Hi Big Tim, no problems. I just mentioned the anecdote to show how confused (to me) was MacColl's thinking when it came to Scottish politics. I think it was an age thing as anything smacking of Scottish Independence was seen as fascism to an old guard communist like Ewan. I had a few chats with him both in his home and outside, but although he would sing old Scottish songs about the Jacobite era, etc., he insisted that modern Scotland was British and it was a betrayal of the British Working Man to seek to split them up! I'm afraid this misunderstanding still exists in modern labour Scotland and the 'Parliament/devolution' ploy was seen as a means to stop any drive for independence. Since Ireland's partial independence, a British monarch can visit Dublin as a (welcome?) guest, something which could never have happened previously.
By the way, I admired MacColl greatly for his contribution to and influence on the folk scene. He wrote some great songs and plays but I'm afraid I cannot take his singing voice or those of his Ganymedes but that is just my personal taste.
Dylan has no effect on me. I knew him in London in the early sixties and thought he was a good 'turn' when he did his Woody Guthrie. I'm afraid, though, as I've said somewhere else, he was on 'pot' and we were on whisky and never the twain did meet!
Cheers, Jim McLean