I don't agree with it all, but it's worth sharing:
I'm glad he mentioned tax havens.
But I can't agree on not voting. That's not the solution. For a start he ignores the fact that at least one party - the Greens - seem to be close to a lot of his concerns.
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I can’t agree with the not voting idea either. But if he causes some disengaged people to think about it and then vote, or even better to get activist, then that’s a good thing. He can be a catalyst.
Some are also complaining about his casual sexism
I think that a valid point of concern
But I do think he can be a catalyst and that is why I was willing to share this
Having brought up the issue of redistribution, I’d be curious to know what Russell Brand’s tax arrangements are. If he thinks that the current system under-redistributes, what charitable contributions does he make (for example) without claiming tax relief and to what causes? That would be a way of bypassing the political system he so disdains.
The snipers are out already taking aim at the bloke, wonder why ?
Everything he said in that interview was true, we are in a crisis of the rich robbing the poor. With the notable exception of the Greens, all politicians subscribe to the same neo-liberal experiment currently being forced on us all, with devastating effects on all of society but the weakest in particular.
Who else, with a high public profile, is going to speak out against it ? Paxman, some self serving politician on Question Time ? Not a hope, they’re all part of the same coterie, intent on keeping the gravy train for the rich and privileged rolling.
I was never that keen on him as a performer but, as a man, Russel Brand has my full support and admiration for sticking his head above the parapet. My hope now is that, as Richard says, he can become a catalyst on the way towards real change.
We’ve been on this appalling road since 1979, it’s time it became a cul-de-sac.
He tends to get up people’s noses, but I like him. He rarely shies away from telling the truth as well.
Incidently, I think the sexism is meant to be ironic.
I don’t agree with not voting, though I do understand it and see where it comes from, being as you can hardly get a fag paper in between the three big political parties.
With so much that needs doing and so much at stake, it is dispiriting and depressing to see the three of them trivialise politics and appeal to the lowest common denominator by scapegoating immigrants and welfare claimants.
That is why people become disillusioned with politics!
Rachel Reeves the new (34year-old!) Labour employment Minister has set out her mythic life-style-on-benefits stall. Yet another characteristic of the neo-lib project, take polls of politically useful bigot fuelled myths and kowtow to them!
I have always voted, but it isn’t as simple as choosing the least bad candidate. Your vote will also be used as an endorsement of policies you detest.
Labour may favour social justice, but it still believes in the prevailing false economic doctrine, that will prevent it from ever delivering.
A vote for either party is a vote for xenophobia, though it may differ in degree. It is a vote against social conscience, though again it may differ in degree.
It isn’t just soft pedalling the courageous state to get elected, it is politicians believing that courage is wrong.
As an example, did you vote for your police commissioner? I was tempted to spoil my paper, because voting at all was an endorsement of a terrible idea. Do you want the police force run by a conservative or a labour politician? In the end I voted for an independent, but by voting at all, it suggested I supported the idea.
Anyway, Richard and Russell Brand are far more effective outside the political syatem. When they have won the argument, the politicians will follow.
I have no intention of joining the political system
I am occasionally asked to do so – indeed, that has happened in the last few weeks – but am told by those on the back benches at Westminster that I would be most unwise to join them
He is calling for a Courageous State me thinks Richard
One way of looking at it!
Well, even if he is not calling for it in the way you would recognise, I think he would support your version of a Courageous State.
By working outside of the political system and applying pressure to those in it, including would-be Green politicians like myself, we could go far, together
Perhaps I should send him a copy
Anyone know his agent?
I like Brand and I hope that he will be a catalyst for change. However, it is very easy to be “against” and much more difficult to be “for” something. I sort of doubt that he will want to pin his colours to “the solution”, for the good reason that there is not any kind of consensus on what to do. But it is still very important that more, especially young people, recognise that something is seriously wrong with current national and global policies and that they need to get involved in finding solutions.
carol- i wonder how much brand ‘understands’ of the mechanisms of the neo-liberal system. By now, in the midst of another housing bubble, people should be shouting from the roof tops for LVT- but that isn’t happening. His heart’s in the right place, I think but as you say, we need the policies: LVT, investment and root and branch reform of the leveraged, scrounging, financial system!
I don’t like Celebrity Culture; why should Russell Brand’s opinions be aired on Newsnight? I don’t know whether I like him or not, I have never met him, so I wonder if anyone commenting here, who whether they like him or not, can possibly comment if they have not done so either. He is a plastic TV persona – his personality is not “real”. I would rather have real un glamorous working people expressing their views.
I don’t like Celebrity Culture; why should Russell Brand’s opinions be aired on Newsnight?
Why not? After all that creep, Allister Heath is allowed to appear on Newsnight
http://www.cityam.com/article/1382663996/why-carney-doctrine-great-news-london-s-economy?
No prizes for guessing who his paymasters are!
I’m just glad to hear someone slating the neo liberal agenda, which is going to condemn the vast majority of us to poverty.
http://www.headlineentertainment.us/celebrity-comedians/400-russell-brand.html