Matt Milton. "I didn't get that impression at all."

Probably a matter of opinion. What infuriated me was the way the programme went straight for the negative aspects of MacColl's character.

"given how overwhelmingly pompous MacColl (bless im) came across in those recordings"

The point I was questioning was how selective those excerpts were. I was never a member of the Critics but I can't imagine any group or organisation lasting five minutes if it had one memmber continually laying the law down like that.

"MacColl's pedagogy". I'm not sure I understand what you mean, but I'm at a loss to understand what The First Time and Roberta Flack were doing in a programme about the Critics Group.

"MacColl and Peggy Seeger's sloganeering, political songs were terrible, godawful and clunky". Here I do agree with you. I usually found MacColl's political songs to be far too dogmatic and table thumping, and much prefer most of the other stuff he wrote. But exceptions to the rule for me would include Brother Did You Weep, The Ballad of Tim Evans, The Parliamentary Polka and Legal-Illegal. However, MacColl was an established songwriter long before the Critics, and I was thinking more of songs which the other members wrote.