Russell Brand

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Nothing that would interest you, NV.

You've no idea what would interest me, no matter how much you pretend you're in a position of such intelligence and enlightenment that you can judge and read other people. What message are you sharing? It's a simple question, are you able to give a straight answer?

[Rick Sanchez C-137]

You've no idea what would interest me, no matter how much you pretend you're in a position of such intelligence and enlightenment that you can judge and read other people. What message are you sharing? It's a simple question, are you able to give a straight answer?

 

Have a guess

[Jairzinho]

You've no idea what would interest me, no matter how much you pretend you're in a position of such intelligence and enlightenment that you can judge and read other people. What message are you sharing? It's a simple question, are you able to give a straight answer?

 

He can't possibly think this, he's just said its UNPOSSIBLE.

[Major Tom]

You've no idea what would interest me, no matter how much you pretend you're in a position to judge and read other people. What message are you sharing? It's a simple question, are you able to give a straight answer?

 

No. I'm not interested in engaging with you at all; it's pointless. You concede nothing, you quickly resort to insults and you don't fucking stop. Ever.

 

All of which is your prerogative, of course. And I'm not saying you should change. Merely that I'm not interested.

[Major Tom]

He can't possibly think this,

 

Yep. I don't. I don't care what NV thinks at all. About anything.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Have a guess

I m guessing a reply which states my total lack of understanding whilst quietly implying his omniscience, yet not actually answering the question or saying anything of merit whatsoever.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

No. I'm not interested in engaging with you at all; it's pointless. You concede nothing

You keep stating this falsehood, but you won't ever offer anything rational that could cause me to concede. I'd happily do so if you actually said something in response to facts and evidence.

 

You seem to be implying that I'm unreasonable and that I won't be swayed by what you say, but you're not offering anything other than banal judgements of others. How can that sway anybody? It's not even relevant. You don't offer an argument, let alone one cogent enough to change minds. No facts, no logic, no reasoning, no evidence to back up your position. You just want to talk about people's intelligence, as if you're some authority.

 

The truth as I see it is that you're a bit of an empty vessel who makes ipse dixit statements and, when challenged, it makes you feel uncomfortable about yourself. Grow up.

 

Now, perhaps we can get back to this thread's subject rather than you trying to feed your sense of self worth with the belittlement of others?

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Now, what message are you sharing.

[Major Tom]

The truth as I see it is that you're a bit of an empty vessel who makes ipse dixit statements and, when challenged, it makes you feel uncomfortable about yourself. Grow up.

 

 

Gee, NV, not like you to resort to insults.

[Stu Monty]

No. I'm not interested in engaging with you at all; it's pointless. You concede nothing, you quickly resort to insults and you don't fucking stop. Ever.

 

All of which is your prerogative, of course. And I'm not saying you should change. Merely that I'm not interested.

 

OK, what message are you sharing?

 

Or are you not interested in engaging with me too? Is there anyone you are interested in engaging with? One would presume so given how interested you are on posting about Brand.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Gee, NV, not like you to resort to insults.

Or like you to dodge the question and say absolutely nothing of value.

[Major Tom]

OK, what message are you sharing?

 

Today's message is one where I think it's dangerous (not to mention obnoxious) to assume that you are more intelligent and know more than the next bloke. Merely because of what he reads. Or who he votes for. Especially if you do fuck all with your superior intellect and knowledge anyway.

 

If you disagree, fine. I have absolutely no issue with that.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Today's message is one where I think it's dangerous (not to mention obnoxious) to assume that you are more intelligent and know more than the next bloke.

Jesus. What was it you were saying about self awareness t'other day?

[Section_31]

Brand response.

 

Hello Jo, thanks for your open letter, I do remember you from the melee outside RBS and firstly, I’d like to say sorry for your paella getting cold. It’s not nice to suffer because of actions that are nothing to do with you. I imagine the disabled people of our country who have been hit with £6bn of benefit cuts during the period that RBS received £46bn of public bail-out money feel similarly cheesed off.

 

I can’t apologise for the RBS lockdown though mate because, I don’t have the authority to close great big institutions – even ones found guilty of criminal activity.

 

The locking of the doors and your tarnished lunch came about as the result of orders from “the faceless bosses” upstairs after I wandered in on my own while we secretly filmed from across the street - then security swarmed, all the doors were locked and crowds gathered outside. I must say Jo; it felt like RBS had something terrible to hide. But more of that in a minute.

