To actually love Russell Brand after his performance on Newsnight tonight..?

[Scarletohello]

My God I only caught it by chance and I literally couldn't believe what he was saying to Paxman. He was calling for a revolution in society, for wealth to be distributed and he was so articulate and passionate about it. NO ONE is saying this stuff although there is so much anger in British society about how inequitable society has become but everyone has become so demoralised about it ( or blaming immigrants, asylum seekers etc)

I hope you guys get a chance to see it and tell me what you think of it, I am in shock right now.

( also pissed off about AF being banned too...)

[bleedingheart]

What DoctorTwo said. I am so sick and tired of the risk being removed from owners/ shareholders and passed on to ordinary citizens.

Not voting is not going to solve that.

[semirurallife]

to the skeptics of Mr B himself - shoot the messenger? can't you separate the message from the messenger.. so some of its sounds 6th form-ish -big whooppee - he probably didn't do A levels; doesn't make his observations wrong. so he's a buffoon, but who else would get on newsnight to say it?
I don't get it, do those who think he has to give up his money/ live on the median wage LIKE inequality? is it wrong for anyone to dream of a better world?
sometimes I think we should split this country in two, one socialist, the other stab-each-other-in-the back exploitative capitalists. know where I'd rather live...

[EverythingUnderControl]

Dreaming for a better world is as far as it'll go if you don't even bother to vote.

[usuallyright]

lol, Russell brands political opinions sound like an A level politics essay which got a B-
I'd like him to lead by example and distribute his wealth around. Didn't he have a 3 day wedding with Katy Perry, with elephants and shit?
Yeah, whatevs Russ, don't give up the (crap) comedy.

[flatpackhamster]

semirurallife

to the skeptics of Mr B himself - shoot the messenger? can't you separate the message from the messenger.. so some of its sounds 6th form-ish -big whooppee - he probably didn't do A levels; doesn't make his observations wrong. so he's a buffoon, but who else would get on newsnight to say it?

Why does a junkie comedian belong on Newsnight anyway? The man is a buffoon. His playground politics would sound just as stupid coming from a professor. Both of them need to be dragged to the corner of the playground and beaten with the Bat Of Clue.

I don't get it, do those who think he has to give up his money/ live on the median wage LIKE inequality?

This is a nonsense argument. Like it or dislike it, it's here to stay. The question is do you change it by letting everyone have the chance of getting rich or do you change it by pulling the people at the top down to the level of the people at the bottom? The latter is called socialism.
Inequality isn't a problem. The problem is not having the chance to better yourself.

is it wrong for anyone to dream of a better world?

Of course not. Just like dreaming you have a pony isn't a bad thing. It's when you decide that you can make people's lives magically better by taking stuff from these people over here and giving it to those people over there, and enforcing it through violence, that the dream becomes a nightmare.

What it comes down to in the end is: Who is best suited to distribute scarce resources? Is it politicians or individuals? Socialists side with the former. I don't.

sometimes I think we should split this country in two, one socialist, the other stab-each-other-in-the back exploitative capitalists. know where I'd rather live...

There's nobody like a socialist for stabbing people in the back. Just ask Ed Miliband.
Which socialist countries have you lived in? East Germany? Romania? Cuba? Venezuela? What experience do you have of socialist command economies that convinces you of their superiority?

[cabernetshiraz]

I saw his messiah tour recently... He's a genius!

Wouldn't go 'there' though... he must be riddled :O

[Takver]

flatpackhamster - what about Sweden and Norway? (Can't comment on RB, didn't hear him.)

[ccsays]

flatpackhamster what does the fact that he's an ex heroin user got to do with anything? Why are the opinions of a 'junkie' (or a comedian for that matter) less valid than anyone else's?

[DoJo]

semirurallife Saying that some elements of the system aren't fair isn't an original Russell Brand idea. Saying that the system isn't fair and you aren't gong to contribute to the system which could change it, and you don't have any suggestions as to how to improve it, isn't being a messenger of anything.

[ifyourehoppyandyouknowit]

If he cared so much about engaging people and making a real change, he should try and actually say it in a way that people understand. How can he sit there and say that the look and feel of parliament makes the poor feel uncomfortable, when he sounds like he ate a thesaurus and has a nasty case of the runs.

[semirurallife]

flatpackhamster I wasn't going to make this a personalized thing but I shall try to explain...
inequality is not a natural fact; it is a social and political one. and there is not only one variant of socialism. In Cuba, there is no adult illiteracy, as there is here. Life expectancy there is not determined by your income, as disparities in the life expectancy between residents of Kensington and Chelsea and more deprived areas show it is often here. and you can look at tribal societies in southern Africa and in the Amazon who live in what you might call socialist states, who live with a great deal more harmony and accord than we do.
I don't think I said we should take an outmoded form of doctrinal politics and reproduce it in 21st century Britain; I was merely observing that the polarization of views, and the mocking of Brand for mentioning the s word, rather shows that we are very narrow in what we consider balanced political debate. Why can't we talk about renationalising rail and gas supplies, when in fact the government is subsidizing private companies to make vast profits out of both? whether or not the man is a crank or a comedian is neither here nor there. anyone who puts forward such ideas seems labelled thus

[pictish]

Paxman loves him there.
There's nothing wrong with what he's saying. I didn't expect him to have the answers - he's not a politician after all. He has been asked for his opinion, so he's giving it. And he gives it well.

