"IT SEEMS LIKE SOME PARTS OF bRITAIN WERE STILL MAKING UP SONGS"
I'm well aware of that Dick - this has been my argument from day one
Don't tell me, tell those who seem so keen to believe that they don't

In all the years I've been involved in folk song, I don't think I've ever encountered such enthusiasm to suggest that they weren't doing so; occasionally there were suggestions that the folk were incapable of making the ballads, but their making folk songs was never questioned until now

I fully believe that working people were once prolific, even instinctive song-makers with a desire to express their feelings, experiences and aspirations in verse - (I remember you once gave me a locally-made song on a local sportsman) - I heard two of those last week
That the folk made their songs still appears to be the belief here in Ireland - last week I attended a series of singing workshops where the tutors appeared somewhat bemused at the suggestion that the folk didn't make their songs - one response was "Isn't that how they got their name"
It seems that the U.K. scene has made a U.D.I.

Having been involved in that scene for as long as I was, I find that somewhat depressing
I would have thought that they had enough problems in tackling how to ensure the survival of folk music without adding this to them
Jim