There is an analogy that takes place here in Southern Georgia, US. They have "Southern Re-enactment" groups that purport to teach a narrow history of the Confederacy. These groups are often filled with mis-information which I suspect is also the case with the BNP supporters of their kind of "folk". The antidote to the problem is more study and interest in the roots of English music that can be shown to dispel the propaganda mechanism that is employed by the BNP (who probably really doesn't care about British folk music and is more concerned with their political ideology). For this reason, it's a good thing that British people are taking an active interest in the music of their cultural heritage and explaining it for the edification of the public.

Another analogy would be the hyped-up interest in Wagner's "volk" in Hitler's Germany.
Real German folk music was not really addressed. Songs like "Die Gedanken Sind Frei"
which have a venerable history was not part of that agenda.

Ruth Archer's approach seems reasonable to me. Educate and inform the public about all aspects of British music and you will expose the BNP for what they are, ideological right-wingers and white supremacists who really don't give a damn for British folk music.

I see as a corollary to this idea of folk music to show the effects of British folk music in
other lands and cultures as well. I was impressed with Micheal Flatley in the Comhaltas
convention in St. Louis a while back sharing the stage with African-American tap experts showing the connection between clogging and step-dancing from two different cultures.
It illuminated the role of Irish step-dancing.

Similar juxtapositions of cultural expressions could be applied to British folk music culture.

As we know on Mudcat, many variants of songs that originated in the British Isles found roots in other cultures. Folklorists and collectors are aware of the unifying aspects of their work. The more you dig deeply into one culture, the better capable you can share it with another with the same enthusiasm and knowledge.

Frank Hamilton