Love him or hate him for his hedonism, questionable films or comedy output, the stuff he wrote as guest editor in the New Statesman this week rings true with quite a few of us on this forum.
Russell Brand on revolution: ?We no longer have the luxury of tradition?
Can't be bothered reading the above..he pretty much says the same thing on newsnight to Paxman (Ignore the first 2 or 3 minutes of puerile stupidity until Paxman winds him up and he gets angry and serious)
Another comedian, Robert Webb joins the fray with an opposing view, stating that he has rejoined labour because of Brands musings.
Robert Webb rebukes Russell Brand for urging people not to vote | Television & radio | theguardian.com
For me..Brand has hit the nail on the head and although he has no credible workable solution, at least he has highlighted what most of us feel like regarding the current political system...i.e. it sucks! and it sucks big time! and it's all soundbites and done to pacify the plebs and get money from corporates or unions, depending on party, to continue the status quo.
He says 'don't vote'..don't give them the mandate, the argument against is 'if you don't vote you lose the right to argue'
This is nonsense...just imagine a general election and not one single person votes...would the system collapse? In all probability the law would be changed within hours making it illegal not to vote just to sustain this biased and unfair political system.
Webb argues that we have already had our revolution, the point he misses is that our current system is precisely what we revolted against...i.e. a few reaping the rewards whilst the majority sucked it up and doffed their caps.
Lets put that in the context of today...MP's rip us off with expenses for £1000's and are promoted to the House of Lords, a single mother takes £200 from the benefits system by working a few hours behind the bar and is given community service and has to pay it back, on the same day a banker illegally shares information and is sacked with a golden handshake and a massive pension. The next day he is headhunted by another corporate bank and put in a similar position.
Graham Jones has put a couple of pictures on twitter today..One of the Market Hall (which he describes as fantastic because it has free wi-fi thanks to the labour council) and one obviously set up, buying some fish and handing over the cash......well way to go Graham.....really getting to the heart of why most of us think you are ALL party and no people! And why we all think you are just another production line politician.
I've used 'we' and 'us' quite a lot in this rant...anyone disagree?