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Thursday, September 18, 2003
posted by gbarto at 1:00 PM:
Natalie Solent looks at why we maybe should be troubled by the EU.I just want to take a moment to talk about petty minded nationalism, because it's a great springboard for a joke...
So, I was reading about Belgium the other day. You know, the place with Brussels, capital of the EU. Belgians agree about the EU. They don't necessarily agree about Belgium. Many of the Flemish, in particular (or so saith the author I was reading, and it was in print so it must be true) think of themselves as Flamand first, Belgian second. Is Belgium the next Yugoslavia? Unlikely. Czechoslovakia. Doubtful. But still, when we hear the "Why can't we just get along?" motif from the EU partisans, the appropriate responses are 1) like the Walloons and the Flemish? and 2) like the French and the Belgians?
Which brings me to a great Belgian joke (modified) that I nicked from this book. I will look up the author one day so I can credit him (maybe he'll write and let us know!) and refer you... Anyway:
Two Belgians were driving their freight truck down the highway when they came to a tunnel with a sign above it reading: Maximum Height: 4 meters. Now they knew they were driving a truck that was five meters high, so they stopped just ahead of the tunnel. The passenger then jumped out, ran up, surveyed the tunnel, then got back in the truck.
"It's okay," he said, "no cops."
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