Queen guitarist Brian May has labelled Britain a country obsessed by money.
The rock star, who has previously said the UK’s vote to leave the EU was based on “lies”, hit out at politicians for not caring about the poor, sick or animals.
Speaking ahead of the release of a new album with West End actress Kerry Ellis, Brian told the Press Association: “I think the world is going to pot, including this country.”
“We’ve become a nation that only thinks about money and I think it’s absolutely appalling, and it applies to America as well. It’s probably about to apply to France.”
Later this year, Brian will appear at the Hay Festival to speak about a new book, and said he hoped to bump into US senator Bernie Sanders, who last year ran for the Democratic Party nomination for US president and will make a speech at the event in Hay-on-Wye, Wales.
The 69-year-old musician said he felt “upset” about the current political climate, adding: “The prime area is nationalism and pure selfishness, there’s nobody in power these days who actually cares about poor people or animals or sick people.
“We have those kind of leaders now who only understand economics and they probably don’t understand economics either.”
Golden Days, which is released on Friday, is Brian and Kerry’s second collaboration, following 2010′s Anthems.
The album includes five original compositions as well as new rock arrangements of the duo’s favourite songs.
Of the record, Kerry promised it would cover a “diverse” range, adding: “It’s got a bit of everything on it, it goes from a small, intimate song where it is just the two of us and goes to something so huge, so orchestral.”
