The good city of Aalst is the carnival capital of Flanders and if the fine folk of Aalst had anything to do with it their city would also be the carnival capital of the world. They put their best foot forward during the past weekend and carnival celebrations still have many hours to run. Highlight of the event is a parade of floats. In recent months over 200 carnival groups spent many days constructing floats that are a brilliant way of satirising the dos and don’ts of our politicians. Guests at a minister’s party peeing against police vans, racist comments by the former Flemish socialist leader and possible links between the Flemish far-right and the People’s Republic of China, all were a warranted topic of satire. 4,500 people called ‘carnivalists’ took part in the parade that attracted crowds of over 100,000.