The News Agents

I am a great fan of the NewsAgents podcast and generally find the episodes excellent. I would like to comment on the above episode as I think it was based on only partial information. Headlines of Brussels this and Brussels police sound good but miss the essential. The NatCons event was to be held in an inner suburb of Brussels called Saint Josse and this is administratively separate with its own mayor who can call out the police and can ban events . Saint Josse is small with a majority immigrant population . The mayor himself is a controversial figure excluded by the socialist party because of links to extreme islamic Turkish groups. The event therefore was stopped by the mayor of Saint Josse not Brussels and his action was condemned by the Belgian prime minister (which you didn’t mention) . Elections will be held in Belgium in June and the banning of this event could be seen as part of the battle between extremes - left ( including what in France is called islamo gauchisme) versus the extreme right. Yes it is all complicated and Belgian politics and institutions are also complicated but it is important to have complete information Ian Clark Resident in Belgium

Interesting and intelligent commentaries as far they go; a shame that they are regularly one sided (especially around historical facts). Why not cover the whole story, including the long history of the conflict from the Palestinian side, and the central role of the US? Still, you’re not that bad and I give you 4 stars.