[Closed] Russle brand 'the trews'?

binners - Member

If you look at the link I posted, I'd read about this a while back.

And now you have posted about it on an internet forum, sharing your knowledge of the subject, as a direct result of Brand's intervention. You make a good team!

One of the joys of living in a digital age, is that Its not actually that hard to keep yourself informed

You don't actually need me or Russ 😀

[i]If he is engaging with the issue properly, and proposing doing something about the ludicrous mess our housing market presently is (homes as investments, or cash machines, rather than actual homes), or suggesting other people do then great.[/i]

actually, that's exactly what he's doing. This particular case as been covered by him for months and months now. watch the trews...

Interesting, the main stream media coverage of Russell. reminds me of the Treatment of Assange, and Snowdon, and Chelsea Manning.

binners, you are normally fairly perceptive, but you've a mental block regarding brand and are missing his point by quite a distance to be honest..

You don't like him, we get it! 😆

binners - Member

You don't actually need me or Russ

I knew about it before, from either the Guardian or the Eye- but that's really not the point. You knew about it, I knew about it, we weren't talking about it, it wasn't making the slightest bit of difference. Now, we're talking about it.

Of course Brand can have an opinion and speak out in favour of the residents, that's not the point. The issue is he should be prepared to answer questions about his own affairs.

The Sun has a front page calling him a hypocryt. According to them he pays £76k pa in rent and to a property company based in the British Virgin Islands. These are relevant facts and he should have an intelligent answer to questions he is asked and not just a finger pointing rant.

I have absolutely no doubt that a story will emerge that Brand uses offshore companies to manage his tax affairs, as a media performer that's is exactly how he will be paid just like all the other wealthy stars.

seems Brand doesn't like Journalists to voice their opinion, which is odd given he is all about ordinary peoples opinion being heard...im sure he has accused the "establishment" of hypocricy before, can they sue him and give his money to the cause aswell...

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/dec/03/russell-brand-threat-sue-sun-housing-hypocrite-allegation

he pays £76k pa in rent and to a property company based in the British Virgin Islands

Wait, so is he supposed to audit the tax affairs of any companies he spends his money at? What about their suppliers? What if a worker for a company he buys something from buys something that Brand disagrees with? Does that make him a hypocrite?

If his landlord does something dodgy with the money that Brand pays for his flat then that's the landlord's issue. I don't particularly like RB but this is just mud slinging IMO.

It may be true, it may not be. I suspect it probably isn't true but that it's too complex for many to understand so may look questionable.

Regardless it's an ad hominem attack isn't it?

I note that RB posted this. Again, regardless of whether his tax affairs make him a hypocrite or not, he's probably got a point.

[img] [/img]

He's just another ****ing Bono. Sanctimoniously, and hypocritically lecturing other people from his ivory tower. And giving hope to the desperate and gullible. When in reality he'll have forgotten about them by next week, and moved on to whatever target ends up in the sights with his next scattergun, nonsensical onslaught

It's almost like you don't like him, binners?

I recon if he was dodging any type of Tax the powers that be would have hauled is disruptive ass over the coals by now,

Why would they? He's perfect for them - a vague call for a "revolution", which turns out to be "don't vote for them". Nicely gets rid of all those complicated swing voters than might actually need convincing with something new.

He's just another ****ing Bono. Sanctimoniously, and hypocritically lecturing other people from his ivory tower.

Refer to my earlier post about attacking the man to draw attention away from the message.

The Sun has a front page calling him a hypocryt. According to them he pays £76k pa in rent and to a property company based in the British Virgin Islands. These are relevant facts and he should have an intelligent answer to questions he is asked and not just a finger pointing rant.

I have absolutely no doubt that a story will emerge that Brand uses offshore companies to manage his tax affairs, as a media performer that's is exactly how he will be paid just like all the other wealthy stars.

The Sun has a front page calling him a hypocryt. According to them he pays £76k pa in rent and to a property company based in the British Virgin Islands. These are relevant facts and he should have an intelligent answer to questions he is asked and not just a finger pointing rant.

Refer to my earlier post about attacking the man to draw attention away from the message.

I note that RB posted this. Again, regardless of whether his tax affairs make him a hypocrite or not, he's probably got a point.

That's the thing, people who slag him off are too busy reading shite in the papers, or on the news to actually understand what he is trying to achieve.

Much easier to get the pitchforks out, than look at the wider problem.

el-bent - the journalist was't attacking brand, he just asked him a question. brand could have given a sensible answer but instead he went off on a rant and insulted him.

It's totally relevant Brand pays £76k pa to an offshore company, he is attacking the property company for being American and "coming over here".

The fact is these people live in a private estate which historically had been let at very low rents as it was owned by a charity. They sold it and the new owner is a business and not a charity. As I have said before social housing is the responsibility of the government / local authority. They could have bought it but they chose not to. Brand should be campaigning for more social housing and asking by the local council will not re-house these people.

@kudos, I agree there is a real problem, years of selling of council houses and not rebuilding. That's the issue here.

The issue is he should be prepared to answer questions about his own affairs.

