Oh come on Ruth! roy bailey is one your traddy big hitters. If even he couldn't see that the sentiments of Blackleg Miner was pretty damned upsetting to people living in places which previously had been decent, peaceful and law abiding - when suddenly violence was being committed on the very streets regarded as home. then somethings gone wrong with the vision.

God help you. But then I suppose that is the problem. and its the reason so many folk clubs are empty..

Its a bit like these Ruth Rendell novels where the murderers are all fascinating neurotics - rather than social casualties. its the middle class viewpoint - working classes my dear, are just inpenetrably weird!.

art as an entertainment. its why the blues was so offensive to black people for many years - like black people were just stereotyped as dissolute sexual toys.

Its why Prince heathen is grimly sat through and tolerated rather than enjoyed. domestic violence nowadays - woman to man or vice versa isn't remotely entertaining. and does it reflect the experience of the poor sods caught up in these situations?

Does it never occur to these people singing these songs that the folk they may be singing to, may be in these situations, or their children might? I've lost count of how many of my wifes friends have had daughters married to some awful brute.

In folk music, the music is tangential, the important thing is the 'folk'. they are in front of you and it their lives you should be trying to write about.