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Nick Thorpe

NICK THORPE (Upnor, England, 1960) has lived in Budapest since 1986, reporting on East Central Europe and the Balkans for the BBC, The Independent, The Guardian and The Observer newspapers. Since 1996, he has been the BBC Central Europe correspondent. His book ’89 The Unfinished Revolution – Power and Powerlessness in Eastern Europe was published by Reportage Press in London in November 2009. His next book, on the River Danube, will be published by Yale University Press in 2013.

‘HISTORY DOES NOT REPEAT ITSELF’

The House of Terror at Ten – Director Mária Schmidt in conversation with Nick Thorpe NT: Let’s start at the very beginning. You opened ten years ago, amidst great controversy: about the establishment of your museum, about its name, about the rather dramatic outward appearance, and about the combination in one

THE GREENING OF THE DANUBE

Restoring Oxbows in Austria and Germany Up to the middle of the 19th century, the Danube was a free-flowing wild river in most parts. Maps, pictures and travel reports from that time show a varied river landscape with narrow gorges and wide basins. The Danube consisted, apart from the largest

VIKTOR ORBÁN IN STRASBOURG: RETURN MATCH

On 7 February, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke before the European Parliament in Strasbourg – at his own request – to explain his government’s policies and face MEPs’ questions. This followed a previous appearance in January 2011, during which he came under sustained attack. This time, he and his

MAPPING POVERTY

The Roma Strategy NT: What have been the results of your first months in office?ZB: The first result – and this is a very important one for Hungary, not just for me personally – has been the creation of the European Framework for Roma Integration. In our presidency of the EU last

THE MAIN VICTIM IS NATURE

In the 1980s and 1990s, Jaromír Šíbl was one of very few Slovaks to openly oppose the massive Gabčíkovo–Nagymaros hydroelectric project on the River Danube. The contract to build it was signed in 1977 by the Communist governments of Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and work began immediately on both sides of the

ANGELS AND DEVILS

What Is Happening in Hungary Today? NT: The Fidesz government stands accused of a wide variety of crimes…Is there any sense in which you would admit that government steps are reducing Hungarian democracy? GS: The list is so long that it is in itself suspect. It means – with only a slight

A DIFFERENT DIGITAL DIVIDE

Tamás Roska (b. 1940) is co-inventor of the CNN Universal Machine, a host of cellular universal computers on a single chip (with L. O. Chua, 1992), and the analogic CNN Bionic Eye, a cellular universal computer inspired by the operation of the retina (with F. S. Werblin and L. O.

BRANCUSI AT HOME

A wooden house in a garden of mulberry trees, with a deep well for a summer’s day, a stone path over the lawn, and outhouses packed to the brim with corn-cobs. There is also an assortment of outhouses, barns and sheds with old farm implements and cartwheels attached to the

‘SOMETIMES WE DO REACH CONSENSUS’

The 45-year-old Fidesz politician hails from Veszprém in western Hungary, and trained as a lawyer. He has represented the Veszprém constituency in Parliament since 2006, when he also became leader of the Fidesz Parliamentary faction, then in opposition. In April 2010 he was named Minister of Public Administration and Justice,

‘NOBODY LIFTED A FINGER’

On 25 October 2011, King Michael I of Romania celebrated his 90th birthday in Bucharest, with a speech to Parliament, a gala performance in his honour in the Opera and other public and private festivities. Crowned king of Romania first as a child in 1927, then as a young man