Claim b9ec2bc5Checked 09 Jul 2026
Partly True/FalseOn the truth scale
“Brussels is a horrible, crime-ridden dump.”
Interpreted asmetaphor
“Brussels is a horrible, crime-ridden place.”
Reasoning & Evidence09 Jul 2026
Brussels did have a notably high recorded-crime rate in 2011: the Belgian federal police report says the Brussels-Capital Region had 170 recorded offenses per 1,000 inhabitants, versus a little over 100 in Wallonia and roughly half that in Flanders. (police.be) But the same report warns that this figure needs nuance because Brussels is an all-urban region with many commuters and tourists, and because the statistic mixes very serious crimes with minor infractions; so calling Brussels simply a crime-ridden place overstates what the data can support. (police.be) The word horrible is subjective and not something public evidence can verify. Sources: Belgian Federal Police, Rapport annuel Statistiques policières de criminalité 2011 (official PDF).
From article
John Major famously said that his heart sank every time he left Britain…
Yeah, I don’t understand that. I don’t get that. I mean, it depends. I don’t like going to Brussels, because it’s a horrible, crime-ridden dump: the sky is grey, the buildings are grey, the people are grey, it’s ghastly! But every month when I go to Strasbourg, a little bit of me is still quite excited about going there. Because I love it.
Sources opened+ 48 search hits considered
| [1] | police.be |