I did not say that and it does not follow from what I said.

PS if you were informed you would not need to ask 😉

This shows turnout by age.

hopefully he’ll help to alter that graph in a constructive way innit blud

As with many things in life, Noel Galalghers take on it is always worth listening too

“Well, I love Russell but he don’t half talk out of his arse sometimes,”

“His fine, muscular, pert arse. He does talk a load of shit. I couldn’t see him overthrowing a table of drinks. Do you think he’s going to put himself in charge? Hmm, I wonder.”

“I was out with him the other night and he says it with a straight face. ‘There is going to be a revolution.’ And I’m like, ‘F**king hell, mate, give us a shout when you’re going down The Mall with your pitchforks and that, I’ll come and serenade you with my loot before we eat the Queen.

“He says, ‘Come on mate, back us’ and I’m like, ‘If you make me the Duke Of Manchester then I’m in’.”

😆

What is it we have to achieve when we grow up? Rolling over and playing dead..?

Its an interesting question hence i added the bit to emsz about sounding like her grandad.

Two view IMHO
1. If your views dont change as you age then you have failed to learn as you age

2. If your views change radically then you have sold out.

I may have given up I may have swapped my walk on part in war for a lead role in a cage. I certainly wont be rioting anytime soon like I used to nor doing direct action or any of the other stuff that probably got me on a file somewhere.

Perhaps i have rolled over and given up?

Hey, I was just trying to point out that people’s tastes progress to the better stuff.

I was going to put something in about ‘for those that can read without their lips moving’, now that would have been smug.

I suppose he is pedagogue appealing to the commonality, that are starved of critical didactics by the monolithic institutions that seek to enslave paradigms.

I couldn’t see him overthrowing a table of drinks. Do you think he’s going to put himself in charge? Hmm, I wonder.

do you still really think that’s what it’s about..?

FFS :lol

his output since gaining an audience has been phenomenal and has been as far from encouraging voter apathy as can be imagined

that’s about the the size of it for me

PARKLIFE

do you still really think that’s what it’s about..?

I’m just quoting one of his more astute mates.

maybe this is the answer?

😆

yah

This thread highlights many of the problems we face:

rather than work on solutions to the points raised by Brand, everyone tends to argue about the man himself.

History has shown that however we vote, we’ll be taken for a ride by whoever is delegated the short term power bestowed upon them.

So who are the untouchables that have the real power to make long term change?

no idea who are they ?
Lizards?
Aliens?
Fictional?

rather than work on solutions to the points raised by Brand, everyone tends to argue about the man himself.

it’s a very highbrow forum 😆

I reckon some bright minds can work it out… if I give you all the answers straight away, you won’t do enough thinking 😉

Could have made for a fantastic London mayoral election

Diane Abbott, Russell Brand or Jeremy Paxman

Unfortunately Paxman has ruled himself out, so who are we going to sub for theTories, Portillo?

What if the main parties are 2 cheeks of the same arse?

Could have made for a fantastic London mayoral election

Diane Abbott, Russell Brand or Jeremy Paxman

I heard Russ Abbott was gonna stand

OK… I’ll concede that Brand could well be lining hisself up for the mayor’s role just to tick a bucket list box, and I have no idea what the outcome of Brands election to office would be, but to my mind whatever his motivation, the side effect is turning out to be a pretty constructive thing

Nah, Russ Abbott is in standby for Tory Scottish leader

Well he couldn’t be any more of a clown than the present London Mayor

More importantly… all this nonsense better bloody well not be getting in the way of making Despicable Me 3 😀

in my mind whatever his motivation, the side effect is a pretty constructive thing

Not sure – there’s an opportunity cost to Brand being the spokesman for an alternative. In Spain the same need arose but, instead of some mouthy celeb with a penchant for long words, that need was filled by a young university lecturer who has actually formed a political party and campaigned for votes. And he’s doing very well, his party has the two main parties running scared and forced them to up their game.

Probably all a bit too risky and too much of an effort for Brand, though – much easier to “ask questions” and “raise awareness”.

binners – Member
As with many things in life, Noel Galalghers take on it is always worth listening too

“Well, I love Russell but he don’t half talk out of his arse sometimes,”

“His fine, muscular, pert arse. He does talk a load of shit. I couldn’t see him overthrowing a table of drinks. Do you think he’s going to put himself in charge? Hmm, I wonder.”

“I was out with him the other night and he says it with a straight face. ‘There is going to be a revolution.’ And I’m like, ‘F**king hell, mate, give us a shout when you’re going down The Mall with your pitchforks and that, I’ll come and serenade you with my loot before we eat the Queen.

