Hajdúszoboszló on my mind

BACK IN THE LATE EIGHTIES, as communism was hawking up arterial blood, I used to cross Bartók Béla street in Buda on my way to check out the action at the István Bibó Szakkollégium, a “special” university institute that was one of the hotspots of the democratic attack. The current prime minister, Viktor Orbán, president János Áder and the speaker of parliament, László Kövér, all studied there, as did Anikó Lévai, Orbán’s wife, who like many wives, doesn’t get enough credit. Whoever selected the students played a blinder.

The Gellért Hotel, one of Budapest’s most famous, is at the start of Bartók Béla Street and back then was rather down on its luck, like the rest of the street. There were some splendid old flats and houses just up the hill, usually in need of renovation, but for the street it was as if the Second World War had recently ended. The hurly-burly was