>I would be interested to see how the BBC define or give guidance on eligible music to their mythical jury of 80/120/150 or whatever the number is. Would any of those people care to break cover and quote the rules, if there are any?<

Right, I'm going out, Fanshawe. Give me some covering fire...

There are rules, but they are largely procedural. Smooth Ops supplies no guidelines as to who does or does not qualify. Jurists, I'd guess, make commonsense assumptions, and if enough of them voted for The Krar Collective or even Alistair Roberts, they'd be up there. That there are no artists in the final line-up from Spleen's record label is in spite of my most strenuous efforts. Biddable, moi? No, I just know what I like.

And now, back in the foxhole...