Webchat with Russell Brand - Weds 12 Nov - 1 o'clock

[JustineMumsnet]

We're very pleased to say that Russell Brand is joining us on Wednesday 12 November between 1 and 2pm.

For those who don't know, Russell Brand is a comedian, actor and author.

His latest book, Revolution, sets out his views for political change - because, he says, "democracy has been taken away from us".

You might have caught his recent interview on Newsnight, which was widely discussed on the boards.

This is his third book, following My Booky Wook and Booky Wook 2: This Time It's Personal and has just published the first in a new series of children's books Russell Brand's Trickster Tales: The Pied Piper of Hamelin, written by Russell and illustrated by Chris Riddell.

Please do join us on Wednesday - or if you can't, feel free to post questions in advance, here.

(Reminder that we only allow one question and one follow-up per user, so make sure to use yours wisely )

Hiiii Russell!

Do you have a soft spot for dark-haired, sultry, older women who also support West Ham?

Asking for a friend cough

I genuinely don't think that most people are happy with the way things are. I think they either:
Try to change things.
Just moan with no idea of the forces which actually instigate their displeasure.
Can't be bothered because they don't see that it could make a difference.

Magrats, he's a 12 stepper, he believes in a higher power. Not that I want to speak for the man especially

@chosenone

Russell I think trews is great, messiah complex was side splitting and I can't wait to get revolution out of my stocking. Your humour and politics works for many of us and many young people too just like it did for Bill Hicks ......but are you a misogynist ? Do you view woman as something to be consumed, used and tossed aside ? How does your use of prostitutes sit with your politics ? Are we disposable to you? im still totally up for it btw

I hope I was never a misogynist. Complicated, being a man: primal drives, compassion, spiritual awakening, need for status. A tangled, knotted mess of threads, when unravelled all lead to..... not misogyny I hope. Sometimes, I said things that were a bit sexist, I think it's the same way my nan was a bit racist, she was a product of her time and environment, her natural compassion rebuffed and redirected by the culture of Dagenham. With reflection, and contemplation, we all arrive at a place of non-judgement.

Russell, your answers here are really succinct and not so convoluted. I'm finding them surprisingly easy to follow.

When I watch you on TV, because your method of delivery is so long winded and flowery sometimes by the time you've gotten to the end of it, I've forgotten the beginning. It's maddening. Why do you do that? Is it nervousness?

A bit sexist?

May I quote you:

In a way, it doesn't matter because my core spiritual belief (and the Dalai Lama's) is that essentially, in truth, and in deed, we are all one part of the living garment of God.

Buddhists do not believe in God. The Dalai Lama does not believe in a God.

Thanks, Justine. So far it hasn't been the finest hour I've ever spent on here.

Thanks Toe :)

@YesAnastasia

You are often criticised for having money as if this detracts something from your actual words, from your ideas. Do people believe that David Cameron is more suited to represent us with his elite education and privileged friends. Or perhaps any of the other politicians spinning the facts so that we don't even know what they're talking about any more & stop trying.

I am astounded by how much abuse & contempt you get from the media (and even here, shame ladies) because you have money & fame. It's as if the only things that connects people is money & therefore you can only represent or identify with those at the same level of wealth as you! Would anyone listen to you if you were poor & had never been on the television any way? It isn't hypocrisy to want political change if you have some money, you can still care about how others are treated. It all saddens me that for some, there is much focus on who you are & what you have rather than on what you have to say.

My actual question is; how do you maintain a feeling of connection to us, to people, when you have so much vitriol directed to you? How do you rise above it & continue to believe in human nature & the innate goodness of people?

Thank you.

Whenever people are honest and say something irrefutable like 'inequality is out of control', the people that benefit from the system being the way it is can't directly address it - because it's true. So they have to attack me (for example) personally. But it doesn't matter because the truth is the truth. And all people - me included - expire, and when I'm dead, the things that I said that were true will still be true.

@JazzAnnNonMouse

Hi Russel, I really enjoy your trews and stance on most things (particularly the Venus project etc) but lets be honest here; the capitalist society we live in has been good financially for you - I was wondering what you plan to do with your millions?

Set up social enterprises and organisations across the country that challenge hegemony and give opportunities to neglected people, like junkies and people with complex needs like me.

Ahhhh, that explains it. It was the primal drives

@feministmum1

Would you class yourself as a Marxist? Many of your ideas such as alienation would fit the concepts of Marxism.

Not really because I'm not an atheist - although I dig the sharing.

"Sometimes, I said things that were a bit sexist"

And that, folks, is as close to self-knowledge as you're ever going to get from this person.

Russell, hi.
Veganism is THE moral baseline. If you aren't vegan, you support cruelty, imprisonment, slavery, abuse of females (reproductive issues - cows are artificially inseminated, then have their babies taken away at birth so humans can steal their milk. Hens are forced to lay and lay again, until they can lay no more, and then they are killed off as they are of no use.), needless slaughter, planet devastation, and cause human poverty and starvation because of misuse of land - the wastage of limited resources cannot be sustained. And non-veganism isn't even healthy. I would have thought all these things would be enough to keep you vegan. What can I do to help you back on the vegan path?

@StephanieDA

You'll never have true revolution or change without feminism, otherwise it's just superficial tweaking of the status quo. Why don't you stress the pivotal role of feminism and the need to smash the patriarchy in what you say and write?

In a way, we all only have our own instincts, impulses and influences. I will support other people, but as Krishna Murti said, 'truth is a pathless land'.

Do you agree with over half of Scots polled will vote SNP in general election next year? Is this sort of protest vote, giving Scotland a voice in Westminster, going to be what changes our parliament?

MrsStevenPatrickMorrissey so pleased for you and glad we've got Moz and lyrics referenced on here.
Met Russell in Salford last week at a signing and as we hugged I said 'I have something to tell you about Morrissey, I'll tweet you' as if me and R best mates!!!! Too damn accessible and nice!

SqueezyCheeseWeasel indeed, and that is almost as insulting to men as it is to women.

love you Russell, from the top of you head to the tips of your toes xx

"people with complex needs like me"

Ah, that explains it. Primal drives. Complex needs. I get ya now.

@ngonizashe

Dear Russell,

Thank you for your tireless work, opening peoples eyes, especially in the past few weeks when it's clearly been non-stop for you, you're everywhere!

My question is: I understand you practice transcendental meditation. For those like me, who are keen to access a spiritual realm and become enlightened through deep thought and meditation - where would you recommend we begin?

Are there any particular books you would recommend on the topic for beginners like myself?

Danielle x

Ps - thank you for regularly popping up in my dreams ;-) #mumsnetfilthbench

By including two half hour periods every day, where you sit quietly and reflect/pray/meditate. If you don't have enough time to meditate, you don't have enough time. If all your time is taken up working, that's a sign that the structures in your life aren't right and if the structures in your life aren't right... REVOLUTION.

Hedge money or hegemony?