Students from more than 50 universities are taking part in a rent strike in protest at how the pandemic has affected their studies. Many courses have moved to Remote Learning which has caused some students to go back home. With Mental Health also a big concern, the Higher Education regulator is calling for more financial and emotional support for students. Adina campbell reports. A lonely figure, in one of the uks largest cities. Life in sheffield for third year student harry smith isnt what it used to be. Stuck indoors in a tiny room, hes one of a handful of people left in this block of flats, normally home to hundreds. His only contact with the outside world, working part time at the local supermarket. Ive told my University Many times, you should have told us to stay at home and do a virtual degree. It would have saved £5,000 for me on rent. It would have saved coming here, switching jobs, ruining my Mental Health, that sort of thing. But i think now, i think someone needs to step in the government, the accommodation themselves or the university to sort of alleviate these contracts that were tied up to. Sheffield Hallam University says it quickly communicated that teaching would be online until the end of february and has prioritised Mental Health support. Harry has just about managed to pay his rent for the next few months, but others are choosing not to and are taking part in a rent Strike Campaign at more than 50 universities in the uk. The department of education and governments in scotland, wales and Northern Ireland say millions of pounds has been made available to help those experiencing financial difficulties, as well as funding for better access to online learning. But some have reached breaking point. Rhys not his real name decided to drop out of his first year at university afterjust six weeks before christmas. Ive been seeing counsellors. Really, at the moment, since ive dropped out, its pretty much rotting where i stand really. I havent been. I havent had the motivation to do anything else, or find anything else. Probably one of the most painfully lonely experiences ive ever had. Remote learning is now the everyday reality for people like harry. With just a few months left until he graduates, the end of his degree couldnt come soon enough. Adina campbell, bbc news, in sheffield. Now its time for our world. Last year, new orleans was celebrating. There was no sense in new orleans that there was anything serious. But in the crowds, there was a virus which before long would stop the music. Here we are in this great tourist city and now weve come to a screeching halt. This was like being on a movie set that everybody had left. Now this famous music city faces an uncertain future. 0ur government, they didnt tell us until it was too late. And its musicians face life without the crowds they live for. Its a cultural extinction, cultural genocide. February in new orleans is supposed to be mardi gras season, everybodys in a good mood, partying. The bars are open, a great place to have a good time. Mardi gras is like an everyday party, and its free. Its the greatest free party on earth. Last year, mardi gras brought over a million tourists to the streets of new orleans. To me, its about family and friends and celebration and about love. Mardi gras day, we always have upstairs. Sophie lee runs a restaurant with live music in the citys famous French Quarter. So theres my kids, my friends� kids. You could imagine, its pretty messy. But gloriously messy. The actual mardi gras season isjust a part of a long tradition. Trombone player Delfeayo Marsalis is part of the citys most famous musical family. We grew up in new orleans. My father ellis played piano. My eldest brother branford played saxophone, quentin plays trumpet. Yeah, if you love music, you should definitely know whats happening down here in the crescent city. It really does electrify that inner beast in people, kind of let their hair down and enjoy themselves at a level that they dont usually get a chance to do. Troy carter is a local senator and a member of the famous zulu krewe, who parade on fat tuesday, the biggest event in the mardi gras calendar. Zulu kicks off mardi gras rolling at 7 00am, and then every other parade follows zulu. Ive got my makeup on, and my wig, and my grass skirt. And when you turn onjackson avenue, if its raining, if youre hungry, if youre tired. That is all exchanged with a euphoria that you would never, ever, ever believe. When youd see the oceans of people, you get a burst of adrenaline that carries you for the next five hours. This is the real music, you know . This is the real thing. And its really what many forms of music try to imitate, that realness. I mean, thats real heart of new Orleans Music. It hits you, and its real. Trump you may ask. About the coronavirus, which is very well under control in our country. We have very few people with it and the people are getting better. Theyre all getting better. There was no sense in new orleans that there was anything serious that was happening. We had the whole mardi gras season and there was never a single mention that there was a