And if you’re already decking the halls, Geoff Meade has a timely warning about premature tinsel.
Saint Nicholas first. Sparkles later.

🍷🍺🥂 @maajtee.bsky.social and Hughes Belin write about Belgian wine while Angela Dansby takes a restorative beer-and-baroque weekend in Leuven.

Plus events worth checking out, and the winning story from the Writers Festival of Belgium 2025.

Seeing Belgium anew:
• The earliest Belgian photographs
• Eliane Van den Ende on Zwanze: Brussels’ untranslatable humour and mischief
• Hugh Dow on Saint-Josse’s melancholy cemeteries
• @dominiquesoenens.bsky.social meets artist Arne Quinze

We find stories in unexpected corners:
• Lisa Bradshaw on a Magritte-inspired whodunnit
• Simon Taylor on new wave of Belgian bands
• Helen Fry on the Belgian spies who helped win two world wars
• Liz Newmark on the railways that didn’t
• Jon Eldridge on the ultra-runners pushing the limits

Also in our magazine, we have Brussels in flux:
• Anas El Baye meets Fouad Ahidar, the politician shaking the Brussels establishment
• Philippe Van Parijs on why gridlock = success
• @goodclimate.bsky.social on Jean Delhaye, the unsung hero who saved Art Nouveau

🇧🇪 Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot, unfiltered.
From Gaza and Trump to Ukraine and Belgium’s place in the world, he talks about what small nations can teach big powers.
www.brusselstimes.com/magazine/185...

⚽ 30 years ago, Jean-Marc Bosman detonated the old football transfer system and reshaped the game when the EU Court backed his challenge against the sport’s ruling bodies.
Our cover story revisit his victory, the freedom it created and the life it left behind.
www.brusselstimes.com/sports/18535...

And where is the question mark?

Insularity. The inability to conceive that other countries can have such a system without losing basic freedoms (cf Americans with gun laws).

Angela Dansby takes a weekend trip to the many-towered Tournai, Hugh Dow visits Ixelles cemetery, Breandán Kearney looks at some of the more obscure beers that deserve more recognition, and Geoff Meade grapples with post-Brexit pet bureaucracy.

This issue isn’t only about animals:

@goodclimate.bsky.social‬ finds out about recent archaeological excavations in Brussels.
Lisa Bradshaw talks to Maja-Ajmia Yde Zellama about her movie Têtes Brûlées.
Simon Taylor meets influential DJ Lefto.
And Colin Delfosse shows us real muscle building.

We also explore rescue pets, alpaca walks, cow cuddling and how Brussels deals with rats. Sometimes, wildlife is right under our noses. 🐀🦙🐄🐈
Beyond fur & feathers: medieval manuscripts show cheeky rabbits running amok in sacred texts. 📜🐇

Belgian zoos showcase creatures from faraway lands. 🐼 Pairi Daiza has pandas in a former abbey; Antwerp Zoo balances august heritage with modern needs. Both try to keep animals in a respectful living culture.

In this issue we check out:
🐕 🦮🐕‍🦺 🐩Malinois, Tervuren, Bouvier and bichon frisé dogs
🐴 Brabant draft horses
🐄 Belgian Blue cows
🐔 Mechelse Koekoek/Coucou de Malines chickens
🐇 Flemish Giant rabbits
🐦 Belgian canaries
It’s a true menagerie!

From parachuting dogs to musclebound cows, from mammoths to pig-sized rabbits, Belgian fauna tells stories of work, pride, art & survival.
We start off in the Institute of Natural Sciences. Among the dino bones are the remains of (perhaps) the world’s first dog – and he’s Belgian!
🦖🦣🦴