From a quick check of the figures, about 7% of NHS spending is on health care for patients in their last year of life, of which by definition the majority are elderly.

Gratuitous plug for my brother @cnrowan.bsky.social, who featured them in one of his novels (which tend to feature odd bits of history and mythology from SW France)

Last month in the Vosges, I saw a small-town bowling alley and bar that seemed to be advertising itself mainly as a place for serious burns victims to hang out. Again, did no-one bother checking? Or do people simply not care?

bsky.app/profile/jrow...

Yes! I really meant that the OP is probably not wrong that the Russia-Ukraine war will end in a negotiated peace (so long as the West does not let Ukraine collapse).

I mean, in a trivial sense he's not wrong (apart from about WW2) but the starting point for those negotiations is, um, quite important.

Two other pull factors in addition: people far more likely to have some capability with English than other languages; many people will have family or friends or at least existing communities of compatriots they can use as a landing zone.

The only Brexit argument I thought was respectable was that the compromises involved in EU membership were such that Brexit was worth it, even though it would be very costly.

But very few people made that argument, at least publicly.

Staying in Brussels for the Grand Prix over at Spa is... an eccentric bit of travel advice, mind!

Nuts though that is, it's not even his maddest tweet of the week

RTBF was streaming it on their website, the parents' Whatsapp group for my son's rugby team has been going absolutely nuts during that game.

other Belgian a/f beers I'd recommend: Ypra (blond), Delta Zero (IPA), and La Trottinette (IPA)