“He says, ‘Come on mate, back us’ and I’m like, ‘If you make me the Duke Of Manchester then I’m in’.”

Holding up noel gallagher as an fountain of knowledge? 😆 sort yourself oot, next you’ll be posting johnny rottens ramblings! 😆

@ mogrim that is the type of solution I would support.

instead of some mouthy celeb with a penchant for long words, that need was filled by a young university lecturer who has actually formed a political party and campaigned for votes. And he’s doing very well, his party has the two main parties running scared and forced them to up their game.

Probably all a bit too risky and too much of an effort for Brand, though – much easier to “ask questions” and “raise awareness”.

Fair point.. so perhaps then, some of the irritation with Brand is that he’s not applying himself in the best way to get maximum benefit.. he’s not fulfilling his potential..?

f 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 Owen Jones or Naomi Klein

If you want a witty humorous take on it then read Mark Steel

Are any of them getting lots of coverage on U.K TV and pissing off the establishment? Not at the level Brand is.

Also he talks about and interviews the people you mention, but then you wouldn’t know that because you probably only watch him ranting on Newsnight and read shite in the papers.

Do a search for Russell Brand and Naomi Klein or Owen Jones. It’s not difficult is it! 😆

And that’s exactly where brand is going wrong

If he thinks he can mobilise large numbers of people who are turned off from mainstream politics to be more politically aware, then he needs to form a political party and take like minded people with him to challenge the establishment

Even Someone who spends most of his time talking inconsistent and contradictory bollocks can still change the political agenda and make the mainstream parties quake in their boots

Nigel has proved that 😉

mogrim – Member

Not sure – there’s an opportunity cost to Brand being the spokesman for an alternative.

Seriously? Brand enters a vacuum and you blame him for the vacuum? His existence doesn’t stop anyone else from doing things differently. On past form, he’d be quick to get behind anyone who did.

ninfan – Member
And that’s exactly where brand is going wrong

If he thinks he can mobilise large numbers of people who are turned off from mainstream politics to be more politically awareThis is where you are missing his point. Which isn’t to mobilise behind him, his message is simple, identify your issues and get up off your arse and do something about it, no-one else will.

Personally, i actually agree his trews and the style he does then in can be annoying, but his general message is sound..

Seriously? Brand enters a vacuum and you blame him for the vacuum? His existence doesn’t stop anyone else from doing things differently. On past form, he’d be quick to get behind anyone who did.

I’m not blaming him for the vacuum, or even for filling it. I’m just saying that his filling the vacuum does make it harder for other voices to be heard.

This is where you are missing his point. Which isn’t to mobilise behind him, his message is simple, identify your issues and get up off your arse and do something about it, no-one else will.

RB: identify your issues and do something about it, no-one else will!

The masses: what shall we do?

RB: I dunno, somefink!

The masses: like what?

RB: I dunno, that’s not for me, it’s for you, it doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you do somefink!

The masses: any suggestions?

RB: Look, you’re not getting me man, it’s not for me to tell you what to do, you need to fink of that yourself like, as long as you do somefink because somefink is better than nuffink, innit! Now stop hassling me with questions, you’re gettin me down and making my brain go all wobbly, Revolution innit, down wiv the establishment.

The masses: 😕

mogrim – Member

I’m not blaming him for the vacuum, or even for filling it. I’m just saying that his filling the vacuum does make it harder for other voices to be heard.

What makes it hard for other voices to be heard, is that we have a media and establishment committed to not letting them be heard. We have the perfect case in point here!

What makes it hard for other voices to be heard, is that we have a media and establishment committed to not letting them be heard. We have the perfect case in point here!

Spot on… Green Party a prime example

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdFYAaxwB7c[/video]

There is hardly a vacuum in the debate on housing, its actually quite a crowded space. London councils (Labour lead) are falling over themselves to sell of property to foreign investors.

Any a piece today on the gaffs Brand has made, I didn’t remember he’d turned up to work at MTV 2 days after the 9/11 attacks dressed as Osama Bin Laden.

link

He’s on Question Time next week with Nigel Farage.

Send in the clowns…..

Jambalaya – did you receive my email?

“Amanda was a strong, beautiful woman. After a string of infidelities on my part, she finally had the good sense to leave me. I just came home one night, and all her clothes were gone. I thought this a flabbergasting affront, and threw myself with ever more self-destructive intensity into my work, womanising and, above all, a renewed and increasingly all-encompassing relationship with heroin.

I thought, “Well, at least now she’s left me, I can just take loads of drugs again”.

