I'm not entirely sure your premise is true, Nick. Not saying you are wrong but my belief is that anyone in the limelight will receive a healthy dollop of criticism. Now, had the Unthanks etc. stayed in the relatively obscure world of folk not many people would have heard of them and therefore it would stand to reason that the number of critics would be lower. Once you start to hit the big time then your audience is far wider and the number of critics grows proportionately.

Take the Unthanks as an example - I can't say that I paricularly like them. Nothing wrong with their music, just not my cup of tea. Had they have stuck to the folk clubs of the North East I may never had heard of them so would never had said I don't particularly like them. I am, I believe, pretty fair and will not criticise any artist any more than that. But for every one of me there are 10 who, rather than say they do not like it, will say it is crap.

Nothing, therefore, to do with jelously or any such. Simply the fact that the higher your profile goes, the more people will take a pot shot. And take no notice whatsoever of anyome saying it is an English trait. Us English are naturaly more critical because our standards are far higher than those in the colonies... :-)

MP