Thanks - yes, I meant to include the whole of the British Isles.

Looking back at my first question, I don't think I was very succinct: I suppose what I'm really angling at (apart from trying to get modern song lyrics - thanks for your response so far on this) is:

I wasn't even a twinkle in my mother's eye back in the 60s and 70s... however, I notice that most popular folk songwriting (American and UK) that made it into the UK charts was based on political and social issues of the day (people trying to effect change).

However, looking at the new wave of modern folk that's made it into the charts, like Seth Lakeman / Eliza Carthy / Kate Rusby / Cerys Matthews, most of what they write seems to focus on personal relationships rather than British political (or even global political) issues. Does this mean it's not folk, or does it reflect the commercialisation of folk, or does it mean that folk's now obsessed with an irrelevant past, or does it mean something else?

So, really, I was also sort of hoping to start a wider debate on this strange new direction that British folk music seems to be taking. What do you all think?