Well, Brittany and Galicia as analogies, maybe, (though I'm not at all sure that's why they were mentioned) but not particulary apposite ones.  The Shetland comparison is probably more helpful, but the situation in a relatively small and geographically separate region with very distinct traditions of its own may be too individual to provide a widely-applicable paradigm.

As other people have pointed out, the "ordinary" English (not Anglo-Normans, please: a misleading and, in this context, virtually meaningless term) -by which I mean the majority who have, historically, had no influence in the political or cultural governance of the country- have long been taught to aspire to the cultural values of the ruling classes.  "Bettering" oneself meant (and still often does, sadly) abandoning one's traditional culture, dialect, and often accent, in favour of a more "acceptable" form.  In the West of Scotland, this often also involved parents discouraging their children from learning Gaelic -sometimes to the extent of refusing to speak it in front of them- in the belief that it might hold them back in life.  That situation seems, fortunately, to have changed; whether in time or not remains to be seen.

In England, however, the attitude remains widespread.  It is only recently that Social, as opposed to Political History has been seriously taught in schools here, and the Tory governments of recent years tried to end even that.  Add to that the all-pervasive influence of the mass-media, and their considerable part in replacing the bourgeois art-music model with the American commercial music one, and it is small wonder that the English are confused about their cultural identity; as, of course, are the peoples of most industrialised nations to some degree.

It seems unlikely that "folk music" as defined by the leaders of the Revival of the 50s and 60s, still less as defined by the Collectors of earlier years, will ever again assume a large rôle in the cultural life of the country as a whole.  There is no reason, however, why it should not develop a significant one.  The Regional (and, finally, National) Arts Councils have at last accepted that the folk arts, previously disqualified because of their perceived "amateur" status, are entitled to support on the same basis as other art-forms.  The situation is still not ideal; grants are awarded by "Arts Professionals", so tend to go to other "Arts Professionals" (middlemen like promoters) rather than to those who actually do it.  It's a start, anyhow, and may go some way towards enabling the presentation of traditional music in a professional performance context, which it clearly needs if it is to be taken seriously, alongside more widely promoted musics, by the general public.  Young performers who are in a position to give it a cool, sexy image may also prove invaluable, though that sort of effect seems to be cyclic and, on its own, generally of short duration.  There is also what I would characterise as "proselytisation by stealth", done piecemeal, at grass-roots level, by people like us: in my experience, most people who think that they don't like folk music actually have very little idea of what it is, and will, more often than not, enjoy it if you don't identify it as such beforehand.  Slowly, some prejudices can be resolved in this way.

Given that, for historical reasons, a large number of English people are embarassed by manifestations of their own traditional culture (not helped by the ignorant and patronising attitudes of a good few Media professionals), and since "Celtic" music -however one defines it- is quite fashionable at present, this can lead to the assumption on the part of many people that music they have enjoyed must by definition be not English; play English tunes in an "Irish" session (in England, that is) and, so long as you play them a bit too fast, most -many musicians included- will simply assume that they are Irish.  That, I suspect, would be the rationale behind the "English" session; it gives some room for material which is often marginalised in other contexts, identifies it for what it is, and prevents it from being swamped by the sometimes over-familiar "Session Standards": this may seem separatist, but I think that it serves a useful function, in the short term, as a form of positive discrimination.  It's worth pointing out, though, that the idea that there are clearly-defined boundaries between the (Anglophone) musical traditions of the nations that comprise these islands is an illusion.  Distinctions are more usefully made between regional than national styles, and as we all know, a large part of the repertoire is in any case held in common, regardless of where it originated.  In the end, the best thing we can do for the music is to keep it alive in our own lives, and do our best to bring it to others in ways which may give it meaning and value for them, too.

Malcolm