The "folk world" as a single entity is an illusion. There are so many different definitions of folk, and so many interests and enthusiasms within it, that to suggest some big homogeneous love-in is what we're all striving for is ludicrous. People form connections, and networks, and find that there are some people they love to bits and some whom they don't like and don't get on with. That's life.

I sometimes think it's when we try too hard to make all of these disparate ideas which we lump under the category of "folk" work together that the problems occur. Your folk isn't my folk isn't their folk.

As to the original question about a sense of community: is this phenomenon exclusive to the folk world? no, I don't think it is. But I do think that the many and various communities I belong to, all of which fit somewhere on the "folk" spectrum, are filled with some of the most lovely and interesting people you'll find anywhere. That included Col K.

Diane, I don't agree entirely with your appraisal of music and the arts as a commodity. Of course it's true to some extent, but there's a fair bit of subsidy around too, which suggests that, even in this day and age, the arts are not completely commodified in Britain. The government acknowledges that, on some level, the arts play a more important role in society than that of a mere commodity - though they obviously still don't make enough money available.