberterians..."

Ah no, not Giles!

*Borat Voice*

Brussels Notes World Cup Diary - Day 5: Uzbekistan. On the road to Tashkent - maybe? - we hit our first roadblock.

I hope this important post makes people reconsider the dangers of gambling, seek help if needed and question why pubs have these betting machines davidjesudason.substack.com/p/pubs-gambl...

Might surprise you, but I still haven't settled on where in Brussels I want to visit that best represents Belgium. Answers on a postcard...

Eoghan is one of my favourite writers. His blog posts and newsletters give such a sense of what it's like to *live* in Brussels as an insider-outsider.

Not a vintage Nike World Cup ad (too many celebrities i don't recognise who aren't footballers), but I did laugh twice at the cast of Channing tatum as Haaland's body double. Love you, Channing.

"If there is an Uzbek community in Brussels, they keep a modest profile." I try - and fail [spolier alert] to find some Plov in Brussels.

Well, here we are. Dawn in the western hemisphere. Already a couple of notes sent about late breaking news. But I… me, myself… am not a journalist, not an editor and if I am a publisher I am a bad one. So I am going back to bed. “Breaking News Update” scheduled for… later… here’s the early edition.

Brussels Notes World Cup Diary - Day 3: Cabo Verde Looking for Lusophone Africa in Anderlecht

Sneak peek

My next public event is in Brussels at @defenddemocracy.eurosky.social — all welcome!

my friend @eoghanwalshbxl.bsky.social is attempting to 'visit' all of the 48 countries competing in the world cup, without leaving brussels very excited about how tenuous some of these links are going to be follow along for daily updates here:

1/12 of the way through my World Cup odyssey around Brussels. Only 44 countries to go!

Went out to see if I could get some good Mexican food in Brussels. Only problem is, I have no frame of reference, not having ever been to Mexico and being brought up on Old El Paso

BIG news

Not a restaurant BUT Aca Tacos are a stall at the weekly food markets (mainly Chatelaine and Chasseurs Ardennais) and the stuff is so good we had them cater the wedding. Run by a lovely woman and what seems to be a scatter of her adult children/nephews, I am MAD about them

Think brewing is a tough job? Try doing it on an island off the coast of Lancashire! Elizabeth Townsend and Nick Scarffe started Kerroo Brewing Company to bring creativity to the island's beer scene. @katiematherkm.bsky.social visits to see how they're faring. www.pelliclemag.com/home/2026/5/...

Do you have a favourite Mexican restaurant in Brussels?