Crumbs, as a newie coming out of the recently, sadly, defunct Dick Gaughan forum I was struck by the confrontational nature of some of these posts, though I have seen far worse in less respectful forums.

I don't see why people shouldn't criticise (or express admiration for) Jimmy Miller aka Ewan MacColl - and since he had been married to Joan Littlewood then he would have borne the brunt, as well as being the bearer, of robust criticism. And - this is just my uninformed opinion - I think he'd have preferred to be discussed for better or for worse than to be left to rest in peace.

Me, I like him, but I know people in my home town of Salford who worked with him and found him a bit tricky to work with (but Joan could be a lot worse). He wrote the de facto anthem of Salford and other fine songs - my own gripe is that, because The Dubliners and The Pogues have sung it, a lot of people think 'Dirty Old Town' was written about Dublin. Hardly MacColl's fault, though, that it's relevant to there and to many other cities: it's one sign of a great song.