how can you say that?

Because (and note this well) FOLK is only relevant to a TINY PROPORTION of the ENGLISH PEOPLE. To the VAST MAJORITY it is of NO RELEVANCE WHATSOEVER. Go study the nature & history of The Folk Revival. FOLK is a FALSE cultural CONSTRUCT - it is a FANTASY - it is NOT and NEVER HAS BEEN our own good culture, rather it is a MINUSCULE part of it - albeit REVIVED and of VERY LIMITED appeal. You might see this as a BAD THING; whereas I see it as a REALITY. The ENGLISH PEOPLE have their Own Good Culture, and, for the most part, IT DOES NOT INCLUDE FOLK MUSIC. Sorry, but that's just the way it is. My kids hate it; most of the people I know hate it; even I hate 78.6% of it.

If people like any aspect of FOLK, it is down to PERSONAL TASTE and not some FATUOUS CRUSADE to do with NATIONAL PRIDE. If it is, those people, like YOU, are SORELY MISTAKEN. FOLK MUSIC is about the people who play it and love it; it is NOTHING MORE nor indeed ANYTHING LESS than that. Thus do I say FOLK IS NOT OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE - any more than RAILWAY MODELLING or CROSS STITCHING is our cultural heritage. FOLK is a HOBBY - it is a FUN THING TO DO but only for that tiny proportion of the English people WHO LIKE IT. For those who don't like it FOLK is HELL ON EARTH.

So - like folk by all means, but DO NOT have the bare faced TEMERITY to assume THE ENGLISH PEOPLE are in ERROR for not sharing your PERSONAL TASTE.