"we can no longer go to a 'folk' venue and listen to the music that we like, the way that we could say twenty-odd years ago. "

"my freedom to choose what I listen to has been curtailed"

I'm not sure who this "we" is that you refer to and I don't see how your freedom has been curtailed. If you don't like what you hear in a club, you have the freedom to leave - the people who go there obviously enjoy what they hear. Most people who go to folk clubs - certainly the ones I go to - have a wide taste in folk music, both booked artistes and in singarounds. I don't like all of it but it is a real joy to go along and discover some new talent that would otherwise have escaped me. I'm sorry that your tastes are so narrow that you can't appreciate the people who are writing the folk music of today. Incidentally, is that the view you take of the songs that Ewan MacColl wrote? Personally I much prefer those to his renditions of traditional songs.

I find the use of the term 'landfill' for something that you personally don't like is extremely offensive - what you are saying is that your taste is good but mine is rubbish!

One of the best folk clubs around is Kirkby Fleetham run by Banjiman (Paul Arrowsmith) and his wife, Wendy, who is herself an excellent example of people who are writing and performing songs in the folk idiom. The success of this club is testament to the fact that folk is alive and well.

It's folk, Jim - but not as you know it!