The fall of Viktor Orbán; an anomaly or a flicker of hope that the tide of populism that threatens to drown liberalism in our age may actually be receding.
Alastair Campbell is buoyed up and sees Orban’s loss as cause for optimism: “Viktor Orbán lost badly,” our editor-at-large writes in this week’s extended diary. “So did Nigel Farage, Marine Le Pen, Alice Weidel’s AfD in Germany, and all who feel their hard right populism cannot be defeated, and that European liberal democracy has had its day.”
Alastair – one of the great phrase-makers of our age – even has a suggestion for a new geo-political power bloc as a first step to EU accession. A grouping of the UK, Ukraine, Norway and Turkey. The acronym alone would be worth it.
Marie Le Conte was in Budapest on election night. Her vivid telling of a city in the throes of dramatic change goes beyond the politics and deep into the experience of the people who kicked Orbán out. It’s a brilliant piece of reporting.
And lest we take Orban’s demise as a cue to chillax; Matthew d’Ancona provides a much-needed word to the wise so far as the daddy of all populists goes, Donald Trump: “The most comforting – and the worst – response is to categorise Trump as a complete aberration, wait out the storm and depend on democracy to restore normality,” he writes.
Still, in a world where everything can seem utterly bleak, we go to great efforts to give you a laugh with some biting satire. Martin Rowson, Tim Bradford, Modern Toss and Richard Jolley all rise to the challenge this week. Martin’s Armageddon image is a special spit-the-cornflakes moment.
The great John Kampfner – whose new book Braver New World is currently dangling irresistibly as a freebie for new subscribers – visits Morocco, where he marvels at the progress this authoritarian regime has made on renewable energy.
Lucy Reade examines the toxicity of OnlyFans – both making sense of the phenomenon for me (and I suspect many of you, dear readers) and making clear the potentially devastating effect OnlyFans will have on relationships in the future. It’s a disturbing read.
James Ball is bewildered that neither Labour nor the Tories appear to be acquiescent in their coming political deaths – particularly as the May local elections loom.
And please welcome one of the most insightful, and witty, writers in the UK – Jonn Elledge as he embarks on a new series of columns for The New World. His first subject: the tax affairs of Richard Tice.
Philip Ball, our scientist-at-large, questions the spirit of pure adventure (or lack of it) involved in the Artemis II mission. Weirdly, this very topic became the subject of the biggest row Matthew d’Ancona and I have had on our Two Matts podcast. Quite unexpectedly, we fell out spectacularly. It’s worth a listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Where Matt and I agree wholeheartedly is in our affection for Albert Camus. Matt has been to see The Stranger, the new film of Camus’ classic story L’Etranger. Having read the review, I can’t wait to see it.
The magazine is packed full of interest this week – from the midnight restaurants of Buenos Aires to the death of a Mexican drug lord, from the strange world of early travel books to the decline of the great comedy film.
