LÁSZLÓ KÖVER is not a man to be messed with. Not only does he have the most luxuriant moustache in Hungary's parliament, he is also speaker of that august institution.

And parliament, he has declared, will not be disrespected. Mr Köver has banned index.hu, Hungary's most popular news portal, from reporting from the chamber after two of its reporters made a video entitled "Merry Christmas Hungarian democracy".

The video mocks the government, its relentless centralisation and the supine MPs of the ruling Fidesz party. This bunch are so obedient that many have just voted themselves out of a job, after parliament approved a new electoral law reducing the number of MPs from 386 to 200. (Those likely to lose their seats have all been promised comfortable sinecures in the state administration, say diplomatic insiders.)

But behind the seasonal fun, there is a serious point. Parliament is being serially disrespected, say critics: not by journalists, but by a government that has rushed through a tsunami of legislation with barely any consultation, and which ignores or overrides opposition proposals.

Even Mr Köver, a hardcore Fidesz loyalist, has admitted as much. Yet Fidesz MPs' latest proposal is to further speed up the pace of change.

Parliament's press office says that Index may return to its gilded corridors once it provides guarantees that its reporters will behave respectfully. For now the news portal is reporting on proceedings via state television, with expert punditry and analysis from "Vak Páli" (Blind Paul)

Meanwhile, in the interests of journalistic solidarity, Eastern Approaches offers the following joke, bravely facing the risk of itself being banned from parliament:

Q: What is the difference between a flock of sheep and the Fidesz parliamentary fraction?

A: Sheep have a mind of their own.

Over to you, Mr Speaker.