Well Fred, you wrote that the EFDSS had digitised copies of the Kennedy Collection and it turned out you were wrong. I couldn´t imagine you would be stupid enough to make such a statement without checking it first - but you did. Of course that gets up your nose.

I am also pretty sure that the material that Andrew King catalogued was in fact the complete Folktrax catalogue not the original tapes. And I am happy to be wrong about that. But I am damned if I am going to do all your checking for you.

And no need to introduce me Fred, I met him a couple of times and when his contract was coming to an end at NSA I wrote a letter of support for his further employment. I had a nice reply thanking me.

But it seems to me that the best way to protect this vital part of our national heritage, and one which was garnered with public money and ought to belong to the public,

then in the next email you wrote:

My email said nothing about retaining the collection in this country

Do you not see those as mutually exclusive? Semantically maybe not, I would think any normal person would read that as a plea for the collection to be kept in this country. But in fact it makes little difference to my point which as usual you fail to address.

Where will it go? Make a list Fred, anywhere in the world contact them and ask them if they want it. It may seem strange to people reading how important that this collection is, consisting as it does of a whole melange of folk-related material that many of us would properly regard as priceless, cannot be found a home.

Suppose I was in a position to offer it to Fred. He would need somewhere to house it with high quality storage conditions, someone to catalogue and at the same time digitise it and the equipment that goes with that, someone to copy the original tapes and photographs, copy the films, and then look after it and make sure it is accessible to the general public. On top of all that it would need someone to start tracing the original copyright holders and their successors and check that what is there is so legitimately. And start paying people royalties.

And that I might respectfully suggest is the serious problem. Compared to that copyright is a minor issue.

Any comment on my other points yet Fred? The one about Mustrad publishing anonymous allegations and the other about how the family might feel?

Scurrilous Fred? No, just anxious to ensure that the facts don´t spoil a good story.