Dick I do not attack Lizzie because she is Lizzie. I don't attack her at all. All that I ask is when she - or anyone else - makes a claim about something - that they say where the evidence is for that assertion.

Remembering this thread is supposedly about who gets booked at festivals, I cannot think of many festival organisers who are mainstream performers. The Sidmouth Festival director sings but is hardly known for it. Warwick's Festival Director is in Coventry Mummers. But low-key performance is understandable they are "folkies" after all. The Director of Celtic COnnections is a performer - I have never known him at an English Festival.

I don't know about folk club performers - if they sing in folk clubs they might agre to do some swapping. When I helped to run one we swapped floor singers wholesale. I thought that still went on. If the club organiser is a singer it is inevitable that people will appear in each other's club. That is hardly snouts in troughs - given the size of the trough.