Yes, TradFolkie, what about all those things?

Doc Rowe's collection should be preserved, it's true, and I hope that that will happen in the next few years. Similarly with Roy Dommetts archive.

But this is digitising and storing the collections of the most important folk song collectors of the first folk revival so that they can be freely shared and studied, and can be preserved in pristine condition forever. Those collectors went out and collected the songs so that they wouldn't die out. I don't think its an exaggeration to say that digitising and preserving them (in a form that won't rot or fade and that can be in several places at once with no danger of being damaged) will be one of the biggest landmarks in the history of the study of folk music since then, if not the single biggest. This is a very very big deal, and I'm heartened by the use of public money to do it. It's a gift to everyone, and will be immensely important for decades and possibly centuries to come.

Well done to Malcolm and Katy and all at the EFDSS for such an achievement.

It's not taking away from the work of Doc or Roy, and I hope that their work will be similarly preserved once day. But this is a fantastic thing to have happened and I can't believe anyone would fail to applaud it, whether they disapprove of the EFDSS in general or not.

p.s. The musical sculpture you refer to wasn't paid for with EFDSS money, they were simply providing a home for it. I'm sure you know this, but... don't be so petty.