If Irish radio and TV has been playing wall-to-wall Irish folk music all this time, how come Irish folk music seems to have gone completely off the boil in terms of evolution, innovation and as an international brand leader. The days when Irish folk groups were looked to as world leaders have long gone, and whilst there are certainly many, many excellent musicians at play, very little has shown up in recent years that isn't an identikit clone of bands from the past. It's in a rut, a popular tradition becalmed. The days when Planxty, the Bothy Band, Altan, Moving Hearts etc blew everybody's minds because they were brilliant and moving things forward have long, long gone. Whereas England, which gets virtually nothing on the radio in real terms, has had an explosion of quality, evolution, youth involvement and real excitement in recent years. Sometimes, things flourish in adversity, with just a few straws (like the Folk Awards?) to grab for. It feels great to be here right now.