Anyhow, I have to say I don't really understand this issue. Is the essence of the conflict between traditional singers and singer-songwriters, between folk and "folk rock," or between young and old?

At least one of the main problems seems to be that they are run by Smooth Operations, who also run the Mike-Harding-presented weekly programme on Radio 2, the highest-profile media slot in the UK labelled as being "folk music". They are generally despised by the British contributors to the this forum for turning that into a showcase for middlebrow Americanized acoustic-pop mush, so there is a lot of mistrust about any other media circus they might be involved in.

As I haven't listened to a minute of Radio 2 in years, don't have a TV, and would be quite happy to see both Radio 2 and the entire world television industry consigned to the cesspit of history, I find it kinda hard to get excited by this dispute.