In a turn of events that has left conservatives reaching for their smelling salts and liberals for their glitter cannons, Budapest has held its first Pride parade since Viktor Orban was unceremoniously shown the door. The march, a technicolour tsunami through the city's cobbled streets, was less a celebration and more a victory lap for liberal democracy. Bystanders report seeing grown men weep, not from tear gas, but from sheer, unadulterated joy.
One parade organiser, a gentleman whose moustache could only be described as 'aggressively waxed,' told our correspondent: 'We finally have a government that doesn't view LGBTQ+ rights as a foreign plot to destabilise the nation's moral fibre.' The UK, ever the diplomatic cherub, has welcomed this progress with all the enthusiasm of a hungover student discovering a full English breakfast. Downing Street released a statement that, for once, didn't sound like it was written by a sentient spreadsheet.
'We applaud Hungary's commitment to the European values we all hold dear,' it read, before promptly returning to squabbling about Brexit. But let us not be churlish. This is a genuine victory.
A sign that the pendulum of history, so often swung by demagogues and their greasy cronies, is finally creaking back towards decency. For now, at least, the rainbow flag flies high over Budapest. And if there's a lesson in all of this, it's that even the darkest tunnel eventually leads to a disco ball.
