that's my interpretation too Dave, the only reason I got involved at all was because various people had been aiming strong criticism at Steve and his site for 'being negative' and I didn't think that was fair.

as for next years festival - I genuinely hope it is a success for everybody who is involved in organising it or who goes along as a punter. I still think they would benefit from somebody with the amount of energy Steve has being involved and he says he has tried to get involved and not been allowed to. Either that is true or it isn't. On his site he is asking questions about next years festival (as well as the long term) that will have to be addressed before next August and if he hasn't been allowed to be in the steering group and has concerns about these specific issues I don't see what is wrong with him asking them on his own website. Although some of the questions on there could be interpreted as 'rhetorical' a lot of them are not.