"Just a thought - have you actually heard Benjamin Zephaniah's version? Do you know that he mentions these locations and names? Why does a song have to be tied to a time and place in perpetuity - surely by classifying something as traditional you are cutting those ties by definition."

I like Benjamin Zephaniah's version and I've no problem with anyone from anywhere adopting any scottish art, traditional or otherwise, and adapting it to suit their own tastes or culture. What I'm objecting to here is Simon Emmerson talking about "honouring England's distinctive traditions" when he isn't - he's assuming the song is English, maybe because of Fairport, maybe for other reasons, and passing it off as an example of the English tradition he's trying to update and re-capture. I don't think he's malicious, just ill-informed.