Traffic jams in Budapest are a common enough occurrence. A traffic jam in a cemetery though? That’s something I’d never seen before. Cars queuing to get out of a place people are literally dying to get into. Police on point duty waving their neon-colour batons in an attempt to maintain some sense of movement in a place usually known for its inertia. At 5pm on Monday, 1 November, it was all happening at Újköztemet?, the “new” public cemetery out by the airport.  Continue »

The John Bull Automobile Pub in Buda’s District XII on the corner of Maros utca and Csaba utca has recently reopened as the Mezzo Music Restaurant with a revamped interior and menu. Its manager, Károly Papp, aims to serve high-quality food at moderate prices. Head chef István Volenter, who usually cooks for Hungary’s sporting stars during the Olympic Games, is striving for culinary gold. Continue »

Joe Satriani is one of the world’s best guitar players; Mick Jagger asked him to be lead guitarist on his first solo tour, and Satriani later joined Deep Purple as Ritchie Blackmore’s replacement on a Japanese tour. This led to an offer to be a permanent member of the band but he declined, preferring to build his solo career. Continue »

In the latest chapter of a battle between the current and previous owners of gas trader Emfesz, a Swiss court has struck down an appeal by Mabofi (the previous owner) that sought a limitation of RosGas’s ownership rights.  Continue »

A study by the Market Intelligence Group of the European Travel Commission says the industry is on course for recovery, with growth around 2% in the first half of the year and data suggesting this had continued in the third quarter. Continue »

US Fed decision on QE2 supports CEE markets. As last week’s US Federal Reserve decision about launching the long-awaited QE2 quantitative easing, or bond buying, programme slightly over-fulfilled expectations, worries about CEE financial markets can diminish. Money will keep flowing into emerging markets in the forthcoming quarters and CEE assets should benefit from that.  Continue »

At first reading the 2011 budget may seem convincing but closer examination suggests that the Fidesz government has taken a huge gamble that could backfire. It hopes to keep the deficit below three per cent without reducing spending and while introducing tax cuts.  The government is reckoning on GDP growth of three per cent or above and has essentially left no budget reserve to fall back on. It is very optimistic regarding the revenue capacities of the new taxation structure and is rechanneling assets in private pension funds to the state coffers. Continue »