Avsnitt
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Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull has been at the forefront of trans-exclusionary women's rights for a decade. She is the founder of Let Women Speak, and, in 2018, began a poster campaign involving the slogan “Adult Human Female”. The seemingly innocuous definition of ‘a woman’ became a flashpoint for transgenderist activists in the UK.
In 2021, she began a hugely controversial speaking tour of the Antipodes, which resulted in her being denounced by government ministers in Australia, and, in New Zealand, attacked by a mob of activists.
On this special edition of Danube Politics, Danube Institute President John O’Sullivan talks to her about her recent victory in the UK Supreme Court — clarifying existing equalities legislation to agree with the ‘adult human female’ definition. And takes a broader sweep of a life of courage. Has the tide finally turned on women’s sex-based rights? And what of relations between the sexes? Is her brand of feminism the answer? Or is it only in a temporary alliance with the broader trunk of conservative thought?
Danube Politics is the current affairs strand of the Danube Institute’s podcast output, committed to bringing Hungarian Conservatism to the English-speaking world and beyond.
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Metaphysics is back.
That’s the word from Nathan Levine, author of the hugely popular Substack, The Upheaval, and a Visiting Fellow at the Danube Institute.
Nathan is one of the most crisp thinkers in meta-politics today, and here he goes into depth with the DI’s Head of Research, Calum Nicholson. on what we can expect, as the old structures, the liberal order that has presided since 1945, begins to break down.
As he points out, the fables we told ourselves about rule of law, human rights, central planning, neoliberalism, and the supremacy of the individual, are all beginning to warp and fold beneath the pressures of multiple simultaneous revolutions: in tech, in communications, and in the functioning of democracy itself.
Yet what is to come still has not quite been born. We are in an interregnum, between worlds. The technocratic age, the scientistic age, is fading away, and what comes after will have to rely more on ‘magic’, on the right-brain, the Gestalt understanding of who we are.
But if we can no longer rely on plans and machines to fulfil our dreams, what even are we?
Danube Politics is the current affairs strand of the Danube Institute's podcast output. Subscribe and follow for more.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Can India become a similar global player to China one day? Can it be a power for counterbalancing China? In which sectors is India already a leading power? And is its neutrality on world conflicts and its political parallelism sustainable?
We spoke with Dr. Saroj Bishoyi, a Senior Fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation, who delivered a lecture at the MCC Budapest Summit on Technology and Society.
The Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based conservative think tank that asks the Institute's guests, decision-makers, experts, academics, and politicians about their unique ideas.
Host: Tamás Maráczi, a journalist at the Danube Institute.
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When Benjamin Netanyahu flew into Budapest in April 2025, he triggered a political earthquake.
Wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Gaza, the Israeli Prime Minister risked arrest in nearly every European capital. Yet here he was warmly welcomed: the red carpets rolled out, and within days, Hungary announced it would leave the ICC altogether, calling it a “political court.”
Why does Hungary stand apart, not just from the EU, but from the entire liberal international order?
In this episode of Danube Knowledge, host Adam LeBor takes the long view on Hungary’s embrace of Israel, and what it tells us about shifting alliances in the 21st century. He’s joined by Senior Researcher Peter Szitas, co-author of a landmark paper on Hungarian-Israeli relations, and by Researcher Daniel Farkas.
Danube Knowledge is the research brand of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based think tank, specialising in Hungarian affairs, conservatism and geo-economics.
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What does Budapest reveal about Europe’s past—and its possible future? And can the continent recover a sense of political seriousness before the next crisis hits?
In this episode of The View From The Danube, Rod Dreher is joined by Matthew Goodwin, British political scientist and author; István Kiss, Executive Director of the Danube Institute; and Michael O’Shea, visiting fellow at the Institute. Together they trace the growing divide between liberal migration policies and public frustration across the continent. From the UK’s broken border system to Poland’s cautious pragmatism, and Hungary’s unapologetic stance, the panel unpacks what happens when mass migration is reshaping the social and political order of a country. Topics discussed in this episode include:
• The UK’s net migration crisis: most of the migrants are not looking for jobs or cultural assimilation
• Hungary’s model: how tough border policies reshaped the migration debate
• Poland’s growing tensions: economic growth, political ambivalence, and migrant fatigue
• Islamist influence and identity politics in Britain and France
• The backlash against DEI policies and ideological overreach in academia
• Trump’s challenge to the global consensus on migration and national sovereignty
• Tune in now for a sharp, timely conversation on one of Europe’s most explosive issues.
