"You missed the thread here about the Nic Jones article in The Mail about a week ago"

That serves me right. I'll have a pike at that one - thanks for the heads up Keith.

I suppose all you have to do is listen to Mike Harding's show to get some insight on the Smooth Op's view on how they view folk. Their view is as valid as any, but the cynic in me wonders if they kept Lakeman in because of the value of having a high-profile crossover artist (a dubious term methinks) in the best tradtional song shortlist.

But how do you define traditonal? My dictionary gives these definitions of traditional:

existing in or as part of a tradition; long-established : the traditional festivities of the church year.

produced, done, or used in accordance with tradition : a traditional fish soup.

Given these definitions, and assuming Lakeman's account of writing the song is true (and it'd be pretty rotten to even suggest he's lying about it), then perhaps the song is traditional and Martin Carthy and everyone else is wrong.