What do you think of my mother's long braid?Is it really very ugly?Pix included?

First of all, it is very rude of your mum's friends to tell her that her hair is ugly. It looks like your mum has the style to pull off the earthy long braid look. However, I'm sure that she would look very nice with a chic bob cut. You could find a magazine somewhere and show her pictures of ladies with similar texture hair to hers and see what she thinks of different haircuts. But the truth is, it's her hair, not anyone else's.