Hungary is launching a new phase of its family-focused tax policy from 1 January, expanding tax allowances, widening income tax exemptions for mothers and raising several family-related benefits.
Hungary’s minimum wage rose by 11 per cent from 1 January under a nationwide agreement, alongside a 7 per cent increase in the guaranteed wage floor. The pay rise also lifts several social benefits, strengthening household incomes.
‘Though several borders separate the modern states of Hungary and Lithuania, Hungarian readers will find some common history…’
In February, Adrien Brody took home the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of a Hungarian architect, László Tóth, rebuilding his life in the United States after the Holocaust. However, audiences left cinemas yearning to know more about this great Hungarian American, only to be disappointed to discover that he does not exist…
In 2023, the small Israeli community of Nir Oz, located near the Gaza border, became the scene of one of the deadliest attacks in Israel’s recent history.
‘The claim is as follows: conservatives are indeed stupid and lack intellectual curiosity, and the progressives, be they liberals or socialists…have the intellectual firepower on their side.’
Hungary’s rearmament is looking to its traditional German suppliers, while also reaching beyond blocs to Türkiye and Brazil.
Director General of the Center for Fundamental Rights Miklós Szánthó warned that Hungary’s Tisza Party is preparing austerity measures ‘Generation Z has only read about in history books,’ including tax hikes and privatization plans. He also argued that Europe is escalating the conflict in Ukraine while the rest of the world is seeking peace.
‘As the harmful impacts of climate change manifest rapidly, there is a growing need for judicial and similar remedies to address states’ responsibilities for greenhouse-gas emissions, failures in mitigation or adaptation, and related human-rights claims.’
‘Progressive reformers often attack inherited institutions without understanding their purpose. They see a custom, find no use, and abolish it.’
From Hungary to the United States, and from Sweden to Slovenia, 2026 will be a defining election year with consequences far beyond national borders. As conservative and populist forces challenge entrenched elites, several key votes are set to reshape Europe’s political balance and test the durability of the global right’s recent momentum.
The old year has just passed, so, in an effort to reflect on all that happened in the eventful year of 2025, here are the stories that you, our readers, have found the most compelling based on the amount of traffic they received. We hope you enjoy our compilation, and Happy New Year to everyone!
As Britain slides further into Labour-led authoritarianism, free speech is rapidly fading away—unless protestors are shouting about Palestine.
‘Winter hiking is in a category of its own. Not only because mountain lovers should only embark on it if they are well prepared, but also because—especially in snowy periods—we enter an almost mystical wonderland.’
‘From 1974 to the late 1980s, Hungary’s state security closely monitored the Turkish embassy at 45 Úri Street in the Buda Castle, keeping tabs on diplomats, their residences, and even personal correspondence. Newly examined documents reveal how counterintelligence observed NATO diplomats, highlighting both the meticulous methods of the secret services and the routine nature of embassy life.’
All three major US stock indices—the Dow Jones, the S&P 500, and the NASDAQ Composite—returned more this year, with President Trump back in office, than their respective average annual gains in the four years under President Joe Biden. The primary stock index Dow Jones is up 14.32 per cent year-to-date, with two more trading days left on the calendar.
2025 is likely to be remembered as the year the post–Cold War order finally collapsed. From Donald Trump’s return to the White House and his America First diplomacy to the erosion of liberal institutions, trade realignment and the retreat of woke ideology, the foundations of a multipolar world have decisively taken shape.
Russia’s claim that Ukraine attempted a drone attack on President Vladimir Putin’s residence has cast a shadow over fragile peace talks just as negotiations appeared to be nearing a breakthrough. While Kyiv denies the allegation and Washington urges caution, the incident risks hardening positions in Moscow and derailing momentum towards a settlement.
The Game Awards reached a new milestone in 2025, drawing a record 171 million global livestreams and confirming its status as the world’s most-watched video game event. Viewership rose sharply across platforms, driven by co-streaming, global distribution and major premieres.
‘While a successful and prosperous EU is in the best interest of Budapest, unfortunately nothing illustrates what Europe has become in 2025 better than the National Security Strategy of the United States of America, which spoke of the “prospect of [Europe’s] civilizational erasure”.’
‘It isn’t easy to find proper intellectual work here. We talked with the Hungarian ambassador about work possibilities, and it came up that there were more and more Hungarian children in Tokyo, so perhaps I could try founding a Hungarian weekend school—there might be interest.’
Author Adam LeBor gives the Hungarian Conservative his list of must-read thrillers for this holiday season.
For generations, Christmas was not only a time of celebration but also of prediction. Folk traditions held that the weather during the holiday period revealed clues about the coming year’s harvest, summer conditions and overall prosperity.
‘The drinking of wine for social reasons is undeniably a trait of Jesus Christ Himself, as evident when at the Wedding at Cana…’
‘Although the first full year brought policy successes, the Commission has not yet been able to achieve any real success in any of the key areas. The extremely uncertain international political situation and the Commission’s declining authority as a result of its failures do not bode well for the future.’
In his first Christmas address, Pope Leo XIV expressed his hope that the parties in the Russo–Ukrainian war would ‘find the courage’ to start engaging in direct and sincere peace negotiations; and reminded all that while peace comes from the Lord, everyone should take on their own share of responsibility in creating it.
‘The leaders of the most successful small or medium-sized countries tend to be acutely aware of the dexterity required to maintain security…it seems very unlikely that they and others like them will get lost in their own imagination or succumb to the self-fulfilling fatalism of the postmodernist cosmopolitan mind that gave birth to the “end of history”, the “rules-based liberal international order”, and all the rest of that dangerous nonsense.’
‘The comical mercy the victorious mice show the cats makes Cat City the perfect watch with children this Christmas.’
‘On Christmas day in 1944 Hungary, illusion and reality collided. The promise of “liberation” or “redemption” was drowned out by violence, coercion, and fear on all sides. What survives of that Christmas are the testimonies, the fragmentary voices that reveal how ordinary lives were crushed between two brutal systems at the very moment meant for peace.’
The December issue of the National Film Institute’s series has been published, presenting the most important events captured on film in December 1925, including the record amount of snow that fell on Budapest a hundred years ago.