Songfacts®:

• At the tail end of the 1970s, Tom Robinson released two critically acclaimed albums. At that time he was both an out homosexual and an angry young man. In 2015 - by now a radio presenter/DJ and more significantly a father - he released his first album for 19 years, which included this song, which was actually written in 2013 or earlier. What appears to be the first version was recorded solo; this one includes other musicians. Robinson provides vocals only, and is joined in this endeavor by Billy Bragg. For those au fait with the politics of both men, this will come as no surprise.
  
  This later version has slightly different words, the reference to Robert Maxwell has been removed, and other verses added which allude to the trial of Rebekah Brooks (and others) - in which she was acquitted. There is also a reference to Doreen Lawrence, who is said to have waited 18 years for justice; what is not made clear in this song of course is that the two men who were convicted of her son's murder had been pursued remorsely by the legal system until some new forensic evidence appeared miraculously, and on top of that the law was changed to remove the ancient and honorable principle of double jeopardy.
  
  It is in any case not only the poor who suffer injustice; at the time this album was released there were at least two quite wealthy celebrities behind bars after being convicted of imaginary crimes on the ludicrous testimony of demented women, while other celebrities, politicians and the high and mighty - alive and dead - had their names dragged through the mud as the British police pursued an ectoplasmic paedophile ring that was said to have murdered underage boys, a witch-hunt that was instigated by mentally disturbed individuals and a disingenuous muckraking news website.
  
  Robinson's transition from angry young man to angry old man shows he has neither lost his quaint sense of humour nor gained a sense of irony. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander Baron - London, England
• Robinson wrote this song for the Save Legal Aid rally, which was held on July 30th, 2013 outside Old Bailey in London.