"That is my case. Yours presumably is that you do more to protect preserve and promulgate in practice England's (and Scotland's and Wales') musical and lyrical cultural heritage than the EFDSS"

Er..... Where did I say or even imply that? It just seems to me that funding an organisation founded to preserve and promulgate our musical heritage (I'm a member, of course) by taking money out of the pockets of musicians who actually play the stuff is a curious way to go about it. And it occurs to me that a decision to award the copyright of Public Domain material (what, all of it?) to the EFDSS might not pass uncontested.

The hit version of "Cotton Eyed Joe" was by The Rednex, by the way.