Martin Kettle's Blog, page 14

See Sunak’s green retreat for what it is: a ruthless short-term electoral gamble | Martin Kettle

The PM has calculated that he can gain points with his party membership and skew byelection results. But at what cost?

Rishi Sunak’s retreat from the government’s net zero pledges triggers large- and small-scale conclusions alike. These range from a message about the future of the planet’s place in the prime minister’s priorities, at one extreme, to the anxiety it betrays about how to manage his way through his first party conference as Conservative leader, next month, at the other.

Nevertheless, Sunak’s move should be seen as a short-term electoral gamble rather than a massacre of the entire net zero agenda. That does not mean that it isn’t damaging to the net zero credibility established imperfectly by previous Tory prime ministers, let alone to Britain’s longer-term reputation on climate action. It is all these things. If it is electorally successful, the shift could also become more fundamental and more lasting.

Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist

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Ulez reveals a systemic problem with how UK government works – or rather, doesn’t | Martin Kettle

Most people want cleaner air and a better NHS, but partisan politics gets in the way. To bridge the gap, we need citizens’ assemblies

The surprise Conservative victory over Labour in July’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip byelection did not shift the national opinion polls. But Uxbridge was a pivotal event nevertheless. It delivered an enduring warning about the way modern politicians approach environmental change. It highlighted some of the very real political hazards facing those – in this case the London mayor, Sadiq Khan – committed to otherwise popular policies for which, it now turns out, the ground has not been adequately prepared.

In some respects, Khan was simply unlucky. Without the byelection in Boris Johnson’s former seat, Khan’s plan to extend his ultra-low emission zone to outer London might have come into force this week with relatively little fuss. Yes, there would have been some grumbles and protests but, at most, the Ulez expansion would have led the regional bulletins, not the national news.

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Prom 51: BBCSO/Oramo review – Tetzlaff’s Elgar is as good as one could wish

Royal Albert Hall, London
The violinist gave a masterly performance of Elgar’s violin concerto, well matched by a responsive Sakari Oramo. Judith Weir’s nature-filled Begin Afresh, receiving its premiere, was evocative and full of ideas

Judith Weir’s Begin Afresh, premiered by Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in their latest Prom, is a reflection on trees. Or rather, it is a musical expression of the forces within trees, and what they evoke as the cycle of the seasons change.

Though trees themselves are necessarily static, Weir’s three-movement score is anything but. It ripples sinuously in the spring, with almost a concertante role for lead violin Igor Yuzefovich, pulses mysteriously in the autumn, and is full of mostly quiet activity even in midwinter. Begin Afresh, a title drawn from Philip Larkin, is delicately scored and its ideas are always evolving in a recognisably traditional way. It even gets a bit Tolkienesque at times, with piano and brass conjuring passages that sounded distinctly like music for ents. Oramo and his players did it all proud.

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America on trial: the charges against Trump will decide the fate of a nation | Martin Kettle

The US has no precedents for a former president in the dock, but there are echoes of France’s pursuit of Marshal Pétain

History teaches us few wider lessons. But there are rare exceptions. One of these is that for a nation to put its former leaders on trial is never straightforward. Although such cases are rare, when they do occur they frequently involve the pushing of pre-existing legal boundaries and the reshaping of constitutional norms and assumptions. The evolution of the doctrine of crimes against humanity after the Nuremberg trials in 1945 is the most significant modern example of this.

Both at the time they occur and subsequently, the arguments that surround trials of this kind are almost inescapably political to a significant degree. That was true of the trial and execution of Charles I in 1649, an event that divided England then; and some of those divisions of the 17th century can still be felt today. But it will unquestionably also be true of the trials of the former US president Donald Trump, of which the latest step is due to be taken in Atlanta on Thursday.

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In Northern Ireland, even a data breach can be deadly – and the ripple effects could be disastrous | Martin Kettle

Details about PSNI officers appear to be in the possession of people who may terrorise and kill them. The return of power-sharing has never been more urgent

Half of the people who live in these islands have no adult memory at all of the Northern Ireland troubles. Too many of those who can remember them have allowed the bombings, shootings, riots and violence to slip from their minds in the 25 years that have passed since a peace treaty was signed in 1998. But last week’s data leak by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) ought to be a wake-up call for the forgetful, and a lightbulb moment for the unaware.

Nine days ago, in response to a freedom of information request whose provenance remains unclear, someone in the PSNI mistakenly put the names, initials, ranks, place of work and departments of all of its 10,000 officers and staff online for about three hours before they were removed. Especially in a profession where police and their families were, and sometimes still are, regular targets, it was a spectacular security breach, even in these more peaceful times.

Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist

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In our polarised politics, there are no truly independent MPs – and Westminster is poorer for it | Martin Kettle

For voters, the choice is still between the established parties. A more rational politics remains tantalisingly out of reach

It’s always good to be an independent thinker, right? You can make up your own mind rather than follow the fashion. You trust the facts more than the dogmas or the vogue. You think sensibly, around corners. You call out emperors with no clothes, and warn against the folly of the crowd.

Well, maybe. But when it comes to politics, being an independent is more complicated in practice. In particular, it depends on the circumstances and the political system. To be an independent is very important in times deadened by orthodoxy. It matters just as much in times of polarisation, when those in the middle struggle to have a voice. But when something big is at stake, the independent reflex can seem a bit precious, or worse. So, how does all this apply in 2023?

Martin Kettle is a Guardian associate editor and columnist

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Prom 30: Sinfonia of London/Wilson review – this was Walton on steroids

Royal Albert Hall, London
The vivid immediacy and virtuosity of John Wilson’s Sinfonia made each piece sparkle and thrill, while Leeds winner Alim Beisembayev was a fluent soloist in Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto

On the radio, what you notice first about John Wilson’s Sinfonia of London concerts is the pinpoint quality of the orchestra’s sound. But that is nothing compared to the experience of listening to it live in the Royal Albert Hall, where the vivid immediacy of the playing that he conjures from his musicians is the hallmark attraction of any Wilson Prom. Speaking from recent experience, it is a bit like regaining 20:20 vision after years of peering through the misty glaze of cataracts.

This precision was instantly apparent in the crystalline woodwind opening of Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps, orchestrated shortly before the composer’s early death in 1918, and in the softer and darker writing into which this delicately formed five-minute miniature briefly broadens.

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Prom 24: Bournemouth SO/Karabits – memorable Rachmaninov defines the show

Royal Albert Hall, London
A work by the conductor’s father Ivan Karabits celebrated Kyiv, and Felix Klieser’s brought zest and panache to Mozart, but the sheer skill and audacity of the BSO in Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony was awe-inspiring

Kirill Karabits’s years with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra have regularly championed music from eastern Europe, including Karabits’native Ukraine. This year’s BSO Proms visit was no exception, opening with a celebration of Kyiv written by Karabits’ late father Ivan. But it was a Russian, Sergei Rachmaninov, whose music emphatically defined this concert in the end.

Ivan Karabits’s single movement First Concerto for orchestra was composed in 1980-1, to mark the 1,500th anniversary of Kyiv. It is a professional piece of scoring, moving deftly from episode to episode. It begins in declamatory mode, like a lot of Soviet-era music, but its most effective writing was more reflective, a lingering flute solo against soft cello accompaniment, and the fragmentary celesta of its final bars, one of several echoes of Shostakovich’s influence.

Available on BBC Sounds until 9 October. The BBC Proms continue until 9 September

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Can Labour retake Britain? Soon this Scottish byelection will let us know | Martin Kettle

What happens in Rutherglen and Hamilton West is a crucial test, not just for the SNP and Labour, but the Conservatives too

British politics has witnessed some spectacular byelections over the past four years – with Liberal Democrats ousting Conservatives in the west of England, and Labour overturning a 20,000 Tory majority in Yorkshire. But there is a strong case for saying that the single most pivotal byelection of the current parliament has not taken place yet. Such a contest was, however, triggered this week by the announcement of the successful recall petition against Margaret Ferrier, the former Scottish National party (SNP) MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, who now sits as an independent.

Ferrier has had to quit because she broke pandemic regulations in September 2020. Unwell, she travelled from Scotland to Westminster, spoke in a Commons debate and then, having tested positive for Covid, returned north by train. She pleaded guilty to an offence in 2021, for which she was sentenced to community service, and in March this year MPs voted to suspend her for 30 days. On Tuesday it was announced that 15% of her constituents had signed the recall petition, sparking the long-expected contest.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please .

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Don’t be fooled: this row is about more than Nigel Farage and Coutts – what lies beneath is Brexit | Martin Kettle

Why have Tories and an embattled PM fought this so fiercely? Because the ex-Ukip leader embodies leave, and they fear him

So the Mediterranean is on fire, the Ukraine war not going well, the health service on its knees and the economy still at risk of recession. Pretty obviously, therefore, the most pressing question facing Britain today is whether Nigel Farage can keep an account with one of this country’s poshest banks – which is making profits at the high end of a sector that has looked the other way while the cost of living crisis has blighted the lives of millions.

To be absolutely clear, no bank should deny an account to a customer because of their lawful politics. That’s a no-brainer civil liberty issue, even in the case of a millionaire like the former Ukip leader. If that is definitively what happened between Coutts bank and Farage, it was wrong.

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