I didnt see it Cologne, cant watch the clip just now. He is a very articulate man. Dont know what he was saying  there. I do admire him for bringing drug issues into discussion, as he has done before

He's talking about everything that's going wrong, rich getting richer, bankers, etc. We might have heard it before, but not quite like that and you wonder why you don't stand on a soapbox and play that interview.

Thank you Cologne that was absolutely amazing. Great to see those two sparring together. I remember Jeremy Paxman's Who Do You Think You Are  He broke down in tears after learning of the tenement room his ancestor came from and how she was removed from parish charity books for having an illegitimate child.

 

If ole Russ is leading the revolution sing me up!

 I will do Cologne, my internet a bit slow today, and getting a problem with the  Adobe player. I will certainly watch it, when i get things sorted x

Definitely worth the watch Skylark 

Thanks Rosie, yes i will. I have already said on the open forum my daughter is an heroin addict, so i think anything discussed is positive, in the sense that not all drug addicts are thieving what nots. I welcome too discussion about how these policies are affecting the poorer in society. Russell has gone thru it all, so welcome his input.Whether or not he is listened to is another question.....

I didn't know that Skylark   Wow that's a tough situation for a Mum  Russel gave such a compassionate insight into what its like to be on heroin and gave a much needed humanity to the debate!

 

In the clip he is talking more generally I suppose about social injustice. How the lobbying-for-the-bankers politicians have only the interests of the rich at heart, and have created an underclass who simply get ignored.

 

Sorry if its trite... but I hope things go well for you Skylark, or some light may appear at the end of the tunnel for your daughter. Till then sending my thoughts and prayers to you both  

 

 

Generally agree with him, but disagree about the voting issue. It may not make a huge difference to the bigger issues that he is talking about, but it can make a lot of difference in terms of investment in public services ect.

Thanks Rosie, no worries, she is doing well just now. i dont mind talking about it, as addiction can come to anyone,s door.Awareness can only be a good thing. I never ever thought it would come to mine, but it has. Its a horrible thing and has broken up our family, but we are coping well .The more we speak of the damage drug addiction does the more it may help others and make aware to some, who may want to try it, its not clever, not glamorous , it takes over and destroys. Heroin is a viscous and nasty drug, very, very hard to stop its control. Not so much as its takes over  the body, it takes over the mind. I support anything, as said to bring this out in the open x

Very well expressed Skylark. Must be a heartbreaking situation but glad things are ok a.t.m. Long may it continue 

Thanks, every day is a gift. If i can make aware of the dangers of the drug and how its affects everyone around the addict..well a job done. It is not a life that anyone should go through, but it happens to the best of families too, thats a message i really want to get over x

Well put, once again

 

To a lesser extent I know about addiction as I've hit the bottle many times in times of stress. It doesn't have as fierce a hold as heroin - thats a far harder battle. But the way you described addiction earlier- that it takes over the mind not just the body - is exactly right.

 

Also you're right about the stigma of addiction - best to break it and speak up in the open like you are doing 

 

Your daughter should be very proud of herself - it must be the hardest fight of all going through what she's going through.

 

And actually Russell is a great role model  I think of him sometimes too, ie if he can do it...

Rosie, any addiction is a hard battle, i particularly said about heroin, because it happened in my family. Alcohol can be the same. It took me a long time to talk about it, now i want it open. There is no shame in discussing these issues, if some people dont want to address them fine, but it happens. It can be a lonely world dealing with it. I firmly believe talking about it, and getting it out in the open is the way forward.

I have to get off now, but lovely having this talk with you Rosie xx  

Sorry Col, for taking over your thread!! 

Heres an hour long interview with him recently... Warning he's very sweary!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.u...3.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

We love Russell Brand. Been to see him. Totally accept that BB discussion prog was rubbish after he left. Agree with everything he has said about addiction.

However as far as I can tell, and assuming that he wasn't being ironic, his recent utterances on democracy are irresponsible nonsense.

Kevin Bridges is better.

I finally caught up with his article in t'Grauniad. I still disagree but he does write the most beautiful pieces. I wish they would take him on again.

Russell spoke for millions who are fed up of our crappy democracy that serves the interests of bankers, global media barons who don't pay tax here and the American military industrial complex.  Red tie, blue tie, the policies largely stay the same. 

 

The Labour Party asks us to put our faith in them that they won't be as heartless as the Tories despite bringing in ATOS to chuck critically ill people back into the labour market and starting an illegal war and the Tories ask us to put their faith in them on the received wisdom that they manage the economy better - despite raising the national debt by a third in three years and playing Russian roulette with property prices. 

 

Not really much to get passionate about, is it?

 

 

I repeat that I enjoyed reading his piece, but the reason I don't agree with him is that he embodies the  "politics is something that happens to us!" Philosophy. It's bollocks and it's dangerous. Be careful what you wish for.
I may appear quite old fashioned but the two parties work best when people join them and participate. It is actually quite OK to have a party that prefers the market and one that prefers the state. The rest of 'em are pointless. I wish that people would join up and be active. Lastly, as Frank himself said,  "vote, or democracy doesn't work!"

The trouble is, Tony Blair won election after election by basically being more touchy feely than the Tories, while following the same neoliberal path as the Tories.

 

Voters are presented with the options of: -

Should we entirely privatise the NHS or totally privatise the NHS?

Should we dump Royal Mail liabilities on the tax payer while the city institutions clean-up - the Tory way, or should we dump Royal Mail liabilities on the tax payer while institutions of the city cleans-up the Labour way

Should we clobber the poor and public sector workers for the sake of hard working tax payers, or should be clobber the public sector workers and poor for the sake of hard working families?

Should we assess terminally ill people as fit for work - the Tory way or should we assess as fit for work, terminally ill people - the Labour way?

Should we deregulate banking or should we consider banking deregulation?

Should we cut progressive taxation and load the burden onto regressive taxation or should we load the burden onto regressive taxation so we can cut progressive taxation?

Should we run our economy on credit/property bubbles - the Labour way?  Or run our economy on property/credit bubbles - the Tory way?

Should we emasculate trade unions to please Paul Dacre and Rupert Murdoch or should we emasculate trade unions to please Rupert Murdoch and Paul Dacre?

Hmmm, so difficult to decide!

Good to see you around Carnelian    

Hi Velvet, the first week was hell but the despair has lifted over the last few days.  Part of the grieving process, I guess.

 

As you is a bloke, I will cyberly pat you on the shoulder rather than add a kissing smiley!

I was thinking about you in the old muso thread  

 

Edit. Your absence  

As long as the capitalist system provides diversionary pursuits for foolish young consumers we will wend our way to an American system of no choice.
We won't change that system by meaningless slogans or throwing a few dustbins about.

He's rabid.

west of Scotland stylee punch on the arm for Carnelian 

 

Ahhh soddit .. 

Neither will we by First Past the Post and an elite within the Labour party who went to the same schools and universities as Dave's Buller arseholes. 

 

The Labour Party has to appease 'middle England' in the marginals, corporate donors and Paul Dacre/Rupert Murdoch in the same way the Tories have to. 

 

The Daily Mail calls Ed Miliband 'Red Ed' but this is the same 'Red Ed' that wants to separate Labour from organised labour.  The long term consequence is that Labour will become more like the Democrat Party of the US.  Ever more neo-liberal.

 

 

Well it's your generation's choice. We failed earlier on, so good luck with your attempts to ameliorate the defects of capitalism, as we used to say back in the day.

I'm of the same generation as you GJ!

Are you sure?

I'm quite old, me.

Me too!

I'm not as good with language as I am with numbers Carnelian, but this Heather Govier letter in yesterday's Grauniad sums it up for me.......

 

 

Russell Brand is spot-on in all his criticisms but presents no "strategy" for how the society he seeks can be achieved (A televised beginning to the Russell revolution, 6 November). Revolutions are inevitably bloody. I'd rather my children had to pay fees to go to university than be killed or maimed fighting for a better society. That is what democratic politics is. It enables the populace to change things without loss of life. But this can only be done by staying within the system and working to change it from the inside. If Brand urged the politically disenfranchised to vote Labour, and then worked within the party to ensure that his proposals for taxation of the banks and super-rich were on the manifesto (and a Tony Blair could never again take over), he could make exactly that real difference he wishes for.

Excellent posts, Carnelian

 

(Sorry to hear of your loss)

TBF and IMHO, we're in the dark as to what the mainstream parties want to do to achieve a contented society. Paxman has now admitted to not voting, so if the litterati turn their backs.......

I've never taken to Brand, especially when he was on BB, or was it BBOTS. I listened to his interview with Paxman the other day. I agreed with what he said but wouldn't many around the world by now have come to the same conclusions if they're aware and observant. He can talk a good talk but can he walk a good walk and really help to make a difference? time will tell.

Well exactly!  Paxman has had 20 years of listening to big idea bullshit merchants, spivs, liars, practised experts in evasion, the whores to big business and tax avoiding media barons,  smug and corpulent 'grandees' on corporate payrolls, conmen, snake oil salesmen, so-called 'pragmatists' who argue for the repeat of failed policies.  It's no wonder he's world-weary of politics.

And he has a small penis....judging from those pics of him on holiday a few years back.