Look out it's the P word!

Dusting down his soapbox, Steve Sutherland answers the critics who reckon there's no room for politics in HFC, regardless of whether it be of the big or small P variety

What does it say in the top left hand corner of this page? Let me check. Yup, just as I thought: Opinion. Just to clarify matters, according to the online dictionary, an opinion is: "a view or judgement formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge". The reason I mention this is because every once in a while someone writes in or emails to complain about one of our Opinion pieces. And usually the article singled out for derision is something authored by yours truly. The list of offences includes pieces that suggest Brexit is having a disastrous effect on British musicians' ability to tour and thus sustain a living doing what they love best, the re-evaluation of national anthems and songs sung at public events in the light of our growing awareness of the offence some cause and the desire to include everyone in our celebrations, and examining the baby steps being taken to disallow an artist's lyrics to be used against them in a court of law.

What I find most interesting about the complaints is that the people who have a problem with what's been written don't overtly state any disagreement with the specific standpoint being expressed. The complaint is always the same: that there is no place for politics in HFC.