There aren't many writers who can claim to have written songs that have meant so much to so many people from outside this rather cosy, inward-looking community that we like to call the 'Folk Scene'. Ralph McTell, Tom Paxton and Sidney Carter are among the very others I can think of. Harvey struck a chord with this song, and politics aside, I'm glad there's such a powerful, compassionate song out there that tells the story from a perspective that has never been fashionable and which took a lot of guts to write and perform when Harvey first started performing it in the early 70s. Respect.