 

Neither was I there for publicity, although you could be forgiven for thinking that; for many years I have earned my money (and paid my taxes) by showing off. If I needed negative publicity (and, believe me, that’s all talking publicly about inequality can ever get you) I could get it by using the “N word” on telly, or putting a cat in a bin, or having a romantic liaison with the lad from TOWIE.

 

I was there with filmmaker Michael Winterbottom making a documentary about how the economic crises caused by the banking industry (RBS were found guilty of rigging Libor and the foreign exchange) has led to an economic attack on the most vulnerable people in society. I don’t want to undermine your personal inconvenience Jo, I’d be the first to admit that I’m often more vexed by little things; iPhone chargers continually changing makes me as angry as apartheid - so I can’t claim any personal moral high ground, but a chance to make a film that highlights how £80bn of austerity cuts were made, punishing society’s most vulnerable during the same period that bankers awarded themselves £81bn in bonuses was irresistible.

 

The mob upstairs at RBS who exiled you with your rapidly deteriorating lunch have had £4bn in bonuses since the crash. Do they deserve our money more than Britain’s disabled? Or Britain’s students who are now charged to learn? Is that fair?

 

They were some of the questions I was hoping to ask your boss – but we got no joy through the “proper channels” so we decided to just show up.

 

Not just to RBS, but also to Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays. I know that the regular folk on the floor aren’t guilty of this trick against ordinary people; they’re like anyone, trying to make ends meet. As you point out though, it’s hard to get to the men at the top so we were forced into door-stopping and inadvertent lunch spoiling. The good news is that this film and even this correspondence will reach hundreds of thousands of people and they’ll learn how they’re being conned by the financial industry and turned against one another - that’s got to be a good thing, even if it makes me look a bit of a twit in the process and the national dish of Spain is eaten sub-par.

 

Now I’ll be the first to admit your lunch has been an unwitting casualty in this well-intentioned quest but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to ask new RBS boss Ross McEwan if he thinks it’s right that he got a £3.2m “golden hello” when the RBS is sellotaped together with money that comes from everyone else’s taxes. I wonder what he would’ve said? Or whether it’s right that Fred “the shred” (he shredded evidence of impropriety) Goodwin gets to keep his £320k a year pension while disabled people have had their independent living fund scrapped.

 

And it’s not just RBS mate. Lloyds, Barclays, Citibank and HSBC have all been found guilty of market rigging and not one banker has been jailed.

 

Trillions of public money lost and stolen and no one prosecuted. Remember in the riots when disaffected youth nicked the odd bottle of water or a stray pair of trainers? Criminal, I agree. 1800 years worth of sentences were meted out in special courts, to make an example. Some crime doesn’t pay, but some crime definitely does. My school mate Leigh Pickett, a fireman is being told that he and his colleagues won’t be able to collect their pension until five years later than agreed, five more years of backbreaking, flame engulfed labour – why? Because of austerity.

Put simply Jo, the banks took the money, the people paid the price.

 

I was there to ask a few questions to the guilty parties, now I know that’s not you, you’re just a bloke trying to make a crust and evidently you like that crust warm - but again, it wasn’t me who locked the RBS, I just asked a few difficult questions and the place went nuts. The people that have inconvenienced homeowners, pensioners, the disabled and ordinary working Brits are the same ones who inconvenienced you that lunchtime. They’ve got a lot to hide, so they locked the doors. You said my “agro demeanor” reminded you of school. Your letter reminded me of school too, when the teacher would say, “because Russell’s been naughty, the whole class has to stay behind”.

 

I’d never knowingly keep a workingman from his dinner, it’s unacceptable and I do owe you an apology for being lairy.

 

So Jo, get in touch, I owe you an apology and I’d like to take you for a hot paella to make up for the one that went cold – though you could say that was actually the fault of the shady shysters who nicked the wedge and locked you out, I’d rather err on the side of caution. When I make a mistake I like to apolgise and put it right. Hopefully your bosses will do the same to the people of Britain.

[Jairzinho]

[Rick Sanchez C-137]

Great response from Brand

[Section_31]

Still baffled by the phrase 'hilarious' open letter to Brand.

[Rocky Sullivan]

Ultimately it doesn't matter how intelligent or knowledgeable someone is (for the sake of my argument here). You and Section may both consider him to have greater knowledge and intelligence than large swathes of the country but what does it matter if he's not really applying it? Which, for his sake, I hope he's applying whatever level he's got

 

And, besides, intelligent people are (unfortunately) voting UKIP.

 

Nah.

[Major Tom]

Jesus. What was it you were saying about self awareness t'other day?

 

Nup. Intelligence is just not something I actively look for in people. And very rarely judge them for it, either way.