pandemic. Maybe we had heard whispers that there was something going on somewhere else. It was something that was going on in italy at that point. Bethany boltman� s Charity Provides free healthcare to 2,600 musicians in new orleans. Friends of mine got sick during mardi gras. They thought they had a terrible case of the flu. But they continued to go to work because they have to have the income for theirfamilies. We were gearing up for a lot of festivals, especially in march and april, festival season. Im sure before march, i hadnt heard about the pandemic with any level of seriousness. I realised that there was a terrible problem in new orleans because our managing director and i had been to a conference in washington, dc. And one of the speakers, he said, there are cases of covid around the country. You have got to be careful, this is serious and it could kill you. 13 days after mardi gras, new orleans got its first case of covid i9. We were in our regular legislative session and the governor called a press conference. Today, the Louisiana Department of Health Confirmed the first presumptive positive case of covid 19, commonly called coronavirus, in the state of louisiana. At that point we had very few deaths anywhere, we certainly didnt have any in louisiana. Unfortunately, it quickly multiplied, and before you knew it, it was 10, and then 20, and then 30 and then 100. It was almost like wildfire. In the weeks that followed the first positive case, louisiana had the fastest growth rate of the virus in the entire world. A lot happened in a short period of time. It seems like i really heard about it not long before i contracted it. So it wasnt something that we considered very seriously probably until that second week in march, and at that point it was a little late. And then we started seeing it go through the club. As real as it was to see the news and read the newspaper and hear of people, when you started hearing about people that you know, your personal friends, it was a punch to the gut like you wouldnt believe. It was terrifying to me because suddenly youre faced with a terrible virus and musicians in new orleans, they make their living in crowds. They make their living on stages playing with people. How are you doing . Just grateful for whatever we could bring in. So thankful. I thought about what would happen if our economy had to shut down and people who were already struggling to make ends meet, what was going to happen to them . New orleans is a city built on tourism and live music. The virus hitjust at the start of the festival season. For the business, january to june is where we make our nut. Its how we pay our bills, because summer slows down. Its an extremely busy and extremely lucrative time for us. Derrick freeman is a musician who has lived in new for almost 30 years. Multiple festivals every weekend, including the jazz and heritage festival, which is a huge festival. So were pretty busy, normally. But by march 18, new orleans was the epicentre of a statewide outbreak with nearly all 300 cases festivals started to get cancelled. We can handle that, is what the mood was at that time. But then jazz fest got cancelled, French Quarter festival got cancelled, everything started getting cancelled. Thats when the dire, devastating mood took over. We are hereby mandating that residents stay home whenever possible. We are telling our people and our businesses to stay home. There was nobody on the street, there were no tourists, there were no cruise ships. It was just so quiet. Even after katrina, when 80 of the city was underwater, there were still pockets of music. But this was just like being on a movie set that everybody had left. At that point, there were so many people that were sick and that was so difficult. It was weird because it was a sunday. I think that day, i lost 16 of my gigs in april. A barrage of emails, like cancelled, cancelled, cancelled, postponed. Watching my calendar go white. Everybody was panicking andjust being like, these things arent happening. Traumatising, is the word. The week that the city locked down, over 70,000 people applied for Unemployment Benefits in louisiana. The state usually receives 1,500 claims a week. We got cut off in march. We lost everything. The federal government passed a stimulus bill at the end of march to provide relief for businesses that were closed because of the pandemic. They gave us money to essentially help us get through 2. 