Isn't it surprising ...

-- that fiscal hanky-panky in the Congolese consulate in Antwerp is made public some days after the biggest diplomatic crisis in years bewteen the Congolese and the Belgian governments ? And isn't it more surprising still that it is a small opposition party which discloses the problems ?

-- that the influence of some business people never wanes, whatever their age and/or their - probably substantial - personal fortune ? Rumor has it that the kingmaker, who put Brussels Airlines in the air, has been playing the kingbreaker for the second time in a short period. The man has got quite a reputation ! Whenever something happens in the rarified spheres of the Belgian business world, he is rumored to have a hand in it. And I am quite sure he knows that airplanes and airlines can crash. Especially when the pilots do not agree on the flight plan.

-- that roman catholic cardinals lose their title when they are eighty years old ? Not canon law, but media talk. I'm sure that, less than twenty years ago, the journalist who wrote that or had let that pass would have spent a disagreeable moment with his chief. Fortunately, times have changed, although ... see the previous point.

-- there is a small media war between British and German papers concerning the problem reported on my recent post "Justice at last". Now, to be fully honest, I hate being submerged in a sea of Germans during my holidays, but the British come in a close second, just before the Dutch.