Hopefully this isn't too controversial a question.

Having just got back from a holiday in Ireland, I couldn't help but notice that traditional Irish music is heavily promoted by the tourist industry - and it can be heard in gift shops, extensively in pubs, particularly in Dublin and Galway, and on street corners.

Back in London - traditional music is largely ignored, and if a visitor wants to hear traditional music in London he/she has to go to great lengths to find it.

Why, particularly in London, do we make our traditions so hard to find? Is it because the 'public' do not like to listen to English folk music as opposed to Irish? Are English singers so bad??

When I was in the Shanty Crew we could hold the attention of a large number of visitors to St Katherines Dock (yonks ago), and when we sang each month on the Cutty Sark, visitors would stop and listen - we once had a party of French schoolkids sitting on the hatch cover listening to an entire set - and joining in.