Proms not inclusive, says Hodge

Proms not inclusive, says Hodge (BBC News, Tuesday, 4 March 2008)

Tory leader David Cameron said she did not "get it" and said the Proms were a "great symbol of our Britishness".

Margaret Hodge and David Cameron both don't get it. The Proms is a unique event that celebrates the infinite joys of music. Why drag some form of nationalism into it? If one should be compelled to feel any extra-musical sentiment while listening to, say, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, then an obvious candidate would be pride to be human. But freedom to experience music in an individual way is indispensable. Any government that employs art for political ends ought to be distrusted.