Viktor Orbán’s Hungary has been a “source of inspiration” for Donald Trump in leading a worldwide lurch towards right-wing politics, said Al Jazeera. But as Hungarians prepare to vote in parliamentary elections on Sunday, polls suggest Orbán and his Fidesz party may be heading for defeat.

Trump’s ‘vision for Europe’
“Pro-Kremlin, anti-EU strongman” Orbán has spent nearly two decades “building a template for Christian nationalist rule”, said Axios, and Hungary is now the “cornerstone of President Trump’s vision for Europe”. Under Orbán, the country has “firmly” aligned itself with “far-right parties and immigration restrictionists” in nations including France and Germany, said Al Jazeera. While this has “mired relationships in Europe”, Hungary has been the “centre of the Trump administration’s shifting policy” towards the continent.

“Whatever Hungary decides will resonate throughout Europe,” said Argentina’s President Javier Milei during a speech at last month’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Budapest. Orbán is a “beacon” for those who “refuse to accept that the West’s destiny is one of managed decline”.

‘Blueprint for reshaping Western democracy’
Should Orbán’s government fall, the “dreams” of his authoritarian admirers in Trump’s Maga movement “might be shattered”, said Vox. As a “close Russian ally,” Orbán’s defeat would also be a “considerable boon to the Ukrainian war effort”. So Hungary’s elections could end up as “one of the most significant elections of the entire year”.
 
An Orbán loss would prompt authoritarian allies to ask “what it could mean for them”, said Salon. His departure would “reverberate well beyond Hungary”, said Reuters, and call into question the “durability of a political system” that is “touted as a blueprint for reshaping Western democracy” by many conservatives.

“I admire what you are fighting for,” J.D. Vance said at a pro-Orbán rally in Budapest this week. The US vice president’s visit is unlikely to change the electoral calculus in Hungary, where “domestic issues such as the ⁠cost of living dominate the election”, said Reuters. But no matter what happens in Hungary’s immediate future, Orbán’s global footprint will surely be felt for years to come.

As the tensions and violence in the Gulf region spark an exodus from Dubai, many of the city’s wealthy former residents are heading to Milan.

Obsession with reinvention
Italy’s flat-tax regime means that foreign residents pay €300,000 (£259,620) a year on all overseas income, which is “small change for the world’s wealthiest”, said The Guardian. Interest in living in Italy was taking off even before the Iran war, after Britain scrapped its non-dom status and Portugal tightened similar rules.

But “tax policy alone does not explain the surge”, said the Economic Times. Italy’s “strong legal framework, EU membership, and relatively stable economy” also make it a “compelling choice” for the privileged. As wealthy families move to “safer European bases”, Milan, in particular, is enjoying “historic spikes” in luxury real-estate sales, with property prices in the city rising by 38% over five years.

“Unlike more poetic cities like Rome or Venice”, said The Times, Milan “actually works” and doesn’t have an issue with “overtourism”. Its “strategic location” offers “easy access to the lakes, mountains and coast”, and there’s an “obsession” with “reinvention”, so there’s “always something new to see or do”. Hotels, restaurants, bars and private members’ clubs are “cranking up the standards of hospitality” in Milan, which is also home to the Borsa Italiana stock exchange, leading banks and global fashion houses. And the “tap-in tap-out” metro means commuters and visitors can “whizz around the city quicker than ever”, while a new “superfast” railway links the city centre and Linate airport. 

Tax dumping
Whether Milan can permanently dethrone Dubai in the affections of the super-rich “remains to be seen”, said The Guardian. There are “still questions” about “how far Italy can push its advantage”, and France’s former prime minister François Bayrou has accused Italy of “tax dumping”, an allegation that Italian leader Giorgia Meloni dismissed as “utterly baseless”.

Milan may not be the new Dubai, said Eastern Eye, but it has become a “strategic second home for global elites”, as a “compelling alternative for those prioritising European stability”.

Racegoers walk the pink carpet as Ladies Day returns to Aintree Racecourse. An estimated 50,000 punters donned their glad rags for the second day of this year’s Randox Grand National Festival in Merseyside.

Paul Ellis / AFP / Getty Images

Devon: Middle Stoke House, Holne, Newton Abbot
A Victorian family house set in just over four acres within the Dartmoor National Park, with wonderful views over the River Dart. 5 beds, family bath, shower room, kitchen/breakfast room, 3 receps, gardens, paddocks, parking. £1.25 million; Knight Frank

North Yorkshire: Hollins Farm, Richmond
Superb 18th century house with grounds of approx. 1 acre. 3 suites, 2 further beds, family bath, kitchen/dining room, 2 receps, study, garden, outbuilding. OIEO £695,000; GSC Grays.

West Sussex: Slipe, Twineham Lane, Haywards Heath
Fine Grade II* 15th century house. 4 beds, 3 baths, kitchen, 4 receps, study, gardens; 1.5 acres. £1.85 million; John D. Wood & Co.

Suffolk: The Sparrows Nest, Ousden
This charming Grade II cottage, believed to date back to the late 17th century, has a garden that wraps around the house overlooking the neighbouring field. 3 beds, family bath, kitchen, 2 receps. £550,000; Bedfords. 

Cornwall: Hustyn Gate, St Breock
Picturesque country residence, set within approx. 2.3 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens and grounds. Main suite, 4 further beds, 3 baths, kitchen/diner, 3 receps, utility, 2-bed detached annexe; 2.3 acres. £1.3 million; Rohrs and Rowe.

Grumbling about long airport queues now? Leave it out
Martin Samuel in The Times
I’m enjoying the “polemics” of columnists “who campaigned for Brexit and now complain bitterly about being stuck” in “slow-moving queues” at EU airports as new border controls kick in, writes Martin Samuel. According to the Brexiteers, the blame lies with “those dastardly Europeans”, for “not walking behind us” and “clearing up our mess”. But it’s “not their problem” that “we’re out” of the Schengen zone. Own “the choices you made” and “get to the back of the queue”.

Keir Starmer deserves our thanks… but he won’t get it
John Rentoul in The Independent
“You really feel for” Keir Starmer sometimes, writes John Rentoul. The “mood of the British public” and press is “one of unceasing negativity”. But he was “bang on the money” about the Iran conflict, “remained calm” when insulted by the “hoodlum in the White House”, and “convened a coalition of countries” to “work to protect the Strait of Hormuz”. Our PM has “done the right things”, yet when living standards “are hit again”, he’ll “take the blame”.

I baulked at the idea of ‘friction-maxxing’. But there’s more to it than meets the eye
Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian
Friction-maxxing is about doing things in more “analogue ways”, writes Gaby Hinsliff. “Using road signs” rather than satnav, “trying to remember” stuff rather than “falling back on Google” – it sounds like an “irritating” rebrand “of what used to be considered merely living”. But “that’s the point”. By not “outsourcing” everyday tasks to AI tools, we “slow down” and rub up “against the outside world”. It’s “how you know you are alive”, and we should all “be maxxing out on that”.