Saw today pre-sale tickets already for sale for a certain Belgian beer festival taking place in November 2026 - and they were over €100 a pop. In this economy? And this phase of the craft beer cycle? Impressive balls on the organisers (will probably sell out)

Installed a demo of the new Football Manager 2026 on Saturday. Uninstalled it 12 hours later. I basically can't remember what happened in between. That stuff should come with a health warning.

These kinds of “tactical” backpacks are everywhere, like a rash. When/where did half the male population get them? They know no-one believes the et were actually in the military, right?

Farewell Michael D, I’ll always remember our time together

Come on people - a Pellicle print edition can only be a good thing!

Just wait until I introduce her to @liberopodcast.bsky.social and the Wilson-Kuper Industrial Complex

Child 2, aged 9, just asked if I could get this off the shelves for her to read. I almost wept with pride. My work is done.

How do other people deal with cats and Christmas trees?

Knackered at it’s barely midday

Congrats to everyone nominated for this year's awards - some really top, top entries this year. Good luck for the main event at the end of the month!

Brussels would be a different - less interesting - city without Bruzz and the excellent work it does

What is the best commune in Brussels? No seriously, I need you to tell me! For the annual Brussels Notes rankings, I'm asking people to tell me why their Brussels commune is better than the rest (or not) So, tell me!

Last year I did a 19-1 definitive ranking of Brussels' municipalities, and we're doing it again in 2026. Only, there's so much of the city I don't really know, so I need help...

What is the best commune in Brussels? No seriously, I need you to tell me! For the annual Brussels Notes rankings, I'm asking people to tell me why their Brussels commune is better than the rest (or not) So, tell me!

I absolutely hate that I am a slave to external validation - utterly destructive for personal morale, but also basically the only thing that compels me to write (probably)

Good old bar à zinc

Swole baby’s been on the Hyrox

Ballon D’Or Ballon D’Or Ballon D’Or Ballon D’Or Ballon D’Or

Try again. Fail again. Fail better

Proper stadium, this

Spotted in Madrid @raynewman.bsky.social!

Is there a good bar proximate to gare du nord in Paris to pass an hour before betting the train?

Cool cool cool cool cool cool cool. Not like there’s anything going on in Molenbeek that requires a full-time mayor.

Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2025):

Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2025):

Is this what hyperfixation feels like?

Friends are worried he’s spending too much money on his new vinyl habit

honhonhon

I ate all the halloween sweets.

Crew announced they are closing permanently at Christmas, in part due to the hit they’ve take with the council converting their terrace into parking. Next time someone tells you parking is essential to thriving businesses, don’t believe them.

These are intolerable working conditions

House of Dynamite could really have done with a feel-good Marvel-style post-credit scene (I don't know, something like Idris Elba smiling or something) at the end. I'm never going to be able to get to sleep now!

Who's got my last-minute barmbrack recipe?

Is it my imagination or did I just hear automatic gunfire from my back garden in Koekelberg? Probably my imagination, but the way Brussels is right now you never know...

Good morning from my inbox where I have 14 (fourteen) pitches I would like to commission, but I don't have the budget to fund any of them. I keep banging on about this, but @pelliclemag.com needs more subscribers if it is to continue. Please spread the word. Patreon.com/pelliclemag

More than 500 days without a government and on the edge of financial catastrophe, with drugs gangs shooting up neighbourhoods, and Brussels' politicians are arguing about the price of bing bags. This city... bx1.be/dossiers/for...

Freckled Irish people, beware the scalding yellow orb in the sky!

Received a bracing reminder this morning that I should be *much* better at using sun cream. Factor 50 all the way, people!

I don’t think we give house painters the credit they’re due 😩

With everything going on in Brussels right now, it’s important to remember how many people (men) are invested in the city’s failure

What's happened to Crew brewery in Limerick is a disgrace. The local council removing the (albeit temporary) terrace outside the brewery with no consultation and little warning. The brewery said income from the terrace was vital to the business. But the council thought it would be better as parking

Anyway, this week's Brussels Notes newsletter is about as political as it's likely (allowed) to get. I was told (twice) that i was too negative about Brussels, so I tried to explain why, and how there are much worse people out there gunning for the city's demise.

"...The men who really hate Brussels, who despise it not just for the quotidian annoyances any large city will burden its residents with, but a visceral, ideological hatred of the place, of what it is and what they perceive it to stand for." brusselsnotes.substack.com/p/121-the-me...

The Men Who Hate Brussels - why I am not one, even if I criticise the place all the time

The Men Who Hate Brussels - why I am not one, even if I criticise the place all the time

In honour of the day that's in it back home, a cherished photo of me with the outgoing President of Ireland

A little light weekend reading: "The Men Who Hate Brussels: on negativity and its malcontents"

- fewer church weddings - fewer religious funerals - fewer baptisms and communions - more demands to be removed from the baptismal register With all the talk in the anglosphere of a return to religion, Belgium keeps on trucking with its secularisation

They take our money and dump on us their problems. That's how the rest of Belgium treats Brussels www.bruzz.be/actua/econom...

Beerger- The burger that tastes like beer”. Featuring classic beer ingredients like bacon (okay), onions (well), American cheese (right…) and scallops (come again?)