My point is that history is replete with hate and haters, with violence, with blood. I have no doubt that in the ancient Middle East songs were sung which glorified the number of penises lopped off and stacked up, that Attila's horsemen sung about the heads they piled. To my mind it's just as well that such folk songs are forgotten.

Should I sing "The Outlaw Raparree" the way it was written? I'm not a foe of England, but I'm completely opposed to tyranny and a case can certainly be made that England (as well as other countries!) has acted in a tyrannical manner at times. If I were to go down to Pub 'n' Suds on Monday next and sing the song the audience would join in, but they would neither go out and shoot an Englishman or try even dislike the country a little bit.

I know a young lady in Ireland who dislikes the English -- or at least she did when she was 14 and a flaming Irish nationalist. Next time I'm over I'm going to see how she feels now that she's eighteen and bit older....