Nagy Imre – Andrew James

Is Hungary finally moving on from the ‘illiberalism’ and ‘Christian Nationalism’ of the Orbán Years of 2010-2025?

Preface – A Time for Turning? 1989-2009: Above and below are photos, taken between 1989 and 2009, by Lobenwein Tamás. In June 1989, Viktor Orbán returned to Hungary from his Soros-sponsored sojourn at Oxford to secure his leadership of Fidesz, then a radical liberal youth party, in advance of the first free elections in 1990.Continue reading “Is Hungary finally moving on from the ‘illiberalism’ and ‘Christian Nationalism’ of the Orbán Years of 2010-2025?”

‘Out of Darkness Cometh Light’ – Seventieth Anniversary of Floodlit European Football at Wolverhampton I.

Part One: 1949-1964 – The Cullis Years ‘They Wore the Shirt’: At the end of July 2024, my son and I, both fans of Wolverhampton Wanderers (the ‘Wolves’) visited their stadium, Molineux, and their new Museum chronicling the history of the club and the stadium dating back to 1877. The museum itself dates from theContinue reading “‘Out of Darkness Cometh Light’ – Seventieth Anniversary of Floodlit European Football at Wolverhampton I.”

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.”

Orbán’s Hungary – a member of NATO or Putin’s Fifth Column?: Hungarian Foreign Policy and Euro-Atlantic Integration, 1989-2019.

Springtime in Brussels and Budapest, 1999: In 1999, during the first government of Viktor Orbán, when Hungary became a member of NATO, his foreign minister, János Martonyi wrote of the change in the country’s system of government that had begun with the mandate received from the first free elections, which had replaced the one-party-state system.Continue reading “Orbán’s Hungary – a member of NATO or Putin’s Fifth Column?: Hungarian Foreign Policy and Euro-Atlantic Integration, 1989-2019.”