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The View From The Danube is the keystone video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based think tank that aims to bring Conservative perspectives from the Anglosphere together, in the heart of the European capital of Conservativism.
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What were the major factors that could allow the Trump campaign to win the 2024 presidential election? What mistakes did the Democrats make to become disconnected from reality? And what is the significance of CPAC? We asked Sean Nottoli, a campaign manager from the former Trump team and a visiting fellow at the Danube Institute.The Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based conservative think tank that asks the Institute's guests, decision-makers, experts, academics, and politicians about their unique ideas.Host: Tamás Maráczi, a journalist at the Danube Institute.
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In the race for the presidency, a right wing candidate faces off against the mayor of the country’s largest city.
In a rising country, the battle is between two identities: the global, liberal one. Versus a national conservative vision.
As with Romania, so now with Poland.
On Sunday June the first, Eastern Europe’s new powerhouse will decide its destiny.
Will Poland’s next President be the candidate sympathetic to Donald Tusk’s centrist government? Or will the country’s voters turn right – thereby ensuring a legislative logjam until 2027?
For now at least, everything is still to play for. And just as with Romania, it is a game with many turns left to run.
As the race quickens, Gavin Haynes talks to Michael O'Shea, the Danube Institute's Visiting Fellow, who covers the Visegrád states, on whether Karol Nawrocki can do what George Simion could not.
Danube Politics is the current affairs brand of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based think tank, specialising in Hungarian affairs, conservatism and geo-economics.
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The battle against ‘progressive education’ is always ongoing.
This week in Britain, Michael Gove’s successor as Education Secretary, Bridget Philipson, introduced a bill that will take British education back, to a decolonised, knowledge-light world that “centres the learners”, as the jargon goes.
Gove had established a more rigorous, conservative curriculum. It had proved astoundingly successful with learners – albeit less popular with the teaching unions.
Now, the pendulum has swung back, and all the same discredited ideas will soon return to English schools.
Few will have counted the tocks of the pendulum as well as Professor Anthony O’Hear.
From the late 1980s, Anthony advised a number of British governments on education policy, and he set up the department of education at the University of Buckingham.
As he explains to Dr Calum TM Nicholson, he wants to warn us about the dangers of forgetting. And to tell us about the redeeming power of a truly liberal education, in a world of hyper-liberal education.
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Danube Knowledge is a podcast from the Danube Institute, showcasing research and ideas from the research department of the Institute.
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Is IMEC simply an anti-Belt and Road Initiative project, or something more? What can the economic and geopolitical benefits be for the US? Can America reclaim global leadership through soft power ? We spoke with Daniel F. Runde, the director of the Project on Prosperity and Development at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based conservative think tank that asks the Institute's guests, decision-makers, experts, academics, and politicians about their unique ideas.
Host: Tamás Maráczi, a journalist at the Danube Institute.
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As the Conclave begins to elect a new spiritual leader to a billion Catholics, Rod Dreher finds himself looking towards the deeper meaning and purpose of the Papacy, the Church, and religion, in a secular world. Do Catholics need a moderniser, or a traditionalist? Constancy, or renewal? The theme mirrors the great secular debate between populism and the establishment. How much do we need our leaders to be 'relatable'? What is the source of their power: is it ordinariness, or the extraordinary?After all, populist insurgent Nigel Farage is presently toasting big UK wins for his Reform Party in the UK; while establishment conservatives Pierre Poilievre and Peter Dutton were both dumped out of their respective election battles in Canada and Australia. Finally, we turn to Trump’s film tariffs. The latest front in his war for American jobs. Could it ever work? What would it even mean? And what does the global roster of film scripts say about the liquid capital that the modern film business represents? This month, Rod is joined by Lord David Frost of Allenton, former Conservative peer. And Anthony O’Hear, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Buckingham, and Visiting Fellow at the Danube Institute. *** The View From The Danube is the keystone video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based think tank that aims to bring Conservative perspectives from the Anglosphere together, in the heart of the European capital of Conservativism. It stars Rod Dreher, author of The Benedict Option and Living in Wonder, a senior fellow at the Danube Institute, John O’Sullivan, former speechwriter to Margaret Thatcher, the founder and President of the Danube Institute, and Calum Nicholson, the Director of Research. This month, Anthony O’Hear fills in for Calum. With regular guests, we’ll be looking at how Conservatism is changing in a world that is itself changing beyond recognition.