Not content with damaging myself physically, I set about dismantling my career. Gritty was the main dealer I used to get heroin off when I worked at MTV. I liked the fact that destiny had allotted him the name “Gritty”. Just as Ned Ludd, leader of the Luddites who opposed the Industrial Revolution, would have struggled to make such an eloquent case against the spinning jenny had his name been Fabrizio Zodiac, so the name Gritty seemed well adapted to the needs of his profession.

He seemed a nice sort of man, though. He had quite a caring side to him, for a drug dealer. I remember one occasion when I was buying drugs off him near Camden Bridge. Having just sold me my two £10 bags of smack and two £10 rocks of crack, he gave me a sincere look and said, “Be careful with that, won’t you Russell?” I was thinking, “What do you mean, ‘Be careful with that’? They’re drugs. What does he think I’m gonna do with them? ‘Oh no, I seem to have taken them. Why didn’t I heed Gritty’s prophecy?’ “

One day Gritty asked me once if he could bring Edwin, his eight-year-old son, into MTV to have a bit of a look round. I said, “Sure, why not?” What could possibly go wrong? We could call it Bring Your Drug Dealer to Work Day.

The date that the inaugural BYDDTWD happened to fall upon was September 12 2001, the day after the destruction of the World Trade Centre. With typical restraint, I decided to go into work dressed in a camouflage flak jacket, a false beard and a tea towel on my head, held in place by a shoelace.

I had been aware of Osama bin Laden for about a year. He wasn’t someone people of my age group generally knew about, but he’d been involved with some other bombings and he was top of the FBI’s most wanted list, and I was fascinated by that sort of stuff. That day, I was going to present this programme called Select, where kids phoned in and chose videos for us to play, and pop stars would come on to flog their records. Our guest was to be Kylie Minogue. Me, Gritty and Edwin went into the toilet and the two older members of our party smoked some crack. Edwin didn’t have any. He was just a little boy, and seemed quite upbeat about life anyway. Children don’t need drugs, because they have sweets.

We blearily swaggered out of the disabled toilet. On the other side of the foyer – with its round console, banks of TVs, trendy turnstile and endless parade of beautiful young people of both genders and every sexual persuasion trundling in and out – I saw Kylie Minogue, all famous and everything.

Somewhere in my mind, the artist within me – the situationist within me – thought: “I can create a moment here. When am I ever going to get an opportunity like this again?” Before I knew it, I’d walked across that foyer, made a kind of “Woo-ooh” noise – in a mum-across-a-neighbour’s-fence sort of way – and said: “Kylie, meet Gritty.” Then I just stood back to watch it unfold.

What were these two going to talk about? It’s the day after 9/11, and Kylie and Gritty are having a sort of awkward chat, with Gritty trying to be polite and Kylie asking, “What do you do?” sort of like the Queen would. And there’s me standing beside them, still dressed as Osama bin Laden.

I thought: “It don’t get any better than this.”

And it didn’t, cos they sacked me about two days later.”

He’s on Question Time next week with Nigel Farage.

Send in the clowns…..

And the rest of the panel? Certainly could be entertaining. Informative? Not so sure 🙂

@yunki, I appreciate that we need better spending on NHS but legal aid as a priority ? He did say correctly at the end of the piece we need more social housing but a lack of it isn’t due to the banking system, its due to successive governments both Labour and Conservative continuing to sell social housing instead of building more. IMO the government should identify town center sites (it owns many as did the post office which shouldn’t have been sold its property/land portfolio should have been sued for social housing development) and the develop these into social housing, the government could provide loan guarantees (meaning cheap cost of borrowing) for the construction and subsequent management of the properties. These properties would be let on the basis of need / key workers and means tested – no council house for life security of tenure.

@yunki – yes, I actually replied just after posting.

One of the greatest political thinkers of our generation

I’m sorry, I’ll do anything. I wore a condom. Put the phone down! Oh what’s going to happen. Look I’ve got a mental illness. Do you think that made it better?
…
Andrew Sachs, Andrew Sachs. I said something I didn’t have oughta, like I had sex with your granddaughter. But it was consensual and she wasn’t menstrual, it was consensual lovely sex.
…
We can keep ringing, and even after the show’s finished, kick his front door in and scream apologies into his bottom.

Great post Northwind..
I think it’s stuff like that which goes some way to explaining why he’s got such a dedicated fanbase..
That’s the sort of thing that gen X can identify with.. He’s lived a normal lifestyle (not a joke btw) and that gives him an integrity.. He’s trustworthy..

EDIT: Ace – thanks Jambalaya