None of the snigers (Freudian slip of keyboard?) you mention are rooted in a tradition, though, are they? Melua, Winehouse and kRusby are not, by any stretch of the imagination, perfect examples of anything recognisably and intrinsically English.

Apart from Richard Thompson, obviously, who can be when he feels like it - Mock Tudor, deeply rooted in the tradition of the middle-class English suburbs, another side of Metroland.

And the ISB. Certainly not 'new-agey'. Clive and Robin started off as a duo very much in the tradition and indeed produced an album At The Pure Fountain only a couple of years ago which certainly was.

It's not in the slightest bit hard to determine whether a music is rooted or not. Just think of English football . . . calls itself 'English' but it's not very, is it?

Re your telly-watching: it gets worse. Go and watch Bergman on BBC2.