Be careful what you wish for! I'm not sure I'd want a bunch of Britain First enthusiasts coming along to learn how to do a stick dance!

Wychwood Folk Club | Chipping Norton | Oxfordshire Folk Club The Wychwood Folk Club showcasing an eclectic mix of Folk, Roots, Acoustic and Americana Music. Ascott under Wychwood

Our next gig is a week on Saturday.
We'll be celebrating the coming of May on Saturday 2nd at Wychwood Folk & Acoustic Club, Tiddy Hall, Ascott-under-Wychwood.

See www.wychwoodfolkclub.com for details and to buy tickets.

Whereas I liked pretty much everything Kershaw played, and loved a lot of it.
But Kershaw was definitely Peel's disciple, and as you say, they complemented each other nicely.

Peel's programme would have gems like Night Nurse or Shipbuilding or Song of the Siren. And he introduced me to the Smiths, Bragg, Four Brothers - and thus to the whole world of African music. And I loved his shows while really not loving a lot of the stuff he played!

Kershaw had such a massive influence on my musical tastes. Probably heretical to say this, but a bigger influence even than John Peel. Such a sad loss at such an early age.

It's a logical conclusion from what Trump said

“I’m not worried about it [committing possible war crimes]” the US president said.
“You know what’s a war crime? Having a nuclear weapon.”
Well, CND have been saying that for a very long time...

No Princess Royal in Headington, so you'll be safe with us. Can't speak for other sides at the festival, obvs.

Headington Quarry will probably oblige with a Trunkles on Sunday. Not to mention a Laudanum Bunches, a Rodney and a Hunt the Squirrel.

I feel much more anger towards the British pundits & politicians who failed to understand the depravity & derangement of Donald Trump than I do the ones who failed to understand the idiocy of Brexit. But it doesn’t really matter because they’re exactly the same bloody people.

Well that was sheer luck. Not one of my usual starter words, and the second guess came completely out of left field.

Wordle 1,744 2/6

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

This is shocking

Oh, and it's an illegal war which so far has killed 1200 innocent civilians, and rising.

$11.3bn is also more than the total amount allocated this year for federal scientific research funding, via the National Science Foundation.

US spending on first week of Iran war raises stark questions about priorities $11.3bn more than enough to fund EPA or National Cancer Institute, where administration sought to slash budgets

1st week of Iran war cost the US $11.3bn. More than enough to fully fund the Environmental Protection Agency ($8.8bn), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ($9.2bn) or the National Cancer Institute ($7.4bn).
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

UK security adviser attended US-Iran talks and judged deal was within reach Jonathan Powell thought Tehran’s ‘surprising’ offer on its nuclear programme could prevent rush to war

It was pretty obvious from the outset that Trump and Netanyahu's war on Iran was illegal, but this really makes it clear that Iran posed no immediate threat, and appeared to be negotiating in earnest
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Edgar V. Roberts states that 'the word joke was a bawdy name for the female genitalia. Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue defines 'Black Joke' thus: 'A popular tune to a song, having for the burden, "her black joke and belly so white"; figuratively, the black joke signifies the monosyllable.' The definition given under 'Monosyllable' is 'a woman's commodity'. John S. Farmer, in Slang and its Analogues Past and Present has this entry for 'Black Joke': 'the female pudenda. See Monosyllable for synonyms. Said to have been the burden of an obscene song, circa 181 1.' Both these sources support Roberts's conclusion

And in case you hadn't guessed the meaning of 'Black Joke'...

This is from Paul Dennant, The 'barbarous old English jig': The 'Black Joke' in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries,
Folk Music Journal, Vol. 10, No. 3 (2013)
www.jstor.org/stable/43590...

No mortal sure can blame ye man, Who prompted by Nature will act as he can, Wth a black joke, & belly so white: For he ye Platonist must gainsay, that will not Human Nature obey, in working a joke, as will lather like soap, & ye hair of her joke, will draw more yn a rope, with a black joke, & belly so white.

1st verse of he Original Black Joke, Sent from Dublin (c.1720)

I suspect he played it a good deal slower than the recording on this web page!

The Black Joke (1) – Country Dance, Jig/Quadrille from England, Scotland, Ireland – The Traditional Tune Archive Explore a searchable archive of traditional Irish, Scottish, and North American tunes, with free sheet music and detailed annotations

In case you're curious about the tune Black Joke
tunearch.org/wiki/Black_J...

Many moons ago we had what we called "The Blue Girl set" - Girl with a Blue Dress on into Dark Girl...
Works pretty well as I recall.

My love is but a lassie / The Dark Girl Dressed in Blue YouTube video by Gerard Cappa

Whereas the Dark Girl we play, Matt, is completely different - it's the second one here
youtu.be/IWFvKtwsIMc?...

Polka: The Dark Girl Dressed in Blue (Arr. Doherty) YouTube video by Release - Topic

@intheroud.bsky.social @jonboden.bsky.social
I just checked the liner notes for the Old Swan Band's 'No Reels' and, as I thought, they got Dark Girl Dressed in Blue from Donegal fiddler John Doherty
youtu.be/qOf9cS3n7tY?...

I've forgotten what the acronym NSFW stands for. I think it might be New South Fucking Wales.

The next issue was full of apologies. Clearly there were Muslims who read New Society; but, surprisingly, maybe there were none on the staff.
A lesson in how well-meaning right-on (probably middle class) avowedly anti-racist white people could still think of Muslims as "them", not part of "us".

Well indeed - although not many of those will see it here, sadly.

It's just that I remember an issue of New Society in the mid-1980s, with a special feature on Muslims in Britain, and on the cover the splash was "What do they think of us?"

But apart from that one niggle, a really useful thread.

"They don't apply to YOUR child.
They aren't saying YOUR child can't do dance or art in case they're "blasphemous" or "offend" others"

...unless the person reading this is Muslim/Sikh/Jewish/Hindu etc. I'm not, but surely you might have some followers here who do belong to one of those faiths?

Although my favourite ever utterance on Absolute Units has to be @paddybullard.bsky.social saying something like "I could talk for hours about Jane Austen and hedges".

I love some of the phrases one hears on this podcast e.g. "We'd been casually making giants for some time".
Making a giant doesn't seem like the sort of thing that happens casually, but for some people, clearly, it is.