At the end of a narrow cobbled street in the heart of the Unesco city of Bruges towers a cream and red-brick turreted palace that has recently opened as Bruges's first five-star hotel. It is the latest incarnation of the Prinsenhof, built in 1429 by the powerful Duke Philip the Good – then the richest man in Europe – to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal.

Gangster romp on the cobbles has the makings of a cult classic

Though often a controversial figure, the Flemish writer, director and graphic artist Hugo Claus was rarely overtly political. His sympathies were with the underdog, but he never descended to agitprop. Claus was the recipient of seven state prizes in Belgium and in 1986 was awarded the prestigious Prize for Dutch Literature. Harry Mulisch, the only other living writer in Dutch to be tipped for the Nobel Prize, called Claus "a great figure", while the poet Remco Campert described him as "the greatest writer of my generation".

A new government has been formed in Belgium, ending nine months of political deadlock which had threatened to break the country apart. But members of the new government are expected to resume battle soon over devolution of powers to the regions.

Motets – Flemish Radio Choir/Bo Holten, GLOSSA

Belgian politicians have found a Belgian solution to a Belgian crisis. Six months after he "lost" a general election, the caretaker Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt is to become an "interim" prime minister at the head of an "interim" coalition government. The longest political crisis in Belgium's crisis-strewn history is over or, at least, suspended until March.

Championship footballers are back in vogue, with clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea and even Real Madrid taking an interest in players not appearing in the top division. As Premiership managers begin to flex their cheque-books in the January transfer window, Glenn Moore reveals The Independent's second annual survey of the top 20 outside the Premiership

Floundering in Flanders fields

SO THE Remembrance season is with us again, with people's thoughts turning inevitably to the carnage fields of France and Flanders, to the squalors of trench warfare and the grim sagas of the Somme and Passchendaele. Along with the poppies will come out the old cliches and the old anger: the donkeys will be berated for carousing in their chateaux while the lions suffered and died in the muddy shell-holes of No Man's Land.

GOODWOOD

POPULAR WITH honeymoon couples from all over the world, and especially from Japan, the family-run Die Swaene is the most romantic hotel in dreamy Bruges, a city not short on charming accommodation. For unashamed romantics and amorous gourmets, the "Romeo and Juliette" package offers one night in a de luxe room, a six-course candlelit dinner with wine, a private tour of the town and a four-course lunch of regional dishes, again with wine and a bottle of champagne.

BRITTEN, HOWELLS

Coming to a Low Country near you: the Ghent Film Festival.