"200 clubs and sessions in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire ALONE would suggest to anyone with an ounce of intellience that the folk music scene in the UK is still quite vibrant and alive".
No it doesn't. It might mean that the "folk music scene" is "still quite vibrant and alive" in "Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire".
Nothing more, nothing less.
When was the last time you set foot in a folk club in Scotland, that allows you to make that extrapolation with any first hand knowledge ?