Martin James Kettle (born 7 September 1949) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

journalist and author. Kettle is best known as for his long associated as an assistant editor and columnist for

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

newspaper.

Early life and education

Kettle is the son of two communist activists,

Arnold Kettle Arnold Charles Kettle (17 March 1916 – 24 December 1986)Turner, John R. (2004). 'Kettle, Arnold Charles (1916–1986)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', 23 September 2004 (online edition). Retrieved 30 December 2022. was a British Marx ...

(best remembered as a

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, 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 analysis of literature' ...

; 1916–1986) and Margot Kettle (née Gale; 1916–1995. Kettle grew up in Far Headingley was educated at Leeds Modern School. He graduated in modern history from

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

having matriculated in 1967.

Career

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 huma ...

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

home affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a Ministry (government department), government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law e ...

correspondent for ''

New Society ''New Society'' was a weekly magazine of social inquiry and social and cultural comment, published in the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1988. It drew on the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, psychology, human geography, social history and s ...

'' (1977–1981) and moved to ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday 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 N ...

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

'' since 1984 and also wrote regularly for '' Marxism Today'' in its later years. He writes a column on classical music in '' Prospect'' magazine. Kettle is a long-term contributor to 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 (1993–1997) and chief leader writer from 2001 onward. He has often defended

New Labour New Labour is the political philosophy that dominated the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-late 1990s to 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The term originated in a conference slogan first used by the ...

and

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

(a personal friend) – though not over the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

. Kettle has been dismissed by

John Pilger John Richard Pilger (; 9 October 1939 – 30 December 2023) was an Australian journalist, writer, scholar and documentary filmmaker. From 1962, he was based mainly in Britain. He was also a visiting professor at Cornell University in New York. ...

as Blair's "most devoted promoter".

Bibliography

* 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 Living people Writers from Leeds People educated at Leeds Modern School British male journalists The Guardian journalists