Tim H Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 I'm not sure if I've ever read something in a British newspaper that's made me this angry. http://synonblog.dailymail.co.uk/2010/02/what-belgianisation-really-means.html Within hours of the terrible head-on collision on Belgium, with the death toll still rising, they've used the tragedy to make cheap and largely irrelevant political points. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 Ahh, The Daily Mule - making an ass of themselves , as usual! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 I've always known it as the Daily Wail. Happens to be my mother's favourite paper, but then again it's probably true that you get more right-wing / xenophobic as you get older! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Max Stafford Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 Nah you just become less gullible than when you were young realise that journalists, like politicians and self important musicians/actors have lots to say about everything they know f*** all about... Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammer Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 I generally know it as the Daily Fail nowadays (after both Private Eye and a common grammatically incorrect internet saying). That story reeks of the same kind of knee-jerk rhetoric they used when Stephen Gately died - wittering on about drugs and excessive life styles only to back down when they offended quite a lot of people and were confronted with a clean post-mortem report. Bunch of useless.... *goes off to grumble* Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam '43003' Tanner Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Bunch of useless.... Expletives..? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hughes Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 To quote a recent comment on the Mail from another paper - 'witless and malignant'. How true! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 The timing of the article is certainly not the most tactful - but the point that it makes is to a certain extent a valid one. I speak French, but don't speak Flemish - however, I have been refused service in shops in Belgium because I spoke the "wrong" language. Language and national identity is a very big issue in Belgium. However, I do agree that it is a little early to be blaming the accident on communication problems between railway workers. I heard on the German news last night that they suspect it was the result of a SPAD by one of the trains - which can happen regardless of whether the driver speaks Flemish, French, English or Serbo-Croatian. I am amazed that nobody seems to have commented on the article yet - perhaps comments are disabled, as they often seem to be with anything mildly contentious! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim H Posted February 16, 2010 Author Share Posted February 16, 2010 I've already contacted Waitrose' customer services suggesting they withdraw their advertising from the page Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium skipepsi Posted February 16, 2010 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 16, 2010 The timing of the article is certainly not the most tactful - but the point that it makes is to a certain extent a valid one. I speak French, but don't speak Flemish - however, I have been refused service in shops in Belgium because I spoke the "wrong" language. Language and national identity is a very big issue in Belgium. However, I do agree that it is a little early to be blaming the accident on communication problems between railway workers. I heard on the German news last night that they suspect it was the result of a SPAD by one of the trains - which can happen regardless of whether the driver speaks Flemish, French, English or Serbo-Croatian. I am amazed that nobody seems to have commented on the article yet - perhaps comments are disabled, as they often seem to be with anything mildly contentious! Reading the comments heading reveals that comments have to be approved by the author. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Reading the comments heading reveals that comments have to be approved by the author. I commented last night. It hasn't appeared yet. Don't know what hours these journalists keep. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Max Stafford Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Much as it's a poorly timed and potentially insensitive article Tim, I think that's a bit extreme. There were genuine historical observations made with in the article; Belgium is really an amalgam of two nations and a couple of years back there was real talk of Belgium dissolving itself and becoming provinces of France and the Netherlands respectively. Belgium's colonial record as touched upon in the article is historically considered to be the worst of the European powers and is even hinted at in 'Heart of Darkness'. One of the benchmarks of a free society is tolerance and even if you disagree very strongly with an article or speech, in a society that values free speech you have to accept that others have the right to express opinions too. Notionally, this country remains a bastion of 'free speech', in spite of The Party's onslaught on educated debate on all subjects from social order to immigration and climate variation. Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 I commented last night. It hasn't appeared yet. Don't know what hours these journalists keep. I did as well, I also left one using a different e-mail address praising it. Interested to see which one will appear. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted February 16, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 16, 2010 I did as well, I also left one using a different e-mail address praising it. Interested to see which one will appear. Naughty boy! I like it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenser Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 I did as well, I also left one using a different e-mail address praising it. Interested to see which one will appear. It appears from one of the French news sites that the last fatal collision in Belgium was caused by confusion between a French speaker and a Flemish speaker. However it's a very ugly article , buying into any anti Francophone Flemish-Belgian nationalism going. Bad as Belgium's record in the Congo may have been it's not relevant. I can't see why a British newspaper wishes to get so partisan in someone else's internal communal politics. And five minutes thought after looking at the route map would have suggested the dead and injured are likely to come from both language communities Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Surprisingly both are there now. See comments by Railman and Freddo. At the end of the day, if one of the drivers did indeed go through a red, it means the same in any language. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.A.C Martin Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 I don't disagree with anything that's been said in this thread - one the hand, it is an article that is in bad taste, badly timed, and has a political agenda that shouldn't be there. On the other hand - dave (max staffords) comments are also valid. What I have noticed with a certain discomfort is that many people on this forum (and others) are willing to shout down one newspaper, but seem to blindly ignore the fact that this was also reported (albeit in a shorter form) in several of the other tabloid newspapers, and indeed on several international news broadcasters, and all were saying the same thing - SPAD, due to a miscommunication due to difference in language. Far be it from me to suggest that the Mail isn't political in extremis, but surely we can at least allow for the fact they were not the only one? And I can think of a dozen times the Sun newspaper has disgusted me with their (shall we say, select) reporting of news - and somewhat worse than the Mail on this occasion. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone and all that... What I think is perhaps unfair is that the article should not be open for comments if they are then moderated - that defeats the purpose of giving readers the chance to respond as a selection of views will normally appear, and not all of them (as it should be). EDIT: Surprisingly both are there now. See comments by Railman and Freddo. At the end of the day, if one of the drivers did indeed go through a red, it means the same in any language. That may well be true - but you may find not everyone knows enough of any language to act accordingly in a crisis situation. It may mean the same in any language - but will you interpret a flurry of hastily spoken words the same way if it is not a langauge you speak or are familiar with? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted February 16, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 16, 2010 What I have noticed with a certain discomfort is that many people on this forum (and others) are willing to shout down one newspaper, but seem to blindly ignore the fact that this was also reported (albeit in a shorter form) in several of the other tabloid newspapers, and indeed on several international news broadcasters, and all were saying the same thing - SPAD, due to a miscommunication due to difference in language. I think the key words there are reported (albeit in a shorter form). I haven't seem the reports in other papers, were they reporting only that the language issue as a possible cause of the accident? What we have here isn't a report as such, more of an editorial stance, which may go some way to explain why some shout this paper down and not others. That, however, is moving into the 'political' arena which, for sensible reasons, is taboo on the forum. and all were saying the same thing - SPAD, due to a miscommunication due to difference in language If the Mail had said simply that I am sure that there would be no issues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium petethemole Posted February 16, 2010 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 16, 2010 Sorry if I'm being a bit dim here but what language is the colour red? Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.