Ed Sheeran says London is 'dangerous' and 'every area is sketchy' as he fears for safety
Suffolk based Ed Sheeran has said London can be "dangerous" with concerns over safety.
Father of two Sheeran says he now feels all parts of the English capital are "sketchy", fearing that anyone who displays wealth will be a target of crime. The Shape Of You singer, 33, blasted the crime records of the current government as well as their approach to the arts.
When asked by US podcaster Theo Von during his UK visit 'What's the most dangerous place to be around here', he responded by saying: "Here? I'd say every area of London. Literally, every area is sketchy. I think that you cannot be anywhere. It's not like a segregated city. No, I mean the nice areas are sketchy, the bad areas are sketchy, but you just have to not do stupid sh**. If you wander around with, I dunno, like a Louis Vuitton duffel bag and a 200 grand watch, you are going to get robbed. But just don't do that."
Sheeran then launched a damning attack on the Conservative Party's lack of support for the arts accusing them of preferring to support bankers over bands. The multi Grammy winning singer songwriter blasted the regime for ignoring and "completely stripping the importance" out of the GB's incredible art communities and staggering talent of all ages.
Ed Sheeran says London is 'dangerous' as he shares fears for safety
He spoke about his feelings on the state of the UK: "I just try to be as honest as possible at all points." Sheeran went at the current regime over their treatment of his former school in Suffolk. He explained: "I've been doing probably for the last seven years stuff with music in high schools because in my area, so basically in 2017/ 2018, my old music teacher came to me and he was like, 'look, the government that is currently in charge, do not value art at all.. arts, drama, music.' And they cut all the funding for comprehensive high schools.
"So my music teacher came to me and was going, I think they had to share between art, music and drama, like 700 pounds per year for all three subjects. So I started funding that at my local high school. And then you see a massive uptick in kids doing production, kids doing songwriting, kids doing this.
"I built a recording studio there. There's loads of proper instruments that aren't broken and you just see the school getting better at music. So then I started doing that in the county that I'm from. And we've just now changed it to do it nationwide. And I'm now visiting more high schools and places that really need music funding.
"And you see what a difference it makes too. Because I'm not an academic person and in the real world I would be viewed as stupid, but I excelled at music and therefore people think that I'm good at something.
"And so I found it massively helpful to be in a state funded school that really encouraged that. And they've basically cut funding in England for it. So I'm doing what I can to get funding for it. But I think getting the new government will be better at it. But the thing that, that's kind of what I want to segue into is music education. It worked so well for me and I know it can work so well for other kids. I'm kind of proof that normal kids can just pick up guitars, work hard and do it."
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Referring to the UK's great history in the arts, he added: "And our country as well, what we are famous for is our art. We're famous for music with The Beatles. We're famous for painting. Damien Hurst. We're famous for movies. You've got Danny Boyle coming out of here, Christopher Nolan
"And the government is just putting importance on maths and banking and we make arms, but no one is proud that make arms and no one is proud that our banking's really good, but they are proud of our art. And so for a government to be like the art doesn't matter, where do you think the art's going to come from? So the next part of my career is getting proper, proper funding and art, music, drama back into schools and actually Ireland do a very good job of it.
Highlighting the global success of Adele and Stormzy, Sheeran then added: "In terms of art it's so weird that no importance is being put on it. It's not even that the importance isn't being put on it. It's completely stripping the importance of it and just being like, this doesn't matter."
Sheeran said that a lack of investment in the arts and support could see potentially world famous artists not reach their success. He insisted he sees many children, during his frequent trips to schools, who have better potential than him in their teens.
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