Martin Kettle's Blog, page 67

What, no facts in the EU debate? You cannot be serious | Martin Kettle

It feels as if the enlightenment is at stake. Thank goodness historians are standing up for reason

If there is one thing that Britain’s European Union debate has plenty of, it is facts. Hardly a day passes without a weighty, for the most part decently researched, report from a generally reliable source crammed with facts about the impact of a possible Brexit on everything from migration to the price of milk.

If this campaign has proved nothing else, it is that Johnson is unfit for high office of any kind

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Published on May 26, 2016 12:29

The Tories’ BBC haters have been halted. Next, to Europe | Martin Kettle

With today’s BBC white paper one national disaster has been narrowly averted. But David Cameron’s weak leadership on the EU could yet unleash another

Be very clear about the BBC white paper. In almost any other country in the world this would not be happening at all. Beyond Britain the BBC is universally revered. It stands for excellence and independence; and because of that excellence and independence, it stands above all for reliability. There is no other engine of soft power to touch it on the planet.

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Published on May 12, 2016 12:36

Nadine Koutcher review – impressive technique, delicacy and drama

Middle Temple Hall, London
The Cardiff Singer of the World moved fluently between Liszt, Berg, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov in a confident London recital debut

Last June Nadine Koutcher took the 2015 Cardiff Singer of the World title by storm. Now, nearly a year on, the Temple Music Foundation pulled off the notable coup of presenting her London recital debut in Middle Temple Hall, with its artistic director Julius Drake as her considerable accompanist.

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Published on May 12, 2016 07:31

Churchill would have been a committed voter to remain in EU

Imperialist and Atlanticist, but given what we know about his vision and approach, he would be in Cameron not Johnson camp

Winston Churchill still stands at the centre of the modern Conservative party’s view of Britain and of itself. So it was inevitable that sooner or later the two Tory sides in the argument about Britain’s place in Europe would begin to battle it out for the ownership of Churchill’s view of Europe and as arbiters of which way he might vote in the forthcoming referendum.

On Monday, the two sides went head-to-head as David Cameron laid explicit claim to the wartime prime minister’s support for the remain camp in the cause of European peace stability. Boris Johnson insisted that Churchill wanted no part in the European Union.

It is said with truth that this involves some sacrifice or merger of national sovereignty and characteristics, but it is also possible to regard it as the gradual assumption by all nations concerned of that larger sovereignty which can also protect their diverse and distinctive customs, and their national traditions.”

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Published on May 09, 2016 07:10

SNP win historic third term - Politics Weekly podcast

Severin Carrell, Anne Perkins and Martin Kettle join Tom Clark to discuss national election results in Wales and Scotland and local election results in England

For the third Scottish election running, the SNP have triumphed with a huge show of support from voters. Following a campaign which focused heavily on the popularity of leader Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP once again took the lion’s share of seats in Holyrood – but unlike in 2011, this time they came up short of an overall majority - which could have big implications for the future of the UK.

Joining Tom Clark to discuss it all are Scotland editor Severin Carrell and columnists Anne Perkins and Martin Kettle.

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Published on May 06, 2016 09:30

Local elections 2016: our writers on the night’s winners and losers | The panel

How do the election results reflect on Labour, the Conservatives, the SNP and beyond? Our columnists analyse the results

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Published on May 06, 2016 04:49

Donald Trump’s victory should make us appreciate George W Bush | Martin Kettle

We cannot forget Iraq, but the former president knew how to reach out well beyond the Republican base

Donald Trump’s win in the US Republican presidential nomination race is an indictment of a party. Trump’s opponents have proved time and again to be utterly feeble. Yes, there were too many contenders at the start of the race. But they were all too timid to say difficult things, or to reach out to moderates and independent voters. Instead they were preoccupied with partisan questions rather than the big one – economic insecurity – which helped to drive Trump’s campaign.

The pre 9/11 Bush was a much smarter and more effective politician than he is given credit for today

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Published on May 05, 2016 12:18

Quatuor Ebène/Capuçon - compelling and fresh

Wigmore Hall, London
Following Schubert’s great and overwhelming C major quintet with Beethoven’s op 130 made for a bold but exhilarating evening

How to schedule Schubert’s C major string quintet? In the right hands, the piece is so overwhelming that anything else on the programme risks being eclipsed. But if the quintet is to be played alongside other music, what should that music be, and should the Schubert have the last word?

France’s Quatuor Ebène took the bold approach of playing the Schubert first, choosing to follow it with no less a work than Beethoven’s opus 130 quartet, complete with the original Grosse Fuge ending. Joined by their illustrious compatriot Gautier Capuçon the quintet was as freshly compelling as anyone could hope. The range of dynamics and articulation in the 25-minute opening movement was fully gripped. The eloquent pizzicato dialogue between Capuçon and Pierre Colombet’s first violin in the sublime adagio was all the more eloquent and profound for never being overstated. Overall, this reading was characterised by a sustained delicacy of intonation and alert but restrained phrasing, with the uniquely dark timbre that Schubert achieves from doubling the cello never laid on with a trowel.

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Published on May 02, 2016 13:58

What now for Nicola Sturgeon and the rebels who became the Scottish establishment? | Martin Kettle

The SNP are set to storm the Holyrood elections next week. But with the referendum behind them, they need to find a new purpose

Well wrapped against the morning squalls blowing in off the North Sea, a group of us huddle outside a barn in the flatlands of rural East Lothian, waiting for Nicola Sturgeon. There’s barely a local voter in sight, but a yellow ribbon has been tied across the barn entrance for Scotland’s first minister to cut during her visit to the Thistly Cross cider makers outside Dunbar.

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Published on April 28, 2016 22:00

Shakespeare’s greatest achievement is that he lives inside all our heads | Martin Kettle

The Bard is there in the way we speak, the jokes we tell and even the way we imagine our country

If you are worrying that Britain is falling apart, getting more unequal, turning its back on the world or losing its humanity – and there are plenty of good reasons to be concerned about all these things at the moment – then my advice on this 400th anniversary weekend of his death is to stop worrying for a while and think about Shakespeare.

Shakespeare gave us barefaced, critical, obscene, frugal, dwindle, excellent, hint, hurry, lonely, summit and pedant

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Published on April 21, 2016 22:30