OK Frank, I got a bit OTT there, sorry. :-)

I'm not sure how it's an urban myth, for songs which are well-documented as coming from particular areas of England or Scotland. Sure, Irish ppl play some songs which originated in England. English ppl also play "Whiskey in the Jar". If you know where each came from, no big deal. If you say, "This is an Irish song" and someone says, "No it isn't, it was written by Fred Dibble from Chipping Norton, and the original broadsheet is in the Bodleian Library" then it's hardly a matter of prejudice.

I guess the thing is for those songs which don't have a well-known provenance. In that case, anyone can pursue their private agendas. And there'll always be some nutters around. Some may have reasons for being anti-Irish like getting caught up in IRA bombings (just as many NI Catholics have damn convincing reasons for being anti-English, like being shot and beaten up by English soldiers), and some may just be nutters out for a fight. It's not the whole English folk scene, it's just the loony fringe. That's the difference between saying "the English" (from your first post) and saying "some English nationalists", which makes a pretty serious difference! So you're right on that, it will just be those nationalist nutters who pursue this, the rest of us just want those nutters to stop bloody talking so we can carry on playing! :-)

I've checked the archives of UMF on Google. I can't find a single thread for the past two months on the subject. So I guess there can't be too many nutters around wanting to fight about it, compared to the number of "normal" ppl who just want to listen to good music. :-)

Graham.