Why should he? Do you think you should have to answer questions about your affairs before you can give your opinion?

@MrS - well a politician would be expected to be asked and so should Mr Brand as he's a very rich man and he sets himself up as a public commentator and journalist / author with regular pieces in the paper and of course his recent book. Plus of course his YouTube channel. he has given his opinion very freely for quite some time before being asked. If I where in a similar role / position I would expect to be asked.

I recon if he was dodging any type of Tax the powers that be would have hauled is disruptive ass over the coals by now, Also, im prepared to flip and hate his guts if he gets too close to the bonio type pal, im a Fickle fella me binners ha ha ha ha

MrSalmon - Member
The issue is he should be prepared to answer questions about his own affairs.
Why should he? Do you think you should have to answer questions about your affairs before you can give your opinion?

jambalaya - Member

It's totally relevant Brand pays £76k pa to an offshore company, he is attacking the property company for being American and "coming over here".

That would be relevant if he was an offshore company. But since he's a tenant- a customer- it's not.

CountZero - Member

As a result his own affairs are open to scrutiny.

I think that's true; but that doesn't make it right to make irrelevant ad hom attacks to make a headline. In this case he's been scrutinised, they've found nothing of any real controversy or hypocrisy, and made that the story anyway.

But it is relevant. He is a tennent of a foriegn tax haven based property owner. If he followed the principals he preaches he would not rent from such a landlord

jambalaya - Member

But it is relevant. He is a tennent of a foriegn tax haven based property owner. If he followed the principals he preaches he would not rent from such a landlord

Nope- he isn't telling people not to rent. He's not profiteering from rental, which is what he's attacking. It's not that nuanced tbh. (FWIW, he's also not put anyone out of a home- he lives in a former factory converted into rental flats. Not actually relevant but, there you go.)

In his own words:

Two weeks ago:

As you know property developers – in partnership with corrupt, inept or lazy politicians – have created a housing crisis for ordinary people all over the world. I bet your rent is soaring; I bet you are finding it hard to pay. It’s especially bad in cities, and for this first action we want to focus on London...
...Then unfortunately ([b]and I’m partly to blame by moving in and being so cool[/b]) Hoxton became “trendy”.

Yesterday

He then said he identified with the plight of residents living at the New Era Estate and was "[b]not part of the problem, I am part of the solution[/b]".

😆

And...

What I don't get it this..

The small mindedness of it all

We hate our politicians for shafting us so we pick them apart looking for faults and flaws, that seems pretty legit, but has that habit become so so deeply ingrained in our psyche that anyone on the public eye is to be scrutinised and inspected for cracks in their armour, even if they are trying to work for us?
There's not going to be a squeaky clean Jesus figure, pure and free from sin, you lot are dreaming.

All this amounts to is ego and a determination to try to be holier than thou.. Utter ****ery
Why not show a bit of support for a good guy instead of gathering like mangy hounds, ready to tear strips off anyone who raises their head above the shoulders of the crowd..

Insecure ****ery, and desperately sad

yunki is my new hero, here here my friend 🙂

Where? Where?

as you can polly tell by the title of this thread 'spelling' and such is not a strong point of mine 😆
im good at loads of Other stuff tho 😉

LLO!

All this amounts to is ego and a determination to try to be holier than thou.. Utter ****ery
Why not show a bit of support for a good guy instead of gathering like mangy hounds, ready to tear strips off anyone who raises their head above the shoulders of the crowd..

Y'see this is my problem with Brand. To many he's such an irritating dickwad, couple that with some inconvenient personal wealth ironies and its goodbye 'message'

And that's before you get on to the subject of 'is he really in it for the right reasons' (I've no idea, but I've no instinctual trust in the man)

He's the wrong person for the job IMHO. And is likely to do as much harm as good by devaluing the subject matter.

lets see 'some' argue with this one 😆

He's the wrong person for the job IMHO. And is likely to do as much harm as good by devaluing the subject matter.

I feel this exactly.

hmmmm... so interesting...

instead of trying to argue a ridiculous diversionary point with that greasy little reporter who like a few on this thread, was just getting a childish buzz out of trying making Brand look foolish, Brand has come back with an intelligent, well thought out and reasoned response

what a ****.. hanging's not good enough

@yunki, so that shows what he can do when he's scripted and rehearsed. A sensible answer is what he should have given first time around.

Y'see this is my problem with Brand. To many he's such an irritating dickwad, couple that with some inconvenient personal wealth ironies and its goodbye 'message'

And that's before you get on to the subject of 'is he really in it for the right reasons' (I've no idea, but I've no instinctual trust in the man)

He's the wrong person for the job IMHO. And is likely to do as much harm as good by devaluing the subject matter.

Ok so who is the right person for the job then? Some mythical person who is the reincarnation of Jesus and lives in a cardboard box?

Perhaps if Brand was poor and a monk he would be a better choice. Because he is an ex junkie, a bit of a gobshite and is wealthy means he can't speak about what is wrong with the system? Bollocks.

