Everyday microaggressions in Hungary
"What's a Jew," asks Szintia, a seven-year-old. Mária. Her mother, to whom the question was directed, doesn't bat an eyelash when she replies. "Jews were a people and are also those who follow the...
Category: Europe
UK govt disenfranchises its own MPs with Parliament vote
Last week, MPs in Britain voted as to whether they would continue to be able to vote from home. The whole thing garnered a lot of attention due to the farcical scenes of MPs queueing for half a mile...
Scapegoating and propaganda in Hungary – how the mix of known public figures and hip young writers does its job
Like him, admire him, or hate him, the one thing that can’t be denied about Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party is the intricate and well-oiled propaganda machine keeping Dear Leader in power. Both...
Serbia: COVID-19 and government repression
Serbia has imposed extremely restrictive measures to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike most other European countries, the Balkan state introduced a weekday curfew lasting from 5 PM to 5 AM, as well...
Belarus and COVID-19: how to milk cows distantly
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko seems to be under pressure to impose strict measures against COVID-19. Presently, Belarus and Sweden are the only countries in Europe where life goes on...
Analyzing Sinn Fein’s victory in the 2020 Irish election
In what will probably be the top story in Irish politics this year, Sinn Fein, the oldest and most controversial political party in Ireland, scored an enormous upset in the 2020 general election,...
The British Budget
Turns out there is a magic money tree after all, or perhaps new Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been delving down the back of a really big sofa somewhere in the Treasury building. Austerity, the watchword...
The Polish bus with a difference
Trundling across Warsaw’s freezing streets and packed tight with weary passengers, the MPP bus looks just like any other in the city. The interior resembles that of all Warsaw’s buses; there’s...
Energy-poor Europe torn between Russian and American gas
European countries are gradually reducing their dependence on Russian gas, but at the same time the Old Continent risks becoming dependent on the American liquefied natural gas (LNG). In an attempt...
Brexit: a failure in the art of human imagination
As this article goes live, the United Kingdom has withdrawn from the European Union. The Brexiteers, led by Nigel Farage and co, seem to be preparing a massive party to mark the moment. While I do...