Salman reviewed The Needs of Strangers in 1984 and we became friends. I was there when he went into hiding in 1989 and used to see him during his confinement. Now I pray he survives and lives to defy his tormentors once again.
Ian Davey, who was my chief of staff, when I was in politics, died on Friday. Here we are dining together, Zsuzsanna, Jill,Ian, Dan Brock and me, back in 2008, in happier times. I learned so much from him. I miss him and mourn his loss.
When my brother and zsuzsanna met the first time she said she wanted to meet “ a washing bear”. A raccoon ,said Andrew and
gave her this coin purse .
Today ,after Andrew’s funeral, as custom requires ,people put a memento in the coffin. She laid the worn purse next to him.
Wishing all our friends the kind of happiness in the new year depicted here : a cappuccino, a cornetto, a grappa and a splendid book on Caravaggio. Sharing it all with my own beloved photographer in Rome. Happy New Year !
@ClaudiaLennhoff
We did not know your mother. We do not know you. But the feeling of loss is a feeling we do know. One consoling thought; your mother had what every parents wants,hopes for; a child ,you, who loved her the way you did and still do. She will stay part of you till the end .
Pushkin Press has republished four of my books and this one-The Needs of Strangers—has just about everything I’ve ever written or thought about since: solidarity, freedom and the politics of the good. So happy to see it on the shelves again!
My university is recruiting students in the subways of Budapest for our new campus in Vienna. The cut-line: “ knowledge knows no is invincible.Apply to CEU”
There are no words yet just overwhelming sorrow. Words will come as there is so much to say about the cherished son, brother, husband to Kaisha and friend to many- zsuzsanna and I amongst them-but we are still trying to accept the fact of his death.
Trevor Harrison 1986-2022
Second visit to Vermeer. Fifteen minutes in the almost empty exhibition rooms - due to our supreme luck- and good bye to this extraordinary gathering of pictures.
This week Pushkin Press is publishing a revised, updated edition of my biography of Isaiah Berlin.
"In a dark century, he showed what a life of the mind should be: sceptical, ironical, dispassionate and free."
Here we are: my son, Theo and daughter Sophie,getting ready for Theo’s wedding to Jesca tomorrow in Toronto. Wishing the happy couple lifelong happiness.
Central European University is a remarkable school. It should stay in Hungary. Ron Daniels President of Johns Hopkins thinks we should stay. The government thinks otherwise. Read on . . .
My next book - on Consolation- includes a chapter about music and Mahler. So we paid our respect at his and his small daughter’s grave today in Grinzing,Vienna.
Its my last day as Rector and President of Central European University, Budapest and Vienna. Wonderful institution, extraordinary experience. This is my goodbye message to some wonderful people at CEU
Yesterday the European Court of Justice ruled that ‘lex CEU’ violates Hungary’s commitments under the World Trade Organization and infringes on the provisions of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights relating to academic freedom. Vindication for CEU!
Birthday week end in Paris. Dinner with friends, people watching in cafes and Kurtag’s Fin de Partie at Opera Garnier Saturday. Just visited Beckett’s grave - the opera is based on his play.
Waiting to board Ryanair for Dublin to deliver the Edmund Burke lecture at Trinity College tomorrow. “Democracy and the Legacy of Revolutionary Violence.”
“I teach therefore I am” a sign at the Paris demonstration in memory of Samuel Paty murdered for teaching freedom of speech to his students.
May his loss not be in vain.
Another birthday of Zsuzsanna ,another present from me .The small glass vase falls in the category summed up by my mother—in - law as “ something you did not know you needed or even wanted but now you love it”. Happy 76 my dear wife.
CEU Expresses Support for Hong Kong Universities via
@ceuhungary
Anybody who loves universities as free and civil spaces must feel sorrow and anger at what is happening in Hong Kong.
Festival of philosophy in modena italy 45 lectures in the streets and squares. Amazing experience. I give a talk called Thinking for Yourself. Hardest thing in the world.