Jim, you keep calling for evidence but you ignore it when we give it to you.

No one is denying that the number of folk clubs has fallen, although I seriously question the figure of 186 which has appeared with nothing to substantiate it. A look at the number of venues putting on folk in my own area Pyramid Folk or the London area London folk clubs suggests to me that this considerably underestimates the number. Some of those listed are tune sessions (which are usually strongly traditional), some are concert venues which put on folk as part of a wider programme, but there are plenty of folk clubs in the familiar sense. Some are no doubt not putting on "folk" in the sense that you would like it to be, but that was always the case and I don't seem much here which is very different from when the clubs were in their heyday. There is also the point that clubs are no longer the be all and end all, there are other opportunities and venues to hear folk music of all kinds.

You would have us believe that traditional music in particular is declining, when the evidence of my own ears is that is not the case, at least at the folk clubs, festivals and other events I attend. I have no difficulty in finding traditional songs being performed, but like Vic the standard of performance I can expect to find often keeps me away; however that is a different problem to what you are alleging.

You would also have us believe that folk clubs have been infiltrated by other forms of music, without apparently acknowledging that the folk clubs, taken as a whole, have always embraced the widest meaning of folk. Worse, you claim that folk in its wider sense is damaging traditional music, without a shred of evidence to show that (a) damage is taking place and (b) this is the cause. Worst of all, you accuse those who do not accept your analysis, and who see nothing wrong with clubs presenting a full spectrum of folk, as being hostile to traditional music. Frankly, that is insulting to people who in their own ways have been deeply involved with traditional folk all their lives.

You complain about closed minds, but your own mind is closed to the possibility that other people's experience of the folk scene is more positive than yours.