Guest 24 Nov 15 - 07:31 AM is being unkind (and is nearly always the case) under the cloak on anonymity. [Post deleted as anonymous attack. Those who post anonymously in the music section are expected to be on their best behavior. -Joe Offer-]

Dick is correct to point out the glaring inaccuracies in the poorly researched and badly written piece which he quotes in full and typos in in his posting do not make the case he is making any less valid.

I would like add to Dick's complaints about the mistakes in the piece an accusation of sloppy journalism. Here's an example:-

Thus, she has helped demolish the perception in England of folk as historically the preserve of cranks, obscurists and morris dancers

One of journalism's worst cliches is to write a piece which demolishes unfairly an entire genre apart from the one character that is being written about who is painted as its saviour.

Cranks? I would like to meet Ed Power and ask him to name those associated with the folk scene who are characterised by peculiar or eccentric ideas. Not the ones that I meet.

Obscurists? I can't find this word in any respectable dictionary. Does the writer mean 'obscuritanists'? Is an 'obscurist' a person who takes takes research into their interest seriously and comes up with interesting but neglected items? A person who might be a highly-qualified senior librarian like.... for example... June Tabor. In her concerts she is full of the interesting backgound to the songs that she sings and has researched.

Morris dancers? Ed Power makes a cheap and meaningless jibe without any justification.

On my visits to Ireland, I have always bought the Cork Examiner as a substitute for The Guardian which I read from cover to cover daily. In the past have often marvelled at the quality of the writing in that Irish broadsheet. I hope that this article is not an indication of how its standards have slipped.