Tony Blair, we learn, is a Sham 69 fan. Last time it was the Grateful Dead. But Sham weren't and aren't just another 70's icon: music to be picked up on a whim. 

'If the Kids are United' is a song with a definite context. Sham 69 made their name as one of the best punk bands, loud and angry. All manner of different people were attracted to them, including members of the National Front. It would have been easy to keep quiet and hope that such fans would slink away. But Jimmy Pursey and the others broke publicly with the Front, playing the great Rock Against Racism carnival of spring '78. They became a running target for the NF, with violent attacks on their gigs in Brixton and at Middlesex Poly. Some of that history is told here. 

Nor has Pursey - unlike so many of successes of his era - ever given up on what he believed. I've seen Jimmy Pursey twice on film in the last year: once in a flash on London news, Pursey who must now be approaching 50 was part of a squat facing eviction; and most recently in Alan Miles' superb film Who Shot the Sheriff?.

Sham 69 are band of rebellion, and there are some things, Tony, you can't steal.