Nigel Kennedy:his proteges, the Palestine Strings, were let doen by self-important activists at the Proms

Two summers ago, activists of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign scored a notable victory at the BBC Proms. By barracking the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in phased outbursts, forcing the BBC to take the concert off air, the agitators earned several weeks' worth of media attention as partisans argued the merits and otherwise of disrupting a cultural summit for political benefit. 

On the rest of the Israel Phil's tour of Europe attempted disruptions were nipped in the bud and went unreported. London, and the Proms in particular, was flagged as a soft target and the tunnel-visioned activists awaited their next opportunity. 

This summer, with its customary regard for "balance", the BBC leapt at an offer from the maverick violinist Nigel Kennedy to play late-night Vivaldi improvisations with the keffiya-clad Palestine Strings. Despite being told that any political message would be taken off air, Kennedy dropped an aside on stage about "apartheid", and the PSC rolled into action next morning, accusing the BBC of "censorship" for excising the offensive term from its TV relay. 

Kennedy declared through "a spokesperson" that he found the omission of his word "incredible and quite frightening"; the Israel-averse Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd) rallied to his cause; and a group of Jewish anti-Zionists wrote a letter to the Daily Telegraph deploring the suppression of free speech. So another triumph for political action? Hardly.