Even Russell Brand understands that you can't sell cocaine like tobacco
From Saturday's Daily Telegraph Like lots of supposedly cutting-edge comedians, Russell Brand is actually as pleased with himself as any of those bow-tied light entertainment “legends” who spent their...
View ArticleEd Miliband wants an inquiry into the Savile affair. Should we care?
It has taken a couple of weeks but Ed Miliband has finally waded into the Jimmy Savile row. In an interview on ITV's Agenda last night, he called for an independent inquiry into Savile’s vile...
View ArticleRussell Brand, unnecessary revolutionary
Did you see Russell Brand on Newsnight last night? Watch the video above if you didn't. He is, if nothing else, compelling viewing. And I agree with him about Jeremy Paxman's beard. He worries me,...
View ArticleRussell Brand edits The New Statesman; quotes Sophocles. Readers die of...
Just think how excited Russell Brand must have been when the New Statesman asked to edit an edition of its super-serious political magazine. Picture the scene: the Snoopy phone rings in Brand's $898...
View ArticleSeriously, Russell Brand, if you want socialism, vote for a socialist party....
It's the second week of Russell Brand's Politics Month. After his guest editorship of the New Statesman last week, the Huffington Post ran an interview with him the other day, under the only faintly...
View ArticleAs a Tory MP, I think Russell Brand has a point. Democracy is in retreat
Britain is more of a democracy now than in the past. Right? Everyone knows we’ve been getting steadily more democratic. First working men got the vote. Then women. There's even talk of giving it to...
View ArticleAnonymous have been exposed as hypocrites. Watch them try to wriggle out of it
Anonymous is an organisation defined mostly by its choice of headgear – the famous V for Vendetta mask. But since yesterday the mask has been experiencing some technical issues. It appears to be eating...
View ArticleWatch out, Russell Brand, or you'll end up as funny as Marcus Brigstocke
I’ve given in. After weeks of media guff about the political opinions of the comedian Russell Brand, I’ve finally got round to reading one of his Guardian articles. Turns out he doesn’t like Nick...
View ArticleThe 'thick rich' are irksome, but don't forget thick people from modest...
Mike Nicholson, the director of undergraduate admissions at Oxford, has said the admissions process is designed to filter out "thick rich" kids and select just the brightest, "irrespective of social...
View ArticleRussell Brand likes to talk about revolution. Why doesn't he get on with it?
For quite a long time I have read – or at least skimmed – through the New Statesman, mainly to try to understand the thinking of those with whom I generally disagree. Now and again I even find an...
View ArticleNo revolutions, no wars, no Muslim takeovers: boring predictions for 2014
It's that time when everyone's writing retrospectives of the dying year, and looking forward to the next one. What 2014 will mean for the Tories, why Labour had a good year in 2013, will Abbey Clancey...
View Article'Do you want your kids to do drugs?' Wrong question
Opponents of direct democracy are, more often than not, actuated by fear of the electorate. Referendums, they fret, will bring out the worst in us: we'd have mass deportations and capital punishment...
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