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My first Prom of the season last night. The start was not auspicious when the Royal Albert Hall refused me entry because I had a glass or so of white wine in a flask in my bag left over from a picnic dinner on the Albert Memorial steps. And I was more than a little miffed later to have to pay £4 for a small bottle of water during the interval, which had been the intended occasion for finishing the wine. However the evidence was quickly disposed of in a not unpleasant way and I was admitted.
The programme was first class. It started with the usual ‘difficult’ contemporary piece at the Proms which turned out to be not difficult at all. The unlikely named Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Aditus, which means entrance or approach in Estonian, was noisy, raucous, and very entertaining. Next was a real treat. After the Prommer’s traditional “Heave!” from the auditorium, to be answered by “Ho!” from the gallery as the piano lid was raised, and applause as the leader played the ‘A’ to allow the orchestra to tune, we heard Beethoven’s fifth piano concerto. The last time I heard the Emperor at the Proms, many moons ago, the playing was so strident that I wondered that the Chinese pianist didn’t damage the Steinway during the performance. This time a young Korean, Yunchan Lim, absolutely wowed the audience—and me—with his sensitivity. I have never heard this Beethoven piece played with such love and tenderness. He rightly received enormous applause. The Bruckner, his first symphony, I was not familiar with although the style was unmistakably his. I’ll admit to some trepidation, and I noticed a few seats had emptied at the interval—two girls clutching their iPhones even left after the first movement... But it was good. Plenty of repetitive crescendos, what the Prommers love, and it felt comfortable; traditional Proms fare. All in all a very enjoyable evening notwithstanding the faltering start. Furthermore I found myself sitting next to a well-known—to the Albert Hall—Italian gentleman who has attended around 1,800 Proms. My extremely rusty and halting Italian got a real workout.
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The Law of Unexpected Consequences frequently works to frustrate human endeavour, but it might just have worked for the public good. Much has been made of the fact that the Labour Party polled fewer votes in last Thursday’s General Election than in 2019 when Corbyn was in charge. He was campaigning against Johnson who subsequently won an 80-seat majority. That result was skewed by several factors. Corbyn and Johnson were both divisive in their different ways, voters either loving them or hating them. Johnson’s showy cosmetic charm and bonhomie endeared him to many voters and revolted others. Likewise Corbyn’s agitprop socialism generated adoration and loathing. Crucially though, Farage’s B****t party refrained from standing in seats where Conservatives were likely to win. This time, notwithstanding Starmer’s total rebuild of the Labour Party, ‘Fag-Ash’ Farage took the gloves off and was undoubtedly responsible for the Tories’ rout. This was an election lost by the Conservative Party, and only won by Labour by default.
However what do we see? Outgoing Sunak and Hunt have dubbed Starmer a ‘decent and honourable man’ as if that were an unusual trait in a Prime Minister! The new health secretary is sitting down next week with the junior doctors to try and resolve their dispute—scandalous that the Tories cynically allowed it to drag on for so long. The disgraceful Rwanda scheme goes into the dustbin of history, and Starmer is doing the rounds of the Union to cement his inclusive attitude to the four nations. Make no mistake the new government have some very difficult challenges: the health service, community care, the cost of living crisis, housing, prisons, and of course immigration, all with very little financial room to manoeuvre. If they can make some progress that people can actually see over the next few years, then Fag-Ash’s declared aim for a take-over in the 2029 election will wither on the vine. He gambled in 2024 and achieved his immediate objective. But he also allowed decent people into government whose efforts, if they succeed, may well condemn him and his band of bigoted, xenophobic, nationalist cronies to join the Rwanda scheme where they all belong. As an addendum to these thoughts I listened to a very interesting discussion on the BBC this morning. It was to the effect that the Europe of now is very different from the Europe that this country voted to leave in 2016. There is a definite surge to the right in a number of countries—anti-EU, anti-immigration, equivocation on Ukraine etc. Interesting times. For the record, last week I formally applied for citizenship of Austria. I’ll do a modified ‘Vicar of Bray’ for as long as they’ll let me and keep a foot in both camps.  “...And the skies over England were dark with lame ducks—the streets were clogged with chickens coming home to roost...”
(An unfortunate juxtaposition with the title of the previous post which I have only just noticed... I'm sure my reader will be suitably amused.) |
AuthorWelcome to the Mirli Books blog written by Peter Maggs Archives
June 2025
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