The Mummy Returns: Thatcher at 100
Weekly briefings on the life of The New European Capital of Conservatism.
Budapest This Week
John O’Sullivan is speaking on Arthur Koestler on Wednesday, 1 October at 9AM. It is the opening talk in a day long seminar, devoted to the works of the visionary anti-Communist writer. Did you know Koestler (née Kestler) was secretly Hungarian? Register with the Imre Kertész Institute for entry.
Visionary anti-Communists are so hot right now. On Thursday, John is hosting a day long seminar devoted to the life of Margaret Thatcher, in celebration of her 100th birthday. The cast list is John's 1980s Rolodex: many who knew her intimately, from her chief of staff, Charles Powell, to Richard Perle. the US State Department adviser. The vibe is: ‘short themed speeches on aspects of her life and legacy’, culminating on Thursday morning, when Hungary will unveil a permanent statue of Mrs T, in the park opposite Mammut Mall (invite only).
Big week at the MCC. Tonight, it’s Sustainable Development In China, Tas Vezér utca, at 5PM. Register here. Tomorrow, it’s trade policy: a 6-7PM event at the Hunyadi Matyás Room, on The New Mercantilism, featuring Michael Every, Global Strategist at Rabobank, and the clean-living Austrian professor, Ralph Schoellhammer. Wednesday, 4PM, Matthieu Grandpierron, Head of the Political Science department at ICES-Vendée Catholic University, is talking on Europe in the World: Sinking or Rethinking? Meanwhile, on Thursday, Stephen Tierney, Professor of Constitutional Theory at the University of Edinburgh, lectures on Constituent Power in Federal States at 5:30PM.
What’s Based
The Babiş and the Bathwater
Czechs go to the polls Friday and Saturday, with victory likely for maverick Andrej Babiš and his populist ANO party.
Here are our top five facts:
1 — All 200 seats of the country's parliament are up for grabs. ANO are presently poling at 28 per cent, while the governing SPOLU are at 21 per cent. 2 — The election is a study in contrasts. Incumbent PM Petr Fiala is a mild-mannered former political science professor, while Babiš is a rowdy tycoon famous for offering free sausages and beer at his rallies. 3 — Fiala has been a key supporter of the EU's involvement in the war in Ukraine. This is a big issue: 3.5 per cent of Czechia's population are Ukrainian refugees (the highest percentage in the EU).4 — But the President of Czechia, Petr Pavel, might block Babiš from forming a government. Pavel is a big figure: an ex-NATO general with a revered Cold War record. He is apparently examining the legality of a veto, citing Babiš’s ‘conflicts of interest’.5 — This is the country's first diaspora election: postal votes are now fully legal. But with only 24 000 registered abroad, it's unlikely to swing things. Other News
Paper of the Week
U.S.-Hungarian Relations in Trump's Second Term: Prospects and Promises
Viktor Orbán bet big on Donald Trump returning to the White House, supporting him even in his lawfare E. Jean Carroll wilderness years. In his latest paper, Florida Republican insider and sometime Mar-a-Lago visitor, Paul du Quenoy, looks forward to a 'new golden age' of US-Hungarian relations. He reveals that Trump considered moving 35 000 US troops off Rammstein airbase into Hungary; and points out that while Budapest has 21 direct flights a week to China, it has none to America.
“Hungary, under Trump’s urging, went beyond NATO’s 2% pledge to promise 5% of GDP on defence by 2035. This dwarfs the commitments of Germany, France, even Britain. For a country of ten million, it was an audacious declaration that, in security terms, Budapest would punch far above its weight.”
Eyes & Ears
Comings & Goings
Coming: The Thatcher conference is bustling with lords: Lord Hannan of Kingsclere, Stakhanovite godfather of Brexit Lord Frost of Allenton, cunning negotiator of Brexit Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach, economist, former Head of the No. 10 Policy Unit Lord Lilley of Offa, Tory grandee, ex-minister and singer Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet, of Scotney Will they be a'leaping? It's up to them. Also present: Robin Harris, former special assistant to Mrs T, and top-notch biographer of her. Bill Cash ('Sir William'), another godfather to Brexit. Sir John Whittingdale, former diary secretary to Maggie, and ex-culture minister Jonathan Price, the DI's non-resident fellow and genetic father to the Vanenburg conference. Václav Klaus, impish former Czech president. And the the DI’s Anglosphere Fellow, with those beautiful RADA vowels, David Oldroyd Bolt.
City Life
A visionary, vision is scary: William Blake is the subject of a new exhibition, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell - William Blake and His Contemporaries, at the Museum of Fine Art till January (6600 Ft). Check out John Higgs’ excellent biography of Blake in anticipation.
Dr Eric Hendriks, China expert and dapper don, writes to cut us in on his couture secrets: “The Kaczián Nyakkendő Szaküzlet is Budapest’s only good tie store, but its quality is indeed marvellous. It is run by a woman who inherited it from her mother, who in turn inherited it from her own mother: three generations of women at the helm. The ties are sold downstairs and handmade upstairs. They also offer pocket squares and scarves.”
2028: the next time you’ll be able to visit the Gellert baths. They close tomorrow, for an extensive cycle of renovations to the Gellert Hotel complex. The city seems to be struggling to hold onto its baths. At one point, Király was meant to reopen in 2023 — but no signs yet. Meanwhile, the Rácz thermal baths were extensively renovated between 2007 and 2010, yet never opened at all due to ownership disputes. Surely there has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur with access to 30 000 cubic metres of underground water.
Noémi Pálfalvi our international relations director, has just bought tickets to The Great Gatsby at Vígszínház. It’s in Hungarian, but comes with English surtitles. Apparently the production is a stunner.
We’d like to apologise. The film for last week’s MCC Film Club pick was actually the Hungarian Communist era comedy, The Witness, not the 1985 Harrison Ford Oscar-winner. Anyway, be sure to turn up next month for Dude Where’s My Car, a melodrama (Miklós Jancsó, 1962) about a couple who betray each other while working in a Trabant factory.
Dates For Your Diary
Conservative Party Conference, Manchester — 5 - 8 October
Battle of Ideas, London — 18 - 19 OctoberBattle for the Soul of Europe, Brussels — 3 - 4 December “Kicsi a bors, de erős"— The peppercorn is small, but potent