“Everything I say is a lie” has long been a favourite puzzle for philosophy students. But it took a Hungarian politician to turn a logical conundrum into a political strategy. Ferenc Gyurcsány's admission in 2006 to a closed session of the Hungarian Socialist party that he had “lied morning, noon and night” to win the election, was swiftly leaked. It provoked riots in Hungary.
Amazingly Mr Gyurcsany managed to soldier on as prime minister and only stepped down a couple of months ago. But Hungary, a country of just 10m people, now faces an economic and social crisis so deep that its fate is being watched with interest and alarm from Washington to Brussels.
At the Group of 20 leading nations' summit in London last month, the country's name was whispered in the corridors, as world leaders scanned the horizon for the next stage of the global economic crisis. The International Monetary Fund had put together a rescue package for Hungary last October – but many feared it would not be enough. Barack Obama, the US president, even spoke out, warning Americans in March to ensure that “problems that exist in emerging markets like Hungary or Ukraine don't have these enormous ripple effects that wash back on to our shores”. (This statement was greeted with a certain irritation in Hungary, where many are under the impression that their economy is underwater because of a tidal wave that started from American shores.)