Interesting one here. I loose no sleep on the execution of McVie, or indeed the death of any Bandit who makes the mistake of trying to shoot it out with the law.

In the UK concept we have seen, in the last few years, enough incidents where alledged murderers, be it "political" in the Irish context, or non political, convicted with evidence hidden from the defense, and that only came to light many years later.

Personnally I do not favour the death penalty, if for no other reason that it has in the past, and would in the future, act as an influence on a jury, and the aquital of a "guilty" person is just as big a miscarrige of justice as the conviction of an "innocent" person.

In the folk tradition - try "Tom Dooley" or "She wears a Black Veil" - and "Joe Hill".

Incidently my mother (aged 73)can still sing " The Ballard of Joe Hill " and "Harry Pollitt". She learn't them in her student days in the late 1940's, at Cardiff (pronounced Kairdiff)

But then this is a BS thread, so lets get serious. The Irish have their posthumous hero's such as "Kevin Barry", or "Wolfe Tone's grave. The US of A with various elegys to "Jesse James", or, for example, "John Brown", and mob justice - in its many forms. And in Australia "Ned Kelly", "The Wild Colonial Boy" and whatever happened to the jumbuck ?

I am new to Mud Cat - and I enjoy it - but please can anybody point me into the direction Songs about our local South Wales heros such as Davy Gam, Dik Pendaryn, Monnow Hal, or in more modern times, Nye Bevan, or going really old, Henry Morgan.

Cheers Butties.

Gareth.

PS I registered with Mud Cat - but I is still marked as a Guest - What have I done wrong ?