5 months. Thinking that wed be open byjuly. When it was supposed to be jazz fest time was when it really hit everybody. Because your calendar is telling you, youre supposed to have four gigs today. And now everybody is either on unemployment or trying to figure out how to get on it. Then the fall gigs started getting cancelled. Then it was like, wait a second, how long is this gonna last . It was a whirlwind. Many of the artists unfortunately kind of live from gig to gig. They dont have a nine to five that youre going to get a cheque every weeks like clockwork. Two weeks. They dont work, they dont eat. The covid relief money came in. You have to demonstrate to have receipts and have paid your taxes. And many of the artists dont have that. There are just a lot of things that when you think of the guy or gal that blows a horn in a corner bar, they may not live that way. By the end of march, louisiana had over 5,200 positive cases of covid i9, with the majority concentrated in new orleans. I was under quarantine for about a month. My dad had contracted covid not long after me, probably around the same time, so there was concern for him. I didnt know what was happening with my own health. We begin tonight with breaking news. The death of an new Orleans Music icon, Ellis Marsalis. The 85 year old. My dad passed on april the 1st. I got out for his funeral. It was serious, it was really serious. And my only advice to people is, dont get it. Because you never know. Eight weeks after mardi gras, 30 members of the zulu krewe had tested positive for the virus and eight had died. The pain and the mixed emotions that we felt, losing zulu members, really made everybody started to rethink the significance of the role that mardi gras played in spreading covid. In may, the centers for Disease Control named mardi gras as one of the few superspreader events that accelerated the spread of covid i9 in new orleans and across the country. And nowjust imagine, all that ive described to you about mardi gras, all that ive described to you about the revelry and the inhibitions being thrown to the wind, any thought of safety or caution has been extinguished with fun and joy and merriment. Now overlay that with a dreaded virus. That has no smell, no visual impact. Its in the air. And thousands of people arejust breathing it in. All these parades and people out in the streets and catching beads and going to parties, and there was evidently rampant covid, which was not being talked about at all. The centers for Disease Control have since said that the cases were low and seemed contained, and so federal and local authorities didnt recommend restricting large gatherings at that time. 0ur government, they didnt tell us. They didnt give us any sort of guidelines on what to do until it was too late. Listen, as painful as it would have been, as unpopular as it would have been, had the leaders of new orleans known that this was a possibility, we could have cancelled mardi gras. God only knows how many lives we would have saved. To date, over 7,500 people in louisiana have died from covid i9. Live music venues are still closed after ten months. You dont want to show too much sadness in your demeanour, you know, because people are looking at us to be entertained, so were trying to a maintain good front for that. But in our private conversations with other musician friends, its a desperate situation, without a doubt. At the end ofjuly, the extra money put into Unemployment Benefits to help americans suffering the impact of the pandemic was cut. Sustainability is going to be a problem for us, especially since, um, Unemployment Benefits and all that got cut. Louisiana pays the lowest in Unemployment Benefits in the united states. Derek is receiving just 97 a week. Where im going to be a month from now, i have no idea. And thats the part thats scary to me. Theres no live music. Theres no timeline of when live music will be allowed. The money sophie was given by the government also ran out injuly, and for six months shes been relying on her savings to save her business while she waits for a second stimulus package. It feels desperate. Five new places closing every week, its heartbreaking. Friends of mine. Its devastating. And i might be that person too, in a few months. We dont know. I hope not, im going to fight, but it could be me. Its a cultural extinction, you know what im saying . Cultural genocide. Itsjust not the same place, without the culture, its just another place. With federal support cut back, some closed music venues are handing out food to out of work musicians and hospitality workers. One of the meals for musicians things that weve been doing, since march, over 20,000 meals. Were hoping to start having shows again maybe in the spring. Delfeayo has also stepped in to help, inspired by a tribute he saw to his late father. Id driven past a music store, peaches records, and they had a sign out there that said, thank you Ellis Marsalis for keeping new 0rleans music alive. And i thought about that and thought, perhaps we can get some funding to the musicians. I thought that would be a good way to pay tribute to my dad because he helped so many musicians. Today, hes handing out cheques to try and help struggling musicians. All right, yall, im Delfeayo Marsalis. I want to thanks yall for coming out and more importantly, thank you, yall, for what youve all been doing so many years. The way we got it set up in here, weve got four tables inside, weve got the hand sanitiser just come on in. So far weve gotten over 320 applications. Its tough on the musicians, but they dont complain so much. Many of them are just very thankful and appreciative. Whats your name . Peters . Peters. Yes, maam. The difficulty is the lack of camaraderie, and what that does for our spirit and our soul. Well, i appreciate you coming out