Jim Carroll -
Oh dear - is that what passes for folk nowadays?

Sadly, Jim, this is an example of the way you twist what people have said. Raggytash wrote that Ed Sheeran's song has "probably done more to introduce young people in the UK to folk music than any amount of pontificating on websites such as Mudcat."
That is an opinion; not a claim that the song is in any way a folk song. I think that I am right in saying that Ed's background is London Irish. It sounds to me like a written song by a man who is exploring his roots. Compared with the average pop song today, it is intelligent, well-constructed and catchy and it is written with at least one eye on the type of modern Irish song written by those who look back to their predecessors. If, as is likely, Ed becomes a role model for younger singer-songwriters then we may be in far a period where there is a more thoughtful element in pop music.