Looks like Madame 'Hoxha', as she is known by Islington council staff, has been quickly put in her place by her Dear Leader .

She seems to have been getting at the Last Night, doesn't she? Not that that necessarily excuses anything else she may have said.

Somebody once told me that the real Enver was a Ravel fan pre-WW2 . . .

I suspect you're right there, harpo. I wonder if she's aware that The Proms comprise of other musical events prior to the Last Night? Has she even been to one, I wonder?

If Ms. Hodge is referring to The Last Night then I must admit I don't feel I am "included" in that event.  I wouldn't like the flag waving, singing along and the klaxons.  But am I bothered?  I just accept it as a bit of slightly eccentric British Tradition.

I'm not too sure where she is coming from about "inclusivity".  Does she mean alter the content of the Proms to encourage more ethnic Prommenaders or does she mean to encourage children to learn about Classical music and thereby feel able to go to/appereciate the Proms?  I thought they had The Electric Proms anyway?

She also said that people taking their British Citizenship certificates should be encouraged to do so in museums, theatres and other places of "high British culture"  Well, Ms. Hodge, I would suggest the Royal Albert Hall could be a suitable venue. 

The remark about the Proms was at the end of the speech I read and seemed more of a throw-away remark designed to give her a bit of street cred rather than have been throught carefully through.  Nicholas Kenyon and Roger are certainly not amused.

This is what the text of the culture minister's [sic] speech says. It's from the link that Bryn provided. The only reference to the Proms appears to be to the season in general:

But I also want to challenge our sectors square on. I will champion their contribution to building a sense of belonging whenever and wherever I can. But all too often our sectors aren’t at their best when embodying common belongings themselves. The audiences for many of our greatest cultural events – I’m thinking in particular of the Proms, but it is true of – is still a long way from demonstrating that people from different backgrounds feel at ease in being part of this. I know that this isn’t about making every audience completely representative, but if we claim great things for our sectors in terms of their power to bring people together, then we have a right to expect that they will do that wherever they can.

"but it is true of" ... what? (A bit of unclarity there, it seems.) It does make one wonder whether Margaret Hodge knows anything about the Proms other than the Last Night. I'd have thought that the Proms are in many ways among the more "inclusive" classical events in the calendar. And you can still get in to them for just a few quid on the day (no complicated or intimidating booking process), and hear performers who are often "world-class" (a phrase the government seems in other context to be inordinately fond of).

And what are "common belongings"? Can they be left in the cloakroom?

I think Ms Hodge is saying that not everybody wants to attend the Last Night of the Proms.

(But she's likely unaware of the World Music performances, and unaware that much of the music in the whole concert series is European or American, and the way classical concerts are presented is more or less the same around the world, not just 'very British'.)

Since the Last Night of the Proms concert is always a sell-out, no more people could attend it anyway  

In Coventry/Birmingham there's a lot of very British events and a lot of Hindu, Sikh and Muslim events that I don't wish to attend, and the majority of the population don't either, and I'm not concerned about that at all. The NEC holds Crufts Dog Show, and some back-street Birmingham pub probably hosts dog fights, I'm not interested in them, and the majority of the population aren't either. Do those events worry her?

I feel excluded from WOMAD on R3 and lots of other cultural events in Britain in general.

Not because of any ethnic issues - just don't like the music much.

Am I bovvered?