A v good old thread has been refreshed on "When did Morris dancing become a joke?". Predictably, it includes an injunction from someone-or-other to "lighten up" ~~ always a pathetically desperate cop-out to my mind.

FWIW, people who can only be facetious about Christmas Day In The Workhouse {especially ones who really do know the original] occupy my same mental space as those who think the Morris is funny.

Sorry.

And I do not propose to "lighten up".

~M~