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What world order will emerge after the decline of American hegemony? What is China's big strategy, its foreign policy plan? Why is Hungary significant to China? We asked Yan Xuetong, a prominent Chinese foreign policy expert and the Director of The Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University.
Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based conservative think tank that asks the Institute's guests, decision-makers, experts, academics, and politicians about their unique ideas.
Host: Tamás Maráczi, a journalist at the Danube Institute.
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What is the geopolitical significance of Central Asia? Why did Turkic states form a regional organization? And what is Hungary’s role in it? We spoke with Kubanychbek Omuraliev, the Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States about national identity, economic interests, and connectivity.
The Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based conservative think tank that asks the Institute's guests, decision-makers, experts, academics, and politicians about their unique ideas.
Host: Tamás Maráczi, a journalist at the Danube Institute.
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The new Syrian administration began life with supreme tactical daring. But it will take more than military prowess to hold together this fractured state.
To keep together a tapestry of Alawites, Kurds, Yazidis, Druze and others, it will require a grand pax between the region's biggest players.
Hungary claims a certain status as a 'keystone state' in central Europe. In other words: a country that punches above its weight geopolitically, and is super-connected to the region.
Ibrahim Mammadov, a Researcher at the Danube Institute, is a citizen of what he considers to be another keystone state within its own region: Azerbaijan.
Together, Mammadov points out, the two countries represent a unique geopolitical circuit that encompasses all the key players in any potential Syrian peace deal: Iran, Israel, Russia, Turkey, the US, and to some extent the EU. Could Hungarian-Azeri shuttle diplomacy be the best way to bind together the bigger players?
After all, as the Danube Institute's Director of Research, Calum Nicholson, finds out, the key skill set of mid-ranking keystone states is precisely that they are honest brokers. They can touch the third rail of power without raising the suspicion of others.
You can read Ibrahim's original paper on the Danube Institute's website, here:
https://danubeinstitute.hu/api/v1/companies/381/files/5122155/download
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Hugo Martin wants to turn Hungary into a linguistic superpower.
Inspired by Balázs Orbán’s state strategy of ‘connectivity’, he foresees Hungary using its central place in Europe to leverage language-learning.
He proposes creating a specialised diplomatic corps, to make Hungarians fluent in obscure languages and dialects, giving the country a prime advantage in small or obscure foreign markets that, taken together, represent a big important market.
As he points out, learning foreign languages outside of English or German has become an unaffordable luxury for many of the nation's youth.
Here, he chats to the Danube Institute's Director of Research, Calum Nicholson, about his recent paper sketching out the 'Connectivity Corps'.
You can read Hugo's original paper here: https://danubeinstitute.hu/api/v1/companies/381/files/5122223/download
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How was Donald Trump's vice president discovered in 2016? Why did JD Vance go from critic to Trump supporter, and what led him into politics? We asked Rod Dreher, a senior fellow at the Danube Institute, about American conservatives' antipathy towards the EU elite, the threat of soft totalitarianism, and the film based on his book.
The Danube Lectures is a video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based conservative think tank that asks the Institute's guests, decision-makers, experts, academics, and politicians about their unique ideas.
Host: Tamás Maráczi, a journalist at the Danube Institute.
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In an environment of low interest rates and low returns, private equity was advertised as a clever means to increase returns in a difficulty investment environment. Private equity allows investors to get access to assets that are not traded on the public markets and so, in theory, can offer them exclusive, higher returns. But the private equity structure also risks that a lack of transparency can be used to cover up bad investments and this could even create financial and economic instability. Is private equity driving property bubbles in multiple countries by allowing for a loophole to get around post-2008 bank regulations? Is private equity a blessing or a curse? Analyst David P. Goldman talks to Danube Institute Visting Fellow Philip Pilkington.