Whilst I understand the residents being very upset, it is hardly the fault of the new owners. They have paid a full price on the assumption that they can secure market rents. It is the seller who accepted a full price and, who instead could have secured binding rental commitments from the new purchaser. However they obviously wanted more and did not want the hassle of evicting the tenants, they essentially subcontracted that to the new purchasers. The question that I would like to know the answer to is why is a charity set up to provide housing to working classes selling it? How does that square with the charity's objectives? It may be that they are reinvesting in some other subsidised housing and these tenants are the unfortunate ones who are essentially paying the price for someone else's subsidised housing. However this does not seem to get any coverage.

jambalaya - I don't necessarily agree...

What's wrong with being scripted and rehearsed? What's wrong with taking a breather and distancing yourself and coming back with something that's altogether more worthy and useful than an argument over nonsense with a wally?

Why would you place such an emphasis on being able to come up with an off the cuff argument?

If some tit walks up to you in a bar trying to be confrontational, is it in some way more noble to engage with him?

The video is really just an expanded version of his initial response tbh- "My rent isn't the story, you're trying to distract from the real issue"

He's got a good point though... aside from all those who benefit, who has authority over and thus allows all these tax havens to continue?

@mefty - you can search oh the guardian for details of the charity, from my recollection there where a number of charities with a stake in the development, the main one set up many years ago the original founder died and his children had different objectives. It wasn't the charities sole objective to manage social housing that was just one thing they did. They sold up to fund other projects, a hospital I understand in Isreal was one of the major ones.

Ok so who is the right person for the job then? Some mythical person who is the reincarnation of Jesus and lives in a cardboard box?

Just about anyone tbh. Brand pretty much tops the list of "the wrong person" if we exclude actual [i]evil[/i] people.

There's no need to suggest it needs to be some wonderful mythical character. Just someone who's no where near the same level of flouncy self indulgent massive dickwadery that Brand achieves. But if we keep to just comedians, basically anyone that hasn't been done for tax evasion or some other crime.

Are you actually reading this thread and thinking. Wow Brands doing an amazing job. or are you thinking, why the focus on the man and not the message. If, and it's a massive 'if' he dropped out of character and communicated without the flounce, literally played the dead pan straight man (even if that's not the real him) I reckon he'd do some good by highlighting the subject matter. But most of what he's actually doing is highlighting himself.

Mate... That's fascinating and all that, but I like him, I can identify with him and I'm pretty certain by his popularity that others identify with him too..
He certainly feels a lot more accessible than some dour humourless codger with a chip on their shoulder and money on their mind..
He's opening up socially responsible political ideas to folk who may not have engaged otherwise, and his passion and charisma is inspiring people..

If you feel politics belongs solely to sour grey people, with sour grey personalities and sour grey lives that's your look out

Ok so who is the right person for the job then? Some mythical person who is the reincarnation of Jesus and lives in a cardboard box?

Sweet baby Jesus and the orphans! You'd think the stuff that he's drawing attention too was something new. That he's some groundbreaking revolutionary in the mould of Che Guavara (this certainly appears to be what he thinks!)

If you genuinely want to know about stuff like this, and keep yourself informed, but don't want to all the preachy, messiah stuff that goes with Brand, its not difficult! Read [url= http://www.theguardian.com/profile/owen-jones ]Owen Jones[/url] or [url= http://www.naomiklein.org/main ]Naomi Klein[/url]

If you want a witty humorous take on it then read [url= http://marksteelinfo.com ]Mark Steel[/url]

All are infinitely better informed - probably something to do with actually doing boring research and stuff - and far less compromised and woefully self-absorbed. And more importantly actually offer up decent analysis, that makes sense, rather than sixth-form-level ranting, and self-promoting grandstanding! And who's solutions don't enter the realms of mindlessly self-defeating horse shit like 'democracy is rubbish! Lets all stop voting!". Yeah [url= http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/uk-thanks-russell-brand-2014052786930 ]Cheers Russ![/url]

Interestingly, I've just read this on Mark Steels site:

[i]Website forums, which promised unprecedented global debate and discourse all seem to degenerate into the same nine people slagging each other off, like Eastenders with exclamation marks[/i] 😆

If you feel politics belongs solely to sour grey people

No i dont, not by any stretch of the imagination. Not in anyway what so ever.

He certainly feels a lot more accessible than some dour humourless codger with a chip on their shoulder and money on their mind.

😯 Brands shoulder chip is so ****ing massive Im astonished he can walk.

Binners +1

Pretty much nails it for me

binners - Member

Sweet baby Jesus and the orphans! You'd think the stuff that he's drawing attention too was something new.

Nobody thinks that. He certainly doesn't! As you can see in the original video where he doesn't do half the things he's accused of, but does tell us he's trying to help bring attention to someone else's good work.

Oh guys.. you're clearly not his target audience, but that shouldn't make you so cross 😆

However threatened and appalled you are by this precocious young upstart, and however much that clouds your judgement, you're right about one thing..

He's not the right man for the job..

That honour goes to the politicians, high court judges, European courts and law enforcement agencies..

It's been a long long time comin' but change gonna come brothers