Sorry About the undiplomatic approach Brian, no desire to offend - the old passion runs free in my blood and I am not ashamed of it.

Any accidental denigration along the way is more to do with the enjoyment of honing a well turned phrase than it is to do with any form of malice that might be perceived.

I saw "Anything else would sound ridiculous" floating in front of me and I bit.

The quotes around "relevant modern form" are there to highlight it as an expression representative of a particular perspective, though not necessarily your own, and not to put words in your mouth.

And I'll bet that if you sang your welsh song in wales it would go down a storm.

I also wonder where exactly in Glasgow or edinburgh this intolerant hostile audience is. Are we referring to a particular pub? are are we allowing ourselves to colour our judgement with preconceptions and generalizations of scottish people.

I've known a few scots, some from glasgow and none of them have ever given me a glesga kiss (head butt) and I have never been mugged in the toilets of an edinburgh pub.

The kind of people who would beat you up for singing a song are the same kind that would do the same if you were american full stop, or for that matter from another part of scotland where there was a different football team.

My impression of the scots that I have met is that they have been warm open friendly people who aren't generally so far up their arse that they would judge you poorly for singing a folk song of theirs in a non authentic way.

And if that really is what folk clubs up there are like, then I'm glad I've not been to one.

Am I not being realistiic?