Dr John . . There's two issues, actually . . "Keeping the Pound/Mark/Franc" etc. and the European Exchange Rates. Currency speculators can't make money trading between most European currencies, as the exchange rates are fixed. The pound is the exception to this. When the Danes voted not to adopt the Euro it did not affect their membership of the exchange rate mechanism.

This is, of course, highly relevent to comparisons between the UK and Danish situations . . unfortunately, however, it's altogether too complex a distinction for our media to grasp (except in the very small print which no-one reads).

Rant over, buy the Nic Jones CD, and his Topic one (Penguin Eggs) if you don't have them, they are "essentials" for anyone with an interest in UK folk music and how it got where it is today.

As I recall, the "In search of Nic Jones" idea started while Nic was either still in a coma or suffering from memory loss; his wife appealed for recordings of Nic in live performance to play to him in the hopes of jogging his memory. From that collection (its job having been done, pretty well) the CD was born.

There was a wonderfull Nic Jones article (with some material from speaking to him and his family) in Folk Roots a year or so back.

G.