I’m in a good mood this morning, following the glorious victory for the Hatters over… the Hatters…

I’ve been doing European politics with the Liberal Democrats on and off since 1989, long enough to know that it’s always worth waiting a little before declaring that a change of government is good news or not. Indeed, I’ve been around so long that I remember when FIDESZ were a welcome part of the liberal family – and Viktor Orban was its leader in those days too.

But the news that FIDESZ have suffered what looks like a pretty crushing defeat, despite controlling the domestic media, organising constituency boundaries that favour their traditional rural supporters and endorsements by a who’s who of, at best, lukewarm democratic leaders from across the European hard-right, looks at first sight to be a positive. Peter Magyar’s Tisza Party may not be a liberal party in any sense – you’d have to describe it as conservative – but the prospect of a Hungarian government that isn’t cheerleading for Russia and might actually work for a stronger Europe should offer a little hope in the face of the current depressing global events.

Under Orban, Hungary has been a important nexus in the effort to undermine both the European Union and western liberal democracy, which might explain some of the efforts made to prop up the FIDESZ vote in the last weeks of the campaign. And it would be reasonable to expect that the enemies of democracy won’t give up easily, as we’ve seen in Moldova. So, rather than watch this space, supporting the Hungarian people in their efforts to rebuild and secure a democratic future should be the first order of business.

I’ve been a supporter of Israel’s right to defend itself as part of a two-state solution for a long time. But there’s no doubt that this current Israeli administration is, at the very least, hard to love. Regular readers here will know that we’ve published articles supporting both sides of the Israel/Palestine argument, even though it might be easier from an editorial perspective not to – the amount of moderation required places a significant strain on a volunteer editorial team.

There was an obvious rationale to the response of the Israeli government after 7 October… up to a point. There is a line beyond which you are not defending yourself but punishing an entire society for the sins of a minority. I would argue that what the Israeli military are now doing in Lebanon is perhaps more egregious, with accusations of spraying cancer-causing herbicides in the border territories and waves of attacks on communities across Lebanon.

The Israeli government will offer its justifications for its actions, but there must be a risk that the Israeli people, in whose name this war is supposedly being fought, will bear economic and social consequences that will hurt them more than their leaders.

Here at Liberal Democrat Voice, we’ve got a piece attacking the Labour Government for its treatment of poorer students who, it turns out, might not have been eligible for the loans they took out, courtesy of Mick Taylor. Jean-Francois Burford thinks that the pyramid of English football is broken, whilst Gareth McAleer outlines why a return to the European Union could turbocharge our economy and, by extension our public services. And Mathew Hulbert is back. At least, we’re expecting his column this week after a break for the Parliamentary recess. I’ve even managed to write my supposedly regular piece on the Lords this week…

And so, on with another Monday…

* Mark Valladares is the Monday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice.