"You've got a nerve, 'GUESTChorleyBlob', barging in here and using this thread as an excuse to bash the 17-years-dead Ewan MacColl!
Still, if his shade can still rattle an oaf like you, there's still hope ... "

Sense of humour failure and wilfully misunderstanding other people's points of view. I think you're in danger of getting steamed up over nothing . To be honest, I think the BBC have done rather well to actually FIND 150 folk luminaries( or however many are on the panel)to judge these awards. And hooray that folk music can still inspire such passion. Its raising the profile of the music and that's got to be good hasn't it? I've been in enough dingy back rooms of pubs playing to three blokes and a dog in the last 30 years to know which I prefer.
As for barging in - isn't that the idea of messageboards, to encourage a diversity of opinion?