Steve wrote:

my own personal belief is that it was put together by a quite sophisticated hand. I'm aware that there are a couple of other Irish related pieces that marry together 2 of the ballads, but to take 3 quite autonomous ballads, albeit similar in subject, and weave them together in such a clever way, has been the work of a very creative and knowledgeable hand. First of all you have to have intimate knowledge of all 3 ballads, and then recompose them so that they run along perfectly so that it leaves the singer, without knowledge of the 3 originals, marvelling at the end product. It is undoubtedly a masterpiece.

For some reason he seems to stand accused of falsely attributing a number of songs 'these songs' to 'the educated'.

Not only does this, in my eyes, misrepresent what he said, but it is also based on an incorrect view that anything offered so far has contradicted what he says. The idea that he needs to be sure of his 'facts' is risible, since what he are offered is what for me seems certain to be a highly mediated account of what was tape recorded in parts of Ireland. That account uses terms like 'almost certainly' which is a conjecture, not a fact.

The patronising last line just ends up being risible.