Don, I too have respect for MacColl as a songwriter, singer, playwright overall as somebody who could and would put over his point with poetic elegance, whether that be about love, politics, work or play.

However, I am one of many who has had to sit there as a floor turn when he and Peggy were appearing at a local club and be lectured on the subject. Then to hear his rather contrived Scottish accent singing his haunting "Ballad of Jamie Foyer". Followed by a Norfolk drawl as he sang his wonderful "Shoals of Herring."

It seems he saw himself as a performer and therefore capable of reciting songs, attitudes and anthems of many different regions of UK life, but we amateur singers have to, in his mind, stick to what is local and cultural to our upbringing.

A great man, yet capable of that condescending bullshit.

His point though was an interesting one. If you see yourself as a performer, you are "acting" the part and all bets are off?   Many great British and American actors (and from other parts of the globe) enjoy being a Danish King from time to time and march a skull on the stage. is it any different if I sing a blues song from the deep south or even a song about a train driver from edinburgh for that matter?

If you see yourself as a performer providing entertainment, then this is not an "uncomfortable" thread. If however you feel you are using the attention you get to push a point, then the bets may well be back on again....