"Oh..and Richard, it took They Who Must Not Be Mentioned SIX years to say anything, despite one of them watching the BBC board for years..."

Maybe that's because most professional musicians would prefer not to be drawn into public confrontations with their "fans", as it's unseemly and embarrassing. Maybe because they hoped that sending you subtle messages, such as "Please don't start banging on about our new album because we want people to have the chance to make up their own minds" might be enough to get you to pull your head in. Because they thought that if they ignored you for long enough, you might eventually go away without them having to engage with you. But you finally pushed them so far that they had to make a public statement distancing themselves from you. I should imagine there are precious few stalky fans, especially in folk, who have achieved such a peculiar distinction. You keep telling us how Special you are - so well done. You proved it. Though it's a kind of "special" that would mortify most sane people.

Intriguing that Steve and Phil have "gone over to the traddie side" simply by distancing themselves from your crazed attentions. How are you defining "traddie" in this particular context, I wonder? Just stuff and people that you don't like?

Back OT: apparently some songs are just too long and soul-destroying to be sung, or more to the point, to be listened to. Why? If you don't have the attention span to listen to long ballads, Lizzie, don't. Leave it to people who do. Just because some people like Thomas Hardy, but some people don't have the attention span and prefer comic books, does that mean no one should ever publish or read Thomas Hardy again, just in case the people who like comic books feel badly? No one is telling you to listen to or enjoy traditional music and big ballads, Lizzie. Why should you have the right tell anyone else not to?