Al, I just don't recognise the folk scene you talk about. I go to most major festivals, some smaller festivals each year and couple of sessions most weeks, and lots of gigs.

I was at Cheltenham last weekend, a session Monday night in a pub. And last night I was at a gig with two amazingly talented young musicians with harmonica and banjo. They got a standing ovation from an audience with a wide age range, after playing traditional morris tunes, self-penned tunes and songs, and some American stuff. On Saturday night I am going to hear some Icelandic harmonies and a three-part all female acapella group. Clearly no sense of adventure there then.

In my home city there is so much music there is a monthly session devoted just to the tunes of 'O'Carolan". And a monthly folk train which is packed each month. Various Sunday and mid-week sessions. Singing and tune sessions.

The festivals I go to are packed with young people many of them outstanding musicians - not interested in being professional because they have jobs - but playing two or three times a week just the same for the love of music.

Now in the 60's and 70's I lived in two hotbeds of folk music Manchester and Hull. There wasn't anything like the participation there is now. Name a couple of good melodeon players from the 60's/70's? There were about six top-class melodeon players in a session in the hotel on Saturday night.

Name four good fiddle players from the 60's from England? Can't move from them now. There were four in Jon Boden's band last Friday night.

I first got interested in folk music in the early 60's. There are far more people playing and involved in folk music than ever.

You know for people who supposedly destroyed a really great scene by their attitudes - those you describe made a really bad job of it.

Except apparently with you.

And one small point of information - the Melody Maker has never sold 5 million copies. The generally agreed figure is around 200/300,000 at its height.