Very useful, Oggie. Very persuasive.

I did sit through some sessions of the world Irish Dance championships in Belfast a few months ago. The music was from solo fiddle with keyboard accompaniment. The tempi were almost mechanically precise - I evem timed the dances - but no sign of a metronome. What did surprise me was that solo contestants danced in pairs (independently of each other of course) and each pair got a different tune. So dozens of jigs, reels or whatever the category happened to be, strung together end-to-end with barely a pause, and never a list consulted.

All this may well be the norm - it's the first time I've seen competition dancing at anything like this level. I must say I found the overall tone of the event slightly disagreeable. There was a huge amount of commercial activity around the edges, with stalls flogging all kinds of specialist kit (even wigs for god's sake), kitch costumes at spectacular prices, etc. And many contestants seemed to have a certain Shirley Temple look about them that I found a bit distasteful, curmudgeonly old fart that I am. The real giveaway was how desperate the parents were to be seen to be not putting their kids under pressure.

Sorcha, that's a very big question you've touched on. I'd better PM you or I'll get my knuckles rapped for more thread creep.