Russell Brand vs. Jeremy Paxman

[millidonk]

He might as well have sat there with a T shirt on saying "There is a problem, but I don't have a clue how to fix it"

He actually said outright that he didn't know how to fix it, he just wanted to draw attention to the fact that there are people out with different ideas who are far more qualified to address the situation than he is.

I am well aware of that. So are you saying that there are people out there who were either not aware that there is a problem or they were not aware that there are people more qualified to address these problems, so they needed him to point out; "hey guys, there is a problem but i've not got a clue what to do about it, but just to reiterate I am saying there is defo a problem and there are smarter people out there who can probably come up with a solution"? If this is in fact the case then I am obv out of touch with the world.

[theprawnidentity]

Pretty much.  I'm sure the average person doesn't go round in their everyday lives considering alternative political systems.  Maybe I'm in the minority, but I had never thought about it.  I'm not saying I agree with / think it's a good idea, but the people who do have the capacity to implement and manage a different strategy (and this is something that I really doubt as well) won't draw the same kind of attention if someone famous like Russell Brand talks about it.

[AndrewT]

There are more and more career politicians who are, essentially, straight out of Uni. They'll do politics and be involved in politics at uni, then go to work for one of the parties in some capacity, or an affiliated think tank, building up their profile till they get picked for some no-hope constituency. Provided they handle themselves well, they'll get selected for a safer seat next time around, so whilst they may be in their late 20s/early 30s they will have done nothing in life apart from politics.

I'd be in favour of raising the age you can become an MP to 35 or 40 - try and force people to do something else before getting involved in politics, build up some general life experience and get to know the world their constituents live in.

[millidonk]

Pretty much.  I'm sure the average person doesn't go round in their everyday lives considering alternative political systems.  Maybe I'm in the minority, but I had never thought about it.  I'm not saying I agree with / think it's a good idea, but the people who do have the capacity to implement and manage a different strategy (and this is something that I really doubt as well) won't draw the same kind of attention if someone famous like Russell Brand talks about it.

Obv I don't spend the entirety of my day contemplating alternative political systems but if you are able to tie a shoe lace I would imagine you are aware that there has to be some alternative to a democratic government. That said, it might have forced some teenage girls to stop staring at their one direction poster for 5 mins or some young fella might have had an epiphany whilst trying to squeeze into his skinny leather trousers. I can't imagine any other demographic paying heed to him, apart from redarmi who for some reason seems to be the RB fan club president.

[theprawnidentity]

FWIW, a bit of KY and they will slide on easily.

[millidonk]

FWIW, a bit of KY and they will slide on easily.

Reminds me of this:

[titaniumbean]

it'd be kewl if they were actually judged on the reasoning and logic for their decision making rather than stick with the standard party politics bullshit.


Brands right imo in saying that we need to take a really hard look at this twatfilled system, however ldo not voting doesn't help. If he wasn't a complete wannabe showoff he could talk normally and not use 4000 long words a sentence to try and prove that his drug habit was some spiritual enlightenment trip where his mind was free to think rather than sitting on the floor jabbing needles into his arm for weeks on end.

ldo this gives him more insight into these problems than most people let alone ANY MP, watching him a few months ago on question time was so frustrating. Making really important points on the subject only to have the other side of the argument be some middle aged woman whos friend Anne has a son and he totally went of the rails so they deffo have indepth knowledge of the subject.

[Royal Flush]

People shouting that MPs are low paid, R O F L, I have NEVER know any other job where everything from a second home, to someone cutting their grass, heating bills, all travel expenses are paid for them. Free food at work and virtually everything they needed is given to them. What other job literally means they have all their income to spend on themselves apart from MPs? I noticed one MP claimed 3p for a 100 yard car ride.....you know people actually saying they need to be paid more? do me a favor.

If they want to be an MP let them take a break from all other interests that may conflict with running the country. It's ridiculous they can have 3-4 other jobs and still claim they are underpaid as MP's and have the peoples interest at heart.

