"I feel under no obligation to support the rubbish."

No, and nor should you, but it would be nice if a few more people could manage to gather together a little objectivity and separate out their personal tastes from judgements of quality and the wider issue of publicity for folk-rooted music, because they're not the same thing. I personally can't stand the noise that opera singers make, but I'd never say opera was rubbish, because it's obviously of the very highest quality, and a lot of people love it.

I'm not sure what your point is, John MacKenzie. I don't think anyone could call Sam Lee, Paul Sartin, Jim Moray or even Mark Cooper (or any of the performers for that matter) out of touch, they're slap bang in the middle of a 'happening scene.' (Mike and Smoops had nothing to do with the production - at least I don't think they did).

Yes, there is a small group of production companies who have managed, through merit and hard work, to be in pole position on the broadcast end of the UK folk scene. I wish I was one of them but that's just life. They may be out of touch with what's happening in the clubs (and I've told them as much myself), but the clubs only represent a tiny tiny proportion of the Radio and TV audience. And they're not out of touch with the festival and theatre circuits - as the artists selected for this show prove. You really couldn't have crammed in many more.

Tom