I think anyone who has not done so should take a minute to read the whole article that apparently sourced the information on E.MacColl's wartime record. It is quite badly written both from a standpoint of grammar, and knowledge of subject matter, as to be full of chuckles.

To wit, starting with the opening zinger:

• Tragic folk singer Kirsty MacColl's communist dad, Ewan,
  
• The murky past of Kirsty MacColl dad,
  
• The files dating back to 1939 contained information on double agents,spies, and those suspected of trying to undermine the British Empire. (Any guesses which category MacColl fell into? I go with the third and my spidey-senses are just a-tingling!)
  
• HEY, it turns out his CO was a songwriter too!: "But despite penning an anti war tune called Browned Off, in which he claims to be browned off at having to "help to save democracy", his commanding officer expressed his concerns to Hyde Borough Police on December 16, 1940."
  
• And it seems the MI5 had a fallback reason for not pursuing the aristocratic fascists: " MI5 feared: "If too many titled people are arrested the public might get the wrong idea as to the importance of the Fifth Column in this country." " Better to take on the folksingers! although they seemingly ignored MacColl after his desertion. Guess that was all they wanted from him.
  
• In other news: "Another file uncovered a Japanese spy ring operating in the Far East during the run up to World War Two." Holy crap, would you have ever believed it? I'm on the edge of my seat here with this incredible revelation. Wait, it gets better: "Japanese spies posed as boy scouts..." I always thought there was something fishy about those neckerchief-wearing flag-raisers.
  
• And finally, "a Norwegian fishing boat, Motor Vessel Reidar, was being used in 1943 to ferry German agents into Scotland." Well, turnabout is fair play, at least if you're a fascist at heart. There was a whole squadron of Norwegian fishing boats helping the Allies infiltrate Scandinavia. They called it The Shetland Bus. (Look up the book of the same name.) One of them tried to smuggle a torpedo into a fiord to sink the Bismarck--or was it the Graf Spee?-- where it was hiding out. Great yarn there. They got stopped, searched and were let go by the Nazis patrolling the mouth of the fiord, while they had their torpedo underwater on a towline.   
  
  W-O
  been reading J LeCarre this morning.