“Five months that somehow turned into close to nine”
Hungarian-born, British author and poet George Szirtes recalls his visits to Budapest during the 1980s that culminated in that year of...
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Observations from Hungary and Central Europe
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An Ambassador Recalls - Budapest, 11th September 2001
My phone rang: It was Debbie Goldthorpe, head of the Commercial Section. “The Twin Towers are on Fire. Come up to the Information Section...
Newsflash: 100E BUD Airport Shuttle More Frequent, Earlier Starts, Later Departures
From Saturday 11 September: Service Frequency to be 20 minutes, First Bus to Airport at 03.30, Last Bus to City at 00.35. Fare Remains...
The Way We Were - A Reporter's Take on the Incompetence of Hungarian Government PR in 1993
The saga of the Danube dam controversy between Hungary and [Czecho-] Slovakia from the early 1990s may baffle younger readers - but one...
Hungary: We Lurve Foreign Students (It's Official) - Just We Lurve Christian Visitors a Bit More ...
.... so sorry about this, but freshers may have to give up their beds for a few nights on arrival in Budapest next month. Photo: Shiny...
Thirty Years of CEE Transformation - What's Changed, What Hasn't & What's To Be Done About it?
You've probably never heard of Professor Tsuneo Morita, since he's a Japanese economist, academic and businessman largely focused on...
Organ Recitals in 1990-1 and the Politicisation of the Organ in Hungary
The Organ Minders! In this Guest Post, Alan Sutton reveals the joys, woes and hazards encountered as a result of politics playing a role...
“Thoughts of the Handbag!” Britain's Margaret Thatcher Asks to Visit Communist Poland.
For diplomats posted abroad, a visit by their head of government or head of state is about as exciting – and worrying - as it can get. So...
Meeting Lech Wałęsa - a British Diplomat's Real-Time Polish Adventure
Nigel Thorpe was British Ambassador in friendly Budapest from 1998 – 2003. But that was not how it all started: he began his overseas...
Gyula Horn: "We were afraid of seeing Kádár drop dead, on the spot."
"Hungary might have had a Todor Zivkov, or that asshole in Prague, ... What was his name?" Horn defends General Secretary and 1956 Soviet...
Gyula Horn: "I'm an atheist, but I still pray each ... night there will never again be ... [a 1995]"
"I was told to talk seriously, and talk openly to you. So, let's do that." Former PM Gyula Horn speaks to the Hungarian International...
"Can someone go to the SPA to cover some crazy story?" A crazy story? I volunteered, of course.
Malinvestment? In case you don't know what it means, here's a good chance to find out. Photo: Les Nemethy, CEO of Europhoenix, a...
The Naked-Flame Using is Prohibited in the Places!
Not quite as bad as a "Pile of Meats" but it's getting there - Foreign language knowledge in Hungary is improving, slowly, but it could,...
Gyula Horn: "The Shears that Cut the Iron Curtain weren't Sharp Enough."
The Foreign Minister who cut the Iron Curtain, the Socialist Prime Minster who privatised the economy, the Communist Militia Man who...
Heroes' Square, Budapest, 16 June, 1989 - A Memorial Day Changed Forever by Political Opportunism
The day meant to honour the memory of executed 1956 PM Imre Nagy and other victims of the 1956 Revolution is remembered for a young,...
The Tragedy of Lidice, a Czechoslovak Village, June 10, 1942
Many Hungarians know vast details of of their own country's history (or a version of it). Sadly, in my experience, most know but little...
Is Hungary's "Christian" Government Doomed to Suffer some Holy Karma - courtesy of Pope Francis?
Christ, the Gospels say, is to return like a "thief in the night" - Pope Francis is currently planning something similar, but in broad...
Sundown Cruise on the Danube - Updated
KesterRester - Time Up for Perspectives Budapest Photo: A Danube pleasure boat at the end of a U-turn - which was somehow symbolic of the...
Our Day in L’viv, and how my Son Nailed a Fraudster
Beware Les Femmes fatales blondes (des billets) in L'viv Ukraine - Especially in Hot Pants Photo - Tanya Rides the Tram - Alias L’viv...
Antall, Havel, Iliescu Face Listeners' Questions on BBC World Service - plus the "Slovenian Gandhi"
Photos: (Left to Right) Hungarian PM József Antall, Czechoslovak President Václav Havel and Romanian President Ion Illiescu. Photos from...