Perhaps he is naive, but it's less naive than people believing all our ills are down to those on benefits, and immigrants.

As for It's all well and good having principles when you are loaded - well I cannot agree with that. So wealth cancels out your right to principles and an opinion? What? You can't be serious.

[Takver]

Thanks for that semirurallife. I love the way if anyone mentions 'socialism' people pop up and say 'well, would you like to live in Cuba?'

Its a bit like saying to anyone who is a supporter of free market capitalism 'Why don't you go and live in Haiti'.

No-one ever says 'well, would you like our country to end up like Norway / Sweden / Denmark' - because too many people might say 'Yes!' (though admittedly once they had paid their taxes and bought a beer they might change their mind )

[Takver]

I also don't get this 'if you believe in a more equal society you should give all your money away' thing.

I would happily be taxed more heavily - those taxes would then be spent on social infrastructure / redistribution etc. All things I would benefit from personally as well as everybody else. If we lived in a more equal society with a generous welfare state, RB and others might for example not feel the need to have money put aside for retirement, ill health etc etc.

Another example - as it happens, I'm not in a position to send dd to private school, and happily I live in an area where there isn't massive inequality and the schools are fine. However, I don't accept that someone who lives in an area with really dreadful schools and does send their dc private cannot still believe in state education. It would be a bit like saying if you live in a country with a very minimal state healthcare system you can't campaign for it to be improved if you yourself pay to go to the doctor when you are sick.

[treas]

To be fair to him he does hand out large sums of money on a weekly basis to those living on the streets. Even leaves money behind to be distributed when he goes on tour etc.

[carlajean]

Why is RB on News night at all. Leaving aside whether you find him entertaining/sexy/intelligent ( no to all of those from me) why should we be paying attention to somebody who is essentially a media whore. So he goes on TV and gives us the benefit of his opinions - so what? Is he actually going to do anything about it? He doesn't even vote. I would respect him if he actually stood for anything apart from 'look, I'm Russell Brand, aren't I
wonderful, and, hey, I use lots of long words as well'.

[carlajean]

...and giving people chunks of money on an ad lib basis changes nothing. It just makes you a Lady Bountiful.

[voiceofnoreason]

Okies.

Takver The nordics you mention are not socialist countries they are social democracies and are quite keen on capitalism. And behind the rather splendid gloss of shiny teeth, interesting jumpers and gloomy detective shows they have a huge number of problems. They are taxed a lot more - but do not think for a moment that they dont have problems. As for the other places. They practice socialism which requires a central command economy and in fact more of them are becoming dictatorships because ultimately the socialist model fails.

What brand was talking about was revolutionary socialism with ananrachist view (dictatorship of the proletariat for those that know their Marx). Taking things away from people by force is revolution - it has been tried an awful lot. Sooner or later it all falls apart as the redistribution needs more and more force and more and more repression of human rights to work. You see you can tax people till they squeak, but sooner or later your neighbour will covet your last bean and claim that you are a (hoarder/speculator/evil banker/ counter revolutionary/ delete as appropriate) and demand that the secret police come and smash down their door.

The reason why people who advocate this are told that they should set the example is because they are invariably hypocrites to a degree that it boils your piss dry. Toynbee - remove choice by closing free schools - chose a nice private school for her kids. Guardian - close tax loopholes make the evil companies pay - apart from the Guardian and its off shore trust. Hodge of the PAC grandstanding against google fame - ask her about her offshore trust. Diane Abbot - kids went to private school. You see it is very easy to come over all "smash the evil capitalist system" but only after my cash is in the cayman islands?

Oh and if you want to pay more tax - you can. Dont need to vote. Just make your cheque payable to HMRC. They will put it with the rest of a very small pile under the heading - naive, self indulgent fools with more money than sense.

[carlajean]

So what's RB actually doing about it then?

[treas]

...and giving people chunks of money on an ad lib basis changes nothing. It just makes you a Lady Bountiful.

Or just practising what he preaches - however, naive and misguided you think it.

[Madamecastafiore]

RB is a self serving cock.

He's setting himself up to take over the mantle of king complete cock from Sir bobbono!!

[Mandy2003]

I'm listening but not watching this on YouTube. When he's making more serious points at length he sounds very, very much like a young Ken Livingstone!