By and large I think what EFDSS does is useful and meritorious, and I am glad to see a respected academic there who can see off all this "horse" nonsense. Equally, for a national archive there is only one sensible place - the national capital city, and while C#House may have problems (being expensive to run and hard to get to to start with) it would be insanity to get rid of an appreciating asset.

Offering a prize for a songwriting competition is not promotion of folk music - by definition.

But one for the interpretation of folk song and music (preferably not limited to formaldhyde copying of previous interpretations, so open to full on rock bands, synth programmers, - imagine a techno version of "Famous Flower of Serving Men" wot? - and I'm sure with a litle time I could produce a rap version of Matty Groves - and maybe lesser innovations like altered melodies or harmonies or chord sequences too) would surely assist the renovation of folk, and rebut those who refuse to use a perfectly useful definition and name that run parallel to other branches of scholarship in the folk arts.

What I don't see the point of is invading folk with things that are not (or "English" with things that are not English) - and which actively contribute to the marginalisation and possibly demise of folk (or English) song music and dance. Should photographers be able to compete in a painting competition? They can of course exhibit in an art exhibition.

Non-folk music may be just as good as folk music (etc etc) but folk music needs to be encouraged to survive. We strive to keep the world's genetic inheritance as complete as possible. We seek to preserve rare birds and reintroduce breeds to their former habitat. We don't do that by exposing them to tooth and claw competition until they are strong enough and numerous enough to survive with lesser help. If the Marsupial Wolf were not extinct, would you put the last survivor in with a pack of North American Timber wolves in the hope that they would become interested in it?

What folk music and other folk arts need are funding - just imagine what could be done with the subsidies opera companies get - and a government that does not discriminate against the natural habitat of folk music by making folk music in pubs licenseable yet megawatt MTV exempt from control.

What sells is sex. How about getting Simon Cowell to manufacture boy and girl electric folk bands - put on a pussycat dolls version of ceilidhs, break out. Don't surrender the citadel to the invaders.

Rant over, gone to calm down now.