Great to hear Jackie Oates and Chris Wood getting their gongs.

And to "Guest" up thataway who wondered why there were no Irish musicians - this is the British Broadcasting Association's awards, funded by British licence payers, so they relate to (mainly) British music. In any case Irish radio stations are already awash with Irish music, which also gets plenty recognition from its own establishment in a way that English music (as distinct from Scottish) does not.

And Mike Harding's programme, to which you are apparently not a regular listener, often features Irish music, in fact probably more often than English or Scottish. This is the cause of frequent complaints by English listeners, many of whom who would like just one hour a week's national radio dedicated to English traditional music, but have to make do with the mix of English, Scottish, Irish and American music on the Mike Harding Show.

Marje