Goodbye Russia, Until we Meet Again!

Sadly, after a few short weeks, the tour is over. Away I go from this lockdown free paradise back to (potentially up to 6 months) of no financial support and a strict lockdown.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m by no means an ‘Anti-Masker’ (Quite the opposite, my hands are red raw from regular sanitising and I have a very sensitive face from wearing my mask 10 hours a day), but I am dreading going back to a country where we are banned from socialising and pubs close at 10.

Here in Russia, people are educated and able to make their own choices about engaging with society in a pandemic, and I love it! I’m sure, sadly, there are many forced to work that should be self isolating, but every Russian I meet is moving strongly forward, and has often made a happy agreement with their work regarding working from home and compensation.

our government, on the flipside, has doomed an entire industry to failure by not allowing us to work and simultaneously offering no support. Since March, I’ve been suffering with a very hard depression caused by a combination of not being able to work or claim any sort of support at all.

The UK government has imposed this stupid curfew because only a few weeks ago, they told us to go back to work, and to schools, mostly to save big business reliant on trade from working people and the landlords reliant on student money.

They can not, and will not, stand up and say ‘Hay, we were wrong to send everyone back so soon’, so have, instead, decided to blame late night drunks for the new spread, instead of their own misjudgement. The Answer? shut the pubs at 10.

This decision has no basis in science, and was not recommended by any science council, but damns many nightlife based establishments to almost certain doom. we are big boys and girls. we know the risks. let us out.

I despair, and worry greatly for the many friends I have who make their living in this valued industry. Let’s be safe, be aware, and allow these people to do the jobs they love.

I love live performance, and the times here I’ve got to see a band play, a singer sing or a comedian perform have been rare moments of real beauty, and have made me realise even more how much art is an essential part of life.

Please, let us make art, and let the people make the choice to view it or not.