Education or a 2:1 from an old Poly means shit to me, as long as the MP is good at what they do, looks after the consistuancy interests and puts their heart and soul into it then you can have left school at 15 for all that is matters. The problem is coming from a 'certain' elite Uni seems important for a route into politics, welcome to the boys club. I would have thought much more worrying than your "dooms day mps only have one job scenerio attracting the wrong type of people" is the current regime only coming from millionaire backgrounds where a heating bill makes up 0000.00000002% of their income and they somehow have to relate to us normal peoples problems.

See we have different ideas of what an MP should be, i want the best of the best leaving the private sector entering the public and using their skill sets, they won't do this unless the pay is at least near that of the private sector. Until that is the case we will get substandard applicants for the most important jobs in the country.

[Acidmouse]

But everything they have is paid for  + a salary.

If you factor in a second home allowance, everything they need in life paid for (including food, drink, all bills) it works out their actual wages are alot more.

We currently have multi millionaire toffs running the country, they good yeah?

[Royal Flush]

But everything they have is paid for  + a salary.

If you factor in a second home allowance, everything they need in life paid for (including food, drink, all bills) it works out their actual wages are alot more.

This is London dear boy, you need to be paying people a lot more than that.

[Acidmouse]

But everything they have is paid for  + a salary.

If you factor in a second home allowance, everything they need in life paid for (including food, drink, all bills) it works out their actual wages are alot more.

This is London dear boy, you need to be paying people a lot more than that.

I guess why they are voting themselves a 12% rise then, poor MP's literally.

[titaniumbean]

But everything they have is paid for  + a salary.

If you factor in a second home allowance, everything they need in life paid for (including food, drink, all bills) it works out their actual wages are alot more.

We currently have multi millionaire toffs running the country, they good yeah?

it's all relative.

it's similar to the hacking debate. why work for the government doing good work for not much money when you can be an engineer at google/facebook/us def contractors and earn tonnes more.


we don't set ourselves up to have the best people making the decisions that affect us the most, we just effectively vote in people who couldn't make it elsewhere and who then go with their own personal/party opinions.


let's go back to proper democracy, draw names out of a hat imo. 

[redarmi]

I can't imagine any other demographic paying heed to him, apart from redarmi who for some reason seems to be the RB fan club president.

LOL - I'm really not.  I find him a bit cringeworthy to be honest but I don't think the fact he looks ridiculous and is a bit of a dick means that he doesn't have anything worthwhile to say.  I would say huge swathes of the country below the ages of 40 feel disenfranchised and disconnected from the political system and play no part in it.  Brand is someone, rightly or wrongly, that has a voice in that demographic and has something to say.  I think that should be encouraged and I largely agree with what he says even if it is a bit superficial I think he generally articulates what a lot of people think.  Sure we can dismiss it as tripe or nonsense but at least he is trying to engage which is more than the politicians are trying to do.

Incidentally, I used to work in politics part time in my late teens as a researcher and if you don't think that there is a ruling elite that all know each other and have a somewhat bizarre and sheltered view of the world I will recount two incidents from the first week I worked in the Commons.  The first day I was there I was introduced to the Conservative researchers in an adjacent office who were very nice and friendly but their first question was "which school I had gone to?"  I was a bit wet behind the ears and it took a while to figure out why they laughed when I said "Parkview" but I later understood that effectively meant I hadn't been to school as far as they were concerned.  The second thing that happened was when I was with the MP I was working for and we got stuck in a lift with a Tory researcher.  After a while the Tory turned to the member I was with and said "aren't you a labour member?  You must be able to fix it. Didn't you used to be a fitter or something?"

[Royal Flush]

The second thing that happened was when I was with the MP I was working for and we got stuck in a lift with a Tory researcher.  After a while the Tory turned to the member I was with and said "aren't you a labour member?  You must be able to fix it. Didn't you used to be a fitter or something?"

Ahahahahaha thats incredible

[doubleup]

See we have different ideas of what an MP should be, i want the best of the best leaving the private sector entering the public and using their skill sets, they won't do this unless the pay is at least near that of the private sector. Until that is the case we will get substandard applicants for the most important jobs in the country.

but MPs don't do anything that that justifies their salaries+the rest at the moment.  They don't make policy, they don't write laws, they just vote the way they're told.