He doesn't have a great taste for beautiful women
though, does he?

Looks like you'll be less hampered by UK libel laws soon enough, as everyone seems to have had enough of them http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15179462

My goodness! Ugly bug ball contestants -all three!
Include Lendvai in the frame and you have the first four winners in the UBB competition.
Lendvai has appeared on Reggeli TV for the past few days being interviewed about the MSZPs performance past and present.
A public health warning should be given prior to her appearance because she has the most ugly and evil face anyone has ever seen.

@Nadrág, Benny - I think you're being a bit rough, at least on the wife.

"Revealed by the British Press'? As it usually happens on this site, no source is properly quoted. So, let me remind you: you have to quote the newspaper, the issue (no., year)where the story about the former employee's misdeeds. The 'British Press' means nothing, it's exactly the way stories were made before '89 in Communist newspapers. The link posted by another gentleman here has (as usual, as well) almost nothing to do with the story. It's something about libels against hate speech in the UK. If the British citizen behaved 'undiplomatic', you behaved out of any law of decent publishing: so, regardless what he had really done here, your text is simply a gossip. It's the tradition of your site, anyway.
Oh, I almost forgot: why you use the name 'caboodle'? There is already a caboodle.com'. Are you a subsidiary of this other site? Your homepage does not say a word about it. I will ask those guys, as well. I think it's worth it.

Mark,

" Being the deputy ambassador to a country like Hungary is such a zero of a job that..."

Is this an example of the anti-Hungarian bias you post about?

@Sophist
You, Olga and Viking are beginning to concern me. You see me behind every post, even POLITICAL PEST. May I recommend to all three of you to get boyfriends or find comfort in each other’s company. It must be terrible to be that desperate. Wishing you a nice friend or something or whatever…

Fisher has since been rewarded for his boorishness with a posting as ambassador to the Dominican Republic (and Haiti)
---
Well, as I understand the Earth opened and shook in response to that posting.
Earthquake devastation emerges in Haiti:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8456819.stm
--
Anyone understand what the Yank is complaining about above?

Mark--Get used to it my friend,when they are confused they look for excuses :)

Hi Ricsi,
They are entertaining. Have a super day!

@ Viking

You know what you, Sophist and I have in common? ( I am sure Wolfi is not part of it and I don't know about Vandorlo)

We all have children who are 1/2 Hungarian.

We always joked about them being Mongrel and in the past I have often been referred to by our friends as "the gypsy"

No one but no one we know would be aware of the derogatory meaning of those 2 words as used on this website.

For what it's worth, my husband's background is Irish and German - he shows zero interest in his background.

My daughter is very interested in Hungary, my son is not.

Some adult adoptees need to search for their roots, others don't.

How people feel about their background is their business, is it not?

About Steven Fisher - I am not sure of the details because I am not interested but I heard on the radio while driving that some Politician's wife in the UK was having an affair with some guy young enough to be her son. I assume that should overshadow the Fisher story .

Olga. Why do you always in your own turgid way try to tie everything into a "race issue" poking the stick at mark and his buddies?
Who gives a flying fuck about you and your family and friends and what politicians wives are doing with their toyboys in the UK?
Hungary is being "fucked" every which way by incompetent and corrupt politicians, and millions are without jobs and struggling to keep a roof over their head.
We are not interested in your struggle with Jobbik supporters. We are more interested in getting rid of the MSZP government and their conniving supporters.
I'M surprised that you have enough time to post so much rubbish, what with washing dishes, cooking dinner, wiping the snot from your kids noses etc.
I suggest you spend more time in the "bedroom" and relieve some of that "night starvation" you're obviously suffering from.

How people feel about their background is their business, is it not?
olga at January 13, 2010 3:35 PM
---
Should be, but in Jobbik-land it will be a Capital Crime not to honour your 'Tiszta Magyar'-roots obviously.
-
It is a pity that Mark is so thick he cannot understand Sophist very simple question and instead just post the normal BS.
He got a hand full of 'anti-Hungarianism' from Sophist, but being the clever dog he is, he bit the hand.
And what do we do with dogs like that?
-
Personally I would classify the statement:
"Being the deputy ambassador to a country like Hungary is such a zero of a job"
as being *not pro-Hungarian*.
If it fills the requirement for 'anti-Hungarian' we should let the 'experts' decide, but they are so busy not answering anything, only to BS.
I suppose it stretches their intellectual capacity.

@fumsi: Link is in; forgot to do so before because there was a choice of several. And you are full of crap in saying this site doesn't link out; it does way more than most.

@ sitcom

In response to your question: "Who gives a flying fuck about you and your family and friends..."

Obviously you do. "I'M surprised that you have enough time to post so much rubbish, what with washing dishes, cooking dinner, wiping the snot from your kids noses etc.
I suggest you spend more time in the "bedroom" and relieve some of that "night starvation" you're obviously suffering from."

I would say that's rather personal.

Moving on : "We are more interested in getting rid of the MSZP government and their conniving supporters." - According to the Polls, FIDESZ is expected to win a majority.

I am not going to ask you what parties you support.

Just name the parties you would like Hungarians to choose from. The answer would require the name of the parties with no comments. If you feel it's not my business or that you don't want to post that, no problem.

Mark,

"You see me behind every post, even POLITICAL PEST"

No, I'm just interested to know if you really believe what you write, or you're feeding us a line. According to your "purpose" here:

"I see some of the biased anti-Hungarian reporting, staring with the selection of topics and hope to balance it a little"

What do regard as anti-Hungarian about this site? Please illustrate with examples, and show us how your posts have "balanced [them] a little".

