Thank you for the clarification.

Ruth:    "The other approach, which i think many of us who work in this area would advocate, is to try and promote and celebrate English traditions as part of the whole mix of cultures and heritages which exist on this island."   [Emphasis mine—DF]

Apparently I didn't put it very clearly in my earlier posts because it was completely misinterpreted, but this was essentially what I was saying. Sitting here an ocean and a continent away from David Franks and the BNP, I most certainly have no concerns about their wanting to limit my repertoire to please their agendas. I can treat it with the contempt that such edicts deserve and go ahead and sing what I want, mixing songs from different cultures like a tossed salad if I wish.

They are obviously not going to be converted by singing Kum Bay Yah at them any more than are the uniformed (and uniformed) Hayden Lake bunch or the rednecks dressed in their white sheets and cone heads. I was not so naïve as to suggest this, as some seemed to think.

I am in agreement with what Virginia Tam said just above: "Action out in the wide world is what is needed." The point of Virginia Tam's with which I don't agree is about the thread itself. Until I began reading it, I was not fully aware of the magnitude of the problem. I will continue to follow this discussion.

And in the meantime, sing what you want to sing, from different cultures if that is what you wish, and if there are people out there who object to your choice of songs for whatever reason, they don't have to listen. If it annoys a BNP member, so much the better.

Don Firth