As tempting as it is to write a blog post that just contains the words "F**k you!" all the way through...
I'll try to make this as non-sweary as possible. I will also fail to make this as non-sweary as possible, so warning ahead, this is going to get sweary.
Look at the smug visage of our chancellor, and how happy he is. Consider the latest stream of thoughtless garbage that has streamed from his lips:
Yes you read that correctly. The current government, faced with the prospect of actually helping out all those self-employed artists, freelancers, musicians, creative folk across the entire country who contribute billions to our economy should now seek to retrain.
Oh the lark, oh the hilarity of it all. The statement coming from someone who (like most non-artsy folk) consider that you're only making a contribution to the greater good if you are chained to a desk for 7.5 hours a day entering numbers into a spreadsheet (because the Government has a great track record of doing that, right?) or if you're the boss of a company who spends more time on the golf course than making sure their employers don't die in poverty.
Every time I look at the header image of this article, and every time I think back to all the other times the government has worn its heart on its sleeve about how little the arts mean to our country, I remember what it was like trying to scratch out a freelance living as an illustrator.
Most creatives (that either don't have a partner to fully support them, or have a bucket o'cash to fall back on to keep the wolf from the door) have second jobs. Most creatives take on those jobs so that they can afford to eat, pay their rent or mortgate, support their families. Double the workload just so that they can keep on contributing to the very thing that the government should be celebrating, and the very things that bring visitors to our shores every (normal) year. Our cultural heritage.
We have talked a lot about art already on this blog, talked about how difficult it is for youngsters to make a living or eke out a career in something creative, and yet without art - without the arts in fact, what do we have left?
The arts contribute more to the country's economy than Agriculture. Tenfold more in fact, and yet you never see stories of generous grants being offered to the arts in order to ensure we remain world leaders in music, drama, art and performance. Something that is, of course lost on this besuited muppet tasked with balancing the books for a government that isn't even bothering to hide that they are the 'bad guys' any more.
But what of their voters? The thing that surprises me the most isn't that these twats have been voted in several times despite being like this, it's the fact that Sunak can make a statement like he just did, and Marjorie and Colonel Beaumont-Fortescue-Smythe will nod along in agreement, oblivious to the fact that those lovely little trips to the theatre, or those wonderful lazy days wandering around art galleries could be consigned to the history books. Imagine what the world would be like if all creatives just downed their pencils, pens, instruments etc and said "You know what? Fuck it, it's really not worth it, I'll go flip burgers instead" - Where does the line get drawn? Will we be going after Chefs next? Designers? Anyone involved in the more creative branches of science and technology?
I have no words to describe how much I hate this government and the people in it. I hate discussing politics on my blogs but this, oh crikey, this could not pass without comment and judging by the broiling mass of anger and ire on my Twitter feed, other creative folk aren't going to take that sort of shit lying down either.
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