Firstly, I must put the good Rabbi's fears to sleep. I am British, and am mercifully free (I think!) of most racial prejudice, least of all anti-semiticism. I was most careless in using the word 'jew' in my post, and it is only in such casual ways one finds that what one says in innocense is received with hurt (a favourite saying of mine used to be calling a spade a spade, until it was pointed out that I wasn't referring to a garden implement). My ignorance on this occasion was that Jay Ungar is Jewish. I am a fan of his work, and a performer of his music. I have seen him performing with Aly Bain on the excellent TV program the Transatlantic Sessions, and enjoyed his contribution immensely. Call me naive, but I just didn't realise he is Jewish, as that isn't one of the criteria on my scorecard. I heard and saw an American, and a great one at that. I think by now, unless you are blind to my innocence, that you would realise that I wouldn't deliberately make the faut pas I did if I thought of the composer as a Jew and me having a problem about that.

However, sir, I find your tone rather suggestive of over-sensitivity, sniffing out prejuduce where it genuinely does not exist. I thank you for correcting my ignorance, but dismissing it with humour is more constructive than suggesting that there are darker forces at work.

Shambles, I did some digging about the Classic FM version, and it seems that it slipped from Number 6 in the 2003 chart to No 18 in the 2004 version. The details are:-

track title
The Ashokan Farewell
composer
Jay Ungar
soloist
N/A
conductor
Major J R Perkins
orchestra
Band of her Majesty's Royal Marines
record label
Classic FM
catalogue number
CFMCD34

And it isn't junior bandsmen stamping up and down parade grounds, it really is quite sensitive!