today. From a Mental Health standpoint, its really important for the musicians to get back as soon as they can. Most of their lives have been designed to make people happy. And now thats taken away. Im sure its going to be tough for a while, no question. Live music probably will be the last thing to return, and it makes sense. The musicians will be ready. But i see it, youve got to look at it, like, just give me a chance. Let me get back out on the field, coach thats what theyre saying. Applause. Late last year, the mayor of new orleans announced that the mardi gras parades will not take place in 2021. Derek doesnt know what other festivals are happening either. I dont think any of them are going to happen, u nfortu nately. Springtime, i dont see it happening. We would already be getting acceptance or rejection letters to these festivals by now. Still unable to play live shows, derek is playing a live stream at his friends venue, which has been closed ten months because of the pandemic. It will be strange playing in front of a room with no people. Never done it before. At least were not disturbing the customers my only concern is the energy, because now we have to manufacture that energy, its not organic. Hopefully it doesnt affect the music too much. People are losing it. I mean, they need it as much as we do. Its part of the fabric of our culture. This is one of the efforts, last ditch efforts to try to keep it going. Its to everybody� s advantage for new orleans to come back. � cause, you know, itsjust what American Culture is. It started here. Its the root, the foundation of american music. And once you crack the foundation, you know, eventually the whole house falls down. Live music will return to new orleans one day. But how long can its musicians wait . Hello. After one of the coldest nights of the winter so far, sunday brings some significant and disruptive snow to parts of england and wales, and some of us in Northern Ireland as well. A very cold, frosty start to the day. Icy patches, a few fog patches out there, too. And an area of sleet and snow initially for south west england, parts of wales, Northern Ireland, but will push further east across southern england towards the south east, across more of the midlands during the day as well, before stalling and then just pulling away southwards on into sunday evening and clearing. This is ten oclock in the morning, though. South west england, some may brighten up here with a few wintry showers but as the snow moves east and within the zone of falling snow here, and again into parts of Northern Ireland, several centimetres, even to low levels, more into the hills, so certainly some difficult travel conditions. Northern england and scotland seeing some sunny spells, a scattering of wintry showers towards the north west of scotland. But it is scotland, northern england, perhaps Northern Counties of Northern Ireland that sees sundays driest and sunniest weather. But for the rest of england into wales, southern parts of Northern Ireland, cloud, some outbreaks of snow here, again, some difficult travel conditions. Some uncertainty about how far north into the midlands and perhaps east anglia the snow is going to reach so well need to watch that as well. Temperatures just hovering close to freezing where youve got the snow. Get some sunshine around, 2 4 degrees. And then the outbreaks of snow gradually clearing away during sunday evening. Icy conditions following on behind. Where you get the showers pushing in towards scotland, perhaps Northern Ireland and northern england, and another widespread frost as monday begins. One or two fog patches potentially towards south east england. Some sunshine on monday. Plenty of wintry showers towards northern and western scotland, a few for Northern Ireland, north west england, north wales. Some will push a little further south eastwards during the day but driest and sunniest towards the south and east of the uk on what will be another cold day. And then, changes. Tuesday, weatherfront from the atlantic coming into the cold air so, again, some further rain, sleet and snow pushing north eastwards. And then further weather fronts coming our way from midweek, introducing milder atlantic air, but the winds are going to pick up and we will see further spells of rain, so all parts from midweek will be turning milder but also windier and wetter. And if you are in a flood affected area, that is something you are going to need to follow very closely as we go through the week ahead. Welcome to bbc news, im freya cole. Our top stories thousands arrested in russia as supporters ofjailed Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny take to the streets. These scenes of riot police and detentions suggest the kremlin is more worried than they are letting on. Dutch Police Arrest tse chi lop the alleged head of one of the worlds biggest drugs gangs. Italy accuses Coronavirus Vaccine Companies Pfizer and astrazeneca of serious contract violations. And, tributes are paid to larry king, the american broadcaster and talk show host, who has died aged 87
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