Hello and welcome to rock and roll politics, the weekly podcast with me, Steve Richards.

Before we get on to all the dramas whirling around us at the moment and your brilliant questions,

or some of them, because there have been so many, I want to thank all of you who came to two of the gigs

that I have done in recent days. Reopening the main hall in King's Place was, it was

kind of moving. People were thrilled to be there and the venue did it brilliantly in terms of

the COVID issues with social distancing and all the rest of it and still managed to create an

atmosphere. And for all of those of you who still managed to create an atmosphere.

And for all of those of you who watched, I call it the cheap tickets on the streaming,

thank you for tuning in around the country or perhaps around the world.

Who knows?

But we had a great time at that gig.

And then I went down to the South Coast to Shoreham and the Rope Tackle Art Centre and that too was a event that reopened the centre after a long, long time and it was also

great to see people there and a kind of sense of excitement that we were all getting together

for a live gig. If the government permits, I'll be at the Greenwich Theatre

on Saturday where they too, I know, are taking around-the-clock care to make sure it's

COVID safe and social distancing is in place. So if you can get to it, I think we all had a great

time in those two gigs and indeed on the live stream. So I hope

those of you in and around that area and those of you who fancy a grown-up evening out,

if it's allowed, that would be a great thing to do and look forward to seeing you there. Now,

if it's okay with all of you, what I'm going to do is

reflect on some of the things that are going on at the moment, and then we'll come to your

questions. I find it so interesting that the virus has exposed one of the real problems about certainly the way England constructs its public services and delivery.

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