The sad thing about this mess is that interpreting a traditional song is a quite different musical exercise from writing a new one. Taking old material, finding its emotional heart, constructing an appropriate musical arrangement and telling the story properly, while making it sufficiently gripping to engage an audience in the twenty-first century, is as great a creative challenge (in some ways more so) than producing a piece of new material. As has been pointed out before, the BBC has the one Folk Award devoted to the recognition of this talent, so why debase it? The irony is that many of the young musicians the MH show likes to feature - Eliza, Spiers and Boden, Tim van E. and Devil's Interval - are doing precisely that, often in innovative and exciting ways.

It would be interesting to see the voting figures, but even if we do (and believe them) I would still bet you anything you like that not all those who voted for SL's "White hare" had actually heard it. "Ah, Seth Lakeman, he's hot shit right now.... The White Hare, oh yes, I vaguely remember that's a traditional song.... tick the box."