nobody was scrabbling after stardom, but a fair few musicians were managing to make a living performing a version of folk music that was understandable to the broad masses, and it became a mission statement to pour scorn on the situation.

by the 1970's, the damage had been done and by the star of the 1970's those that had the heart and committment to remain were managing to scrape a bare living by working for agents like Ann Dex who provided pub gigs for Scandinavia.

I think the ritual kicking the corpse of MacColl is probably poetic justice for the kicking so many folksingers got gigging the Scandi pubs, the legendary gulf gigs to uncomprehending Arabs.

However, I can't imagine anyone with a soul who wouldn't wish to have written and collected and achieved just a fraction of the stuff that Ewan did. He was a giant amongst human beings. I'm sorry he pissed off Shirley Collins. Everybody pisses off someone else though. And he was an old bloke, and she was a young person.

Really there aren't any heroes or villains. It was just the way it happened. Does the future of the folk clubs depend on our correct examination and analysisof the entrails of the past - I bleeding hope not.