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On March 13 of this year, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo, directing the Pentagon’s Performance Improvement Officer to reassign all civilian employees of the Office Of Net Assessment. Fifty two years since it opened, the Office is now closed.
In one sense, Hegseth’s memo is just one more demolition job, in a blizzard of executive orders that have marked the early days of the Trump restoration.
In another, it’s a lot of history to tie up one idle Tuesday.
Few outsiders understood the acronym ONA. But it helped forge the strategy that ended the Cold War, reset the Pentagon’s Chinese strategy, and coined the influential concept of the Revolution In Military Affairs.
This was the Pentagon’s brain. Its cerebral cortex, in fact, concerned with ultra-long-term thinking. Puzzling out real possibilities from the infinite string of potential futures.
And one brain within that brain was Adam Lovinger, whose two decade career at the Office saw him shadow its inspirational founder, Andrew Marshall.
In this episode of Danube Politics, he speaks with DI Visiting Fellow Gavin Haynes about the long timeline of ‘net assessment’ – and its potential revival.
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As Trump’s Tariffs bite, a whole new reality is about to come to the wider world. Yet at the same time, a sense of unreality is setting in, in Western Europe. There, a series of political elites are doubling down their speech repression, trying to put a stopper in an explosive tide of popular discontent. In Britain, the country is locked in a bizarre national debate over a fictional TV show that the political class claims contains real-world policy lessons. In France, Marine Le Pen has been banished at the waving of a judge’s gavel. In Germany, the fight to smother the AfD goes on in another Grand Coalition. How can Europe slip free of its dream state? Or will it continue to tumble – perhaps into the low-grade civil war recently predicted by King’s College War Studies professor David Baetz in a viral podcast appearance? In this episode, we’re joined by the British political scientist, author and commentator Professor Matthew Goodwin. Goodwin’s substack reaches 80 000 inboxes every week. He’s become renowned for his ability to predict populism’s next turn – and he has some bleak predictions for the future state of his own country. The View From The Danube is the keystone video podcast of the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based think tank that aims to bring Conservative perspectives from the Anglosphere together, in the heart of the European capital of Conservativism. It stars Rod Dreher, author of The Benedict Option and Living in Wonder, a senior fellow at the Danube Institute, John O’Sullivan, former speechwriter to Margaret Thatcher, the founder and President of the Danube Institute, and Calum Nicholson, the Director of Research. This month, visiting fellow Gavin Haynes fills in for Calum. With regular guests, we’ll be looking at how Conservatism is changing in a world that is itself changing beyond recognition.
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Billionaire fund manager Bill Ackman says Donald Trump is waging “an economic war against the whole world at once”.
Trump insiders haven’t put it much less dramatically. As Secretary of State Marco Rubio bluntly said, “Markets are crashing because… companies are embedded in modes of production that are bad for the United States.”
For Trump, dismantling global trade interdependence is not a side effect—it’s the point.
But the collateral damage is vast.
ECB board member Isabel Schnabel warned that what Trump triumphantly calls “Liberation Day” “was not liberating” at all, but rather “marks the end of global free trade.”
It is certainly the most dramatic day in global trade since the accession of China to the WTO in 1999. That moment marked the low water mark of tariffs, and the coming of a truly globalised world economy.
So if that era is indeed now over, what does that mean for China? And indeed the manufacturing-intensive Eastern rim?
Trump’s China strategy has always been bullish. Is this a bull in a china shop?
To discuss this Great Leap Forward, Dr Eric Henrdiks is joined by economist Philip Pilkington.
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After a disputed election late last year, the ex-Soviet satellite of Georgia was catapulted towards the top of the Western news agenda.
Its dominant political party, Georgian Dream, has traded on a peculiar mix of conservatism, nationalism and populism. If ‘all nations are conservative about different things’, then Georgia is a particularly esoteric blend. But as Calum Nicholson discovers, at the same time, Georgian Dream party trades on a formula that goes back over a century.
In this episode of Danube Knowledge, he sits down with Danube Institute Visiting Fellow Stefano Arroque, to talk over the history of Georgia’s eternal slogan: “Homeland. Language. Faith.”
If you want to read Stefano’s full paper, you can do so at the link here:
https://danubeinstitute.hu/en/research/homeland-language-faith-how-georgia-embraced-traditionalist-conservatism
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