This is not a thread about abortion and we shouldn't turn it into one. We've homed in on it because Vin Garbutt is an example of a folkie who uses his gigs to propagate one of his views. His anti-abortion song employs a well-worn tactic oft used by the anti-abortion lobby (namely, the somewhat unsubtle appeal to emotions/sentiment). I utterly defend his right to sing it and for anyone who takes offence at it (not me - I have no right not to be offended so I don't bother to get offended) to walk out. But my contention is that he is wrong-headed, not because I disagree with him but because of the manner of his putting it across. People who disagree with his stance are hardly going to start a big controversy in the middle of the gig, he knows it, and he plays on it. If he made his points down the pub with his mates or on this forum he would get a bloody good argument going and he'd have to defend himself. That's what you get when you put forward a forceful view, but he's found a way of doing it without risk of express dissent. Instead of singing about little innocents he could tell a story in song (which he's good at) to get us thinking about his issue from a novel angle. Woody Guthrie gets us thinking about injustices meted out to people, not by preaching to us about how horrid the injustices are but by giving us a story and implicitly inviting us to see something we might not have thought of for ourselves. That is true artistry in folk song. Vin's stage is not his pulpit. I have no idea whether he allows for views other than his own, but he certainly doesn't allow scope for them to be expressed at the gig. Bit of an abuse, that, no? And remember what I said up the thread. Yes, I strongly disagree with Vin Garbutt about abortion, but I also criticised other singers for adopting a similar approach to issues that I happen to strongly agree with. You can be forceful without hitting people between the eyes who can't argue back at gigs. There is a better, more artistic way. There are even some rap singers who can be more subtle with their message than some of our lot.