But back to the music and the musician here. I never intended this thread to be yet another drawn out battle with the Blair camp.

JS himself backed the war in Afghanistan (perhaps you missed that ironic bit my user name), and jumped on the jingoist bandwagon before his death.

I'm just asking why it seems all these purportedly 'left' leaning rebel rock musicians like Bragg (and Springsteen in the States) have chosen to be shills for mainstream politicians during election years.

Surely rock celebrity is just as corrupting an influence as the millenia old aphrodisiac, political power? Both rock stardom and political stardom require huge egos. We seem to be free floating through this anxiety-prone era--voyeurist witnesses to the marriage of mainstream politician to mainstream rock star. In the process, we seem to have fallen prey to the worst sort of banal celebrity worship, the morphing of our progressive values into the "pragmatic" values and belief systems of said politico-rock stars, whose altars we worshipped at in our youth.

The middle age folk and blues scene is just as guilty of this, IMO, as the middle age rebel rock/punk scene. Thing is, we aren't bringing the next generation with us--they are busy running the other way--away from us and our history.