"Closely minded and frighteningly nasty", now there's a phrase that could be applied to one or two apart from communists: Russian Czars, Roman emperors, countless religious sects, Hitler, Franco, thousands of minor politicians, IRA, UDA, Maggie Thatcher, the secretary of my local darts team, George W Bush...

Ewan MacColl was very doctrinaire but that shouldn't be allowed to detract from his major contribution to the folk scene. Only certain Mudcatters, it seems, are perfect in every way, shape and form. And as for Jimmy Miller, what about Robert Allen Zimmerman...