Ed Sheeran fears for safety in 'sketchy' London
Ed Sheeran fears for his safety in "sketchy" London.
The 33-year-old singer admitted he worries about becoming a target of crime in the dangerous English capital and fears getting robbed.
When asked by US podcaster Theo Von during his UK visit "What's the most dangerous place to be around here?", Ed replied: "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 s***. 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."
Ed also blasted the Conservative government for failing to support the Arts.
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He said: "I just try to be as honest as possible at all points. 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."