you couldn't make it up dept. no.69: the wrong country

[fpb]

Belgium's politicians are notoriously corrupt and incompetent, but even by their standards this has been a new low. The freshly nominated French-speaking Prime Minister of Belgium yesterday took part in some sort of public function where he was expected to take part in the singing of the country's ancient national anthem, La Brabanconne. He started singing La Marseillaise.

Comments

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Except for my error on his nationality, all the things you mention were in the Italian newspaper article that was my source. But to be frank, I would not have known what the July 21 holiday stood for, and so would most non-Belgians; so I could not really make a joke about that. But I have heard La Brabanconne and I have heard La Marseillaise and I certainly know the difference between the two; and everybody knows what La Marseillaise is. So, to have a comment that reached everyone, I had to lop off a few items.