The great debate rages on and on, as it has for years. Folk club manners is at the heart of it. Being very adult, polite, friendly and supportive, we duly applaud everyone who has the bottle to stand up and sing in front of an audience. Anyone who has done it will testify to the buzz - that's what gets you up there in the first place, and that's what ensures you return for more.

Being able to distinguish between polite and enthusiastic applause is (for some) the difficult bit. If folks displayed their true feelings and refused to acknowledge something they know to be truly awful by not applauding, or by reacting in a similar way to that of football fans in response to a lousy offside call, then the poor performer would soon get the message.

Is that what we want for our community? Maybe we should reach out for perfection - root out the weakest performers and show them the door; we should raise the minimum standard level and apply some points system for determining position in folk league tables?

Way to go .... Hmmm