Well said Stallion - especially the john bull story. I think there's always been an in-built resistance to any kind of wider success within the folk scene. Perhaps it goes back to the days of solidarity with the left and a suspicion that anyone who makes any money out of the music is an evil capitalist and therefore tainted.
I don't for a minute doubt the sincerity of those who are busying themselves with the White Hare inquisition - but I do wonder who they're trying to destroy in the process and whether, in the end, it will do more harm than good.
Maybe we shouldn't worry ourselves about how we appear to the wider world, but if I'm honest, I felt a twinge of embarrasment when I heard the stuff on the Feedback programme and then re-visited the threads on here.
Singers like Seth Lakeman and Kate Rusby, love 'em or hate 'em , ( and I'm not keen to be honest)have brought in a sense of vibrancy to a scene that was quietly mouldering. I'm not an economist,nor a Thatercherite, but even I can see the benefits of the trickle down effect. We should be cheering them on - the singers and the awards - and not trying to throw marbles under them.