one thing that constantly surprises me about *young people these days* is how conservative they all sound. The truism used to be that people mellowed and grew more reactionary as they got older. We live in strange days, where it seems like The Kids gravitate to a middle-of-the-road easy listening default.

To be brutally honest, I think it is totally understandable why some people thing folk is a joke, when they are presented with acts like these flagged up as the best of a generation. If there were a BBC Young Grime MC of the Year award, or a Young Techno Act of the Year, or a Young Experimental Noise Act of the Year, you would hear a degree of attitude and imagination and flair that would put these acts to shame.

I know people always moan about these sort of award ceremonies. But, really, the music of the winners is genuinely awful. Michael Parkinson territory.