Martin James Kettle (born 7 September 1949) is a British journalist and author. The son of two prominent communist activists, Arnold Kettle (best remembered as a

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

; 1916–1986) and Margot Kettle (née Gale; 1916–1995), he was educated at

Leeds Modern School Leeds Modern School was a school in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. History Leeds Modern School was founded on 14 July 1845 in Rossington Street as the Mathematical and Commercial School. This building in the centre of Leeds became council offi ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

. Kettle worked for the

National Council for Civil Liberties Liberty, formerly, and still formally, called the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), is an advocacy group and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, which challenges unjust laws, protects civil liberties and promotes hu ...

(now known as Liberty) as a research officer from 1973. He then began his career in journalism as

home affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

correspondent for '' New Society'' (1977–1981) and moved to ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' in 1981, working as a political correspondent for three years. He has been with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' since 1984 and also wrote regularly for '' Marxism Today'' in its later years. He writes a column on classical music in ''

Prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (mining ...

'' magazine. Kettle is best known as a columnist for ''The Guardian'', where he is assistant editor, having worked as the newspaper's Washington D.C. bureau chief from 1997 to 2001. He was formerly a

leader writer A leader writer is a senior journalist in a British newspaper who is charged with writing the paper's editorial either in the absence of the editor or in cases where the editor chooses not to write editorials because their editorial skills may res ...

(1993–1997) and chief leader writer from 2001 onward. He has often defended New Labour and

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

(a personal friend) – though not over the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. However, soon after the 2010 general election, Kettle wrote that

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

's Conservative-led coalition government had had a positive effect on the country. Kettle has been dismissed by

John Pilger John Richard Pilger (; born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist, writer, scholar, and documentary filmmaker. He has been mainly based in Britain since 1962. He was also once visiting professor at Cornell University in New York. Pilger ...

as Blair's "most devoted promoter". He has a low opinion of Prime Minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

, writing that " e immediate effect of the judgment hen the Supreme Court declared the prorogation of Parliament invalid">prorogation.html" ;"title="hen the Supreme Court declared the prorogation">hen the Supreme Court declared the prorogation of Parliament invalidis devastating for Johnson. It is expressed so cogently and unambiguously that it will be difficult for him to wriggle out of it – even though he is certainly foolish enough to try." In March 2021, Kettle claimed that the Chancellor Rishi Sunak "wants to deploy the financial heft of the Treasury to reinstate the UK in the heart of Scotland's economic and political conversation."

Bibliography

* Peter Hain, Hain, Peter; Kettle, Martin ''et al.'', ''Policing the Police'', 1979, John Calder, . Rev. ed. 1980: * Kettle, Martin & Hodges, Lucy, ''Uprising!: Police, the People and the Riots in Britain's Cities'', 1982, Macmillan, * Kettle, Martin (ed.), ''Guardian Guide to Europe'', 1993, Fourth Estate, * Kettle, Martin, ''The Single Currency: Should Britain Join?'', 1997, Vintage,

References

External links

''Guardian'' columns by Martin Kettle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kettle, Martin 1949 births British male journalists Living people The Guardian journalists Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford People educated at Leeds Modern School