Robert Buckland Weblog

The problem with the flurry of “end of year reviews” that have all been written well before the Christmas break is that they take no account of major events that have an annoying habit of happening right at the very end of December. In 2004, the Boxing Day Tsunami was unforeseen by all the editors. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto cannot be described as a wholly unforeseen event, but there is no doubt in my mind that it is one of the major events of 2007 that would have been an integral part of any review of the year.

This is seriously bad news. Why should it concern us? Apart from Britain’s strong historic links with Pakistan, any serious commentator or politician here has a positive duty to try and understand the chaotic politics of this nuclear power, sitting on the edge of the Islamic world and becoming increasingly infiltrated with fundamentalists, fanatics and extremists. Ms Bhutto and her People’s Party have a chequered history, to say the least. Her last term of office as Prime Minister was neither particularly stable nor particularly successful. Yet a democratic Pakistan, often corrupt and chaotic, is undoubtedly preferable to rule by the Army, which has brought the country to its present strife. Ms Bhutto was very much a part of the democratic tradition.

She died in Rawalpindi, which is where her father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was executed by General Zia in 1979. As with India, the role of the great political families is often overplayed, but millions of Pakistanis will now mourn her death and feel real anger towards those responsible. I fear that more bloodshed will follow in the days and weeks to come. Benazir Bhutto’s tragic death is a body blow to the creation of a stable democratic process that Pakistan needs. We should all worry about the consequences of this terrible event and pray that the extremists will not prevail.

I learnt yesterday that the great Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson has died. A listen again to some of his great albums on Veuve reminds me of the quality of his work. His contribution to Jazz from the Forties onwards has been immense. As a fan of both Art Tatum and Nat King Cole, Oscar Peterson’s style was always going to have appeal for me. It worked to great effect on the Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong duets, whilst the records he made with his trio, such as the admirable “Night Train”, stand the test of time.

Anyone who loves Jazz will mourn his passing.