Olga,

"We all have children who are 1/2 Hungarian."

You're on own with the "half Hungarian", by my lights my kids are Hungarian kids who have an English Dad. Only geneticists would regard them as half English. Linguists would regard them as bilingual, but speaking English hardly counts for much, most of my Hungarian students can do that, and my wife certainly can.

For me culture is crucial, and I don't regard my presence at home as representative let alone exhaustive of English culture.

@ Sophist

You are right

If they were brought up in Hungary and my husband and I lived there, they would be Hungarian.

McDonalds, Tesco, Ikea, and TV programs that are mind-chillingy bland in the extreme, cheap Chinese imports that fall apart after a week, EU conformity,
synthetic fibres, ipods,rap, programmed clones for neighbors, multiculturalism etc. etc.
I have tried to escape all these things by getting on a plane to various destinations around the world
but always fail. Hungary is fast losing its identity and becoming another victim of the ever-growing tide of consumerism aimed at reducing
everything to the lowest common denominator.

Question is if pre-1990 was the time of real anti-consumerism?
People had money, but not so many products to buy.

@TTFN: Have you tried Mauritania or Burkina Faso?
I've been to both and I didn't see a single IKEA
meatball or iPod store in either of them. Of course,
most people there are hungry, illiterate and have a
life expectancy of around 45, but still, if it means
not having IKEA meatballs iPods and other
dehumanizing western consumer items, it's paradise!

I was in a McDonalds establishment in Siofok (against my will). A fat Polish woman drove me there and made me eat something that I can only describe as tasting something akin to horse meat. Washed down with a tasteless soft drink that did nothing for the pearly whites.
A coach drew up with a party of twenty. Mainly kids/teenagers. They were delighted with the half-cooked, fast food, and the sugared water drinks that guaranteed them a visit to the dentist the very next day.
They stayed no more than ten minutes and went merrily on their way again.
The bill? Don't ask. A small fortune!!!

Erik,

"Have you tried Mauritania or Burkina Faso?
I've been to both and I didn't see a single IKEA
meatball or iPod store in either of them."

Something of a false dichotomy, IKEA or 3rd World: surprisingly, I managed to get educated in the UK, and life expectancy was above 70 before IKEA et al turned up. There is a real issue here. Businesses in a small country like Hungary are swamped when multi-national capital turns up.

Consider TESCO. The quality of their products and service in the UK is infinitely better than in Hungary, because they face stiff competition from Sainsbury, Wallmart (in the guise of ASDA) and Morrisons. When a business of that scale invests in a small undeveloped market like Hungary they quickly buy up 50%+ of the Market and achieve massive economies of scale. When it invests in a developed market like France, however it gets its ass kicked.

"In 1994, Tesco achieved full ownership of 104 French Catteau sores...a move that was not to succeed, since three unprofitable years later it had retired with a very bloody nose. It is not difficult to see that while France held significant prospects for Tesco, Catteau was marginal and difficult to manage the company. This was followed by a change of plan - a move to areas that perhaps Tesco could dominate, through a presence in the growing markets of central Europe. They took a stake in 50 Global shops in Hungary..."

"The Grocers", Seth and Randall, (2001) pg 42

"Tesco ... retired with a very bloody nose."

Just as Walmart turned its back on Germany after losing hundres of millions of € ...

PS and OT: The (German owned) Interspar is way better than Tesco in Hungary - but what about Auchan ? I haven't been there yet, there's none in our vicinity, would it be worth a try if we get to Siofok or Budapest ?

what about Auchan
wolfi at January 14, 2010 1:35 PM
----
Madar-Tesco (French) as the locals call it.
It is cheaper in general, but the best is Metro (German), but you need to have a company to get the entrance-card. They have normally the cheapest gasoline also (with the card).
All according to my wife, being married I do not shop.
-
In the UK Tesco was selling Hungarian wine, so it is not always so bad, but with their purchase power they can get better prices.
-
If I compare the Swedish market, that was very protected and where the local councils very much worked with the local shop-owners to block Aldi and that other cheap German chain I forgot now, the overall cost for food has gone from one of the highest in Europe 10-15 years ago, to a much lower level, competitive to other European countries. Also the quality in some senses are higher (if you pay a bit more), that choice did not exist before.
One must understand the Swedish market was extremely controlled by 3 local chains, one co-operative and 2 privates. They kept the price up.
-
Being here since 1993 (and seeing my wife shopping) I would say we do have more alternatives and over-all cheaper prices today, than what we had 10-15 years ago.
I would not claim that the introduction of international chains has been all bad in Hungary. The quality and prices of many of those old small shops were not the best before. Also, for those who actually shop, running around in 10 shops for the bi-weekly shopping is not so fun.

@Viking:

Thanks for the info, so we'll give it a try some time.

PS: Strange, you don't accompany your wife on shopping trips ? Well maybe it's because you're a hardworking guy, me, I'm retired so have time on my hand - actually I like shopping ...

PPS and totally OT:

You should visit our "outlet city" Metzingen with more than two dozen giant factory outlets (not too far from where we live in Germany) and the hordes of people from all over the world who come there for really cheap quality products from Boss, Esprit, Levi's, S'Oliver,Burberry's you name it ...

Or maybe better send your wife ...