I suppose The Grauniad has developed a view on folk that fits some stereotype or other. The Northern folk club scene I started getting involved with in the late '70s wasn't much of a bastion of feminism. Many of the folk comics of the day had more in common with comics on the working men's clubs circuit than politically correct talking heads preaching at us from the Dave channel of today.

It had a wide political spectrum too. Enjoying a song for the tune, performance or ambience of the room doesn't necessarily mean being in tune with the sentiments of the words. When I think of what I was part of, I don't think ethnic skirts, muesli and expressing emotions through the medium of dance. I think of beer, pork scratchings and delivering sexist jokes whilst trying to get a bloody banjo in tune.

Nothing better than getting up and saying you cant wait to get married, so you have someone to drive you to and from folk clubs. Half the audience used to laugh anyway...

On a slightly more serious note, I don't think that folk or any other culture has lost its stereotypes alone. Society is losing stereotypes. People are more sophisticated these days and you can no longer judge a book by its colour as you could at one time. Donkeys with red rosettes are a thing of the past.