Given the state of the current Scottish team - it is not really a good idea to bring foorball into this.

The BBC Culture Programme continued this theme but with little real substance. The suggestion was that Scottish devolution had played a part in stimulating music in Scotland.

Billy Bragg (that well-known English folkie) made the point that a festival called Anglo-Saxon Connections would be viewed with much suspicion (especially I suspect from Scotland). Would not the term Celtic Connections exclude English music's participation?

The whole thing is bogus. It is simply that the folk scene in Scotland and England has always been different. So have the laws and the tone of enforcement. Public Entertainment licensing has certainly contributed to the general easy ride that live music in Scotland receives - compared to the hurdles that are presented to all forms of live music in England and Wales.