Entertaining Strangers as Angels – Chilean Refugees in Wales, 1974-2024

‘Forget not to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.’ ‘Peidiwch ag anghofio llety-garwch, oherwydd trwyddo y mae rhai, heb wybod hynny, wedi rhoi llety i angylion.’ Y Llythyr at yr Hebreaid/ Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 13: 2. Introduction – Providing Sanctuary: In recent weeks and months, there has been much discussionContinue reading “Entertaining Strangers as Angels – Chilean Refugees in Wales, 1974-2024”

The Bloodied Sword, the Precious Pearl and the Black Cross; Chronicles of the Royal House of Wessex – I.

Episode One Above: Hungarians at Kyív – a painting by Pál Vágó (1853-1928). It is extremely difficult to maintain, based on archaeological relics that have been unearthed in territories now forming part of Ukraine, that these objects are unmistakably the relics of the ancient Hungarians, or Magyars. It is probable, though, that as a resultContinue reading “The Bloodied Sword, the Precious Pearl and the Black Cross; Chronicles of the Royal House of Wessex – I.”

Is Hungary’s Appeasement of Putin Justified by its Past Experiences? V

Chapter Five: Hungary under Horthy – In the Eye of the Hurricane: It was largely the impossibility of reconstructing the order of Europe and the wider world as it was in January 1919 that swept away the ‘pacifist democracy’ that took over Hungary at the end of the First World War. It thwarted the firstContinue reading “Is Hungary’s Appeasement of Putin Justified by its Past Experiences? V”

Is Hungary’s Appeasement of Putin Justified by its Past Experiences? III

Chapter Three – From Sarajevo to War & Revolutions, 1914-1919: Archduke Franz Ferdinand favoured a policy of reconciliation with the Slavs in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Because of this attitude, he was disliked both by the traditional ruling élite in Vienna and the Magyar bourgeois statesmen of Hungary. The Slavs within the empire, seeking union withContinue reading “Is Hungary’s Appeasement of Putin Justified by its Past Experiences? III”

Is Hungary’s Appeasement of Putin Justified by its Past Experiences? II

Chapter Two: All Roads Led to Sarajevo – How Austria-Hungary Went to War in 1914: The Trigger: On 28th June 1914, the heir to the Austrian and Hungarian thrones, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, paid a visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, which had been occupied by Austria-Hungary in 1878, and annexed by Emperor Franz JosefContinue reading “Is Hungary’s Appeasement of Putin Justified by its Past Experiences? II”

The Lineker-Braverman Controversy: Migration, Language & History – Troping the Thirties.

Count him out, not out of order. I didn’t read this on the 7th of March when Gary Lineker posted it. I was following him on Twitter, but I finally left this ‘forum’ after Donald Trump was reinstated on it last year, even while his role (and his tweeting) was still being investigated for incitementContinue reading “The Lineker-Braverman Controversy: Migration, Language & History – Troping the Thirties.”

The Illusion of ‘Illiberal’ Democracy in Hungary & Russia’s Imperial War in Ukraine, 2010-23.

Welcome Back, Comrades! ‘Farewell, comrades!’ A poster from the first Hungarian free elections in 1990. When I returned to Hungary in 2011 to live after a gap of fifteen years in the UK (including a year in the South of France), it was as a husband to a Hungarian citizen with family responsibilities back homeContinue reading “The Illusion of ‘Illiberal’ Democracy in Hungary & Russia’s Imperial War in Ukraine, 2010-23.”

Ukraine from Askold to Zelensky: Language, Culture, Art & Architecture, 862-2022.

“The British have not forgotten how the Nazis wiped out Coventry, … bombed forty-one times. They have not forgotten the Luftwaffe’s so-called ‘Moonlight Sonata’, in which the city was under contant air-raids for eleven hours. They have not forgotten how Coventry’s historic centre, how its factories, how St Michael’s Cathedral were destroyed. When they see the missiles hit Kharkiv and damage its historic centre, its factories and the Assumption Cathedral, they remember. … when they recall how Birmingham was bombed, and they see its sister city Zaporizhia under attack, they remember.”

Orbán & Fidesz versus Soros, et. al: Whose Values? -The Continuing Confrontation.

Extract from a Speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the 31st Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp, 23 July 2022, Tusnádfürdő [Băile Tuşnad]: We have managed to separate our big debate on the whole gender issue from the debate on EU money, and the two are now moving forward on separate tracks. HereContinue reading “Orbán & Fidesz versus Soros, et. al: Whose Values? -The Continuing Confrontation.”