Soft power. You hear the phrase everywhere these days, particularly when politicians are harnessing the arts to their casus belli. There was Nadine Dorries, secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, telling the Commons that: “culture is the third front” in the Ukrainian war. “I’ve been working to mobilise the full might of the UK’s soft power against the Russian state and applying pressure across the sectors,” she boasted. Fair enough, Muscovites won’t be getting to see Adele or Ed Sheeran in concert, although we could send James Blunt and see if him bleating You’re Beautiful outside the Kremlin forces Putin to surrender.
The list of those who responded to the war by cancelling or postponing tours of Russia includes Nick Cave, Green Day, Iggy Pop, The Killers,…