 

Compassion, awareness, restraint, self awareness, open mindedness, a capacity for independent thought are all things I look for - and am impressed by - in people. They are also things I'd personally rather be blessed with over intelligence.

[Major Tom]

Nice response from Brand, there.

[Section_31]

Nup. Intelligence is just not something I actively look for in people. And very rarely judge them for it, either way.

 

Compassion, awareness, restraint, self awareness, open mindedness, a capacity for independent thought are all things I look for - and am impressed by - in people. They are also things I'd personally rather be blessed with over intelligence.

 

I'd say they're all components of intelligence. Intelligence isn't neccassarily being good at Countdown or being able to recall facts for an exam.

[Major Tom]

I'd say they're all components of intelligence. Intelligence isn't neccassarily being good at Countdown or being able to recall facts for an exam.

 

Well everything is to a point, yes. And there are different forms of intelligence.

[Bobby Hundreds]

The more shit he gets the more I like the guy. Even if you don't agree with him he's not actually doing anything wrong, he's not hurting people yet the media have a pop every day. I seen one article begin the other day with.... nigel farage and gobby comedian russel brand. I thought well that's biased from the very sentence, fuck it.

 

I don't view welfare, social security as handouts. It's how we all contribute to our society to be civilized. Yes there's utter scum who abuse it but they should be the ones targeted not throw the baby out with the bath water and see good people struggle. why subsidize companies that make billions then demonize people who are just claiming something back to what they have put in when they are down on their luck. Not everybody is of equal intelligence and physical capabilities, everyone can't run their own business and be a huge success, wealth isn't the automatic result of hard work. Why would you want to live in a society that doesn't look after each other.

[Paul]

Brand response.

 

Hello Jo, thanks for your open letter, I do remember you from the melee outside RBS and firstly, I’d like to say sorry for your paella getting cold. It’s not nice to suffer because of actions that are nothing to do with you. I imagine the disabled people of our country who have been hit with £6bn of benefit cuts during the period that RBS received £46bn of public bail-out money feel similarly cheesed off.

 

I can’t apologise for the RBS lockdown though mate because, I don’t have the authority to close great big institutions – even ones found guilty of criminal activity.

 

The locking of the doors and your tarnished lunch came about as the result of orders from “the faceless bosses” upstairs after I wandered in on my own while we secretly filmed from across the street - then security swarmed, all the doors were locked and crowds gathered outside. I must say Jo; it felt like RBS had something terrible to hide. But more of that in a minute.

 

Neither was I there for publicity, although you could be forgiven for thinking that; for many years I have earned my money (and paid my taxes) by showing off. If I needed negative publicity (and, believe me, that’s all talking publicly about inequality can ever get you) I could get it by using the “N word” on telly, or putting a cat in a bin, or having a romantic liaison with the lad from TOWIE.

 

I was there with filmmaker Michael Winterbottom making a documentary about how the economic crises caused by the banking industry (RBS were found guilty of rigging Libor and the foreign exchange) has led to an economic attack on the most vulnerable people in society. I don’t want to undermine your personal inconvenience Jo, I’d be the first to admit that I’m often more vexed by little things; iPhone chargers continually changing makes me as angry as apartheid - so I can’t claim any personal moral high ground, but a chance to make a film that highlights how £80bn of austerity cuts were made, punishing society’s most vulnerable during the same period that bankers awarded themselves £81bn in bonuses was irresistible.

 

The mob upstairs at RBS who exiled you with your rapidly deteriorating lunch have had £4bn in bonuses since the crash. Do they deserve our money more than Britain’s disabled? Or Britain’s students who are now charged to learn? Is that fair?

 

They were some of the questions I was hoping to ask your boss – but we got no joy through the “proper channels” so we decided to just show up.

 

Not just to RBS, but also to Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays. I know that the regular folk on the floor aren’t guilty of this trick against ordinary people; they’re like anyone, trying to make ends meet. As you point out though, it’s hard to get to the men at the top so we were forced into door-stopping and inadvertent lunch spoiling. The good news is that this film and even this correspondence will reach hundreds of thousands of people and they’ll learn how they’re being conned by the financial industry and turned against one another - that’s got to be a good thing, even if it makes me look a bit of a twit in the process and the national dish of Spain is eaten sub-par.

 

Now I’ll be the first to admit your lunch has been an unwitting casualty in this well-intentioned quest but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to ask new RBS boss Ross McEwan if he thinks it’s right that he got a £3.2m “golden hello” when the RBS is sellotaped together with money that comes from everyone else’s taxes. I wonder what he would’ve said? Or whether it’s right that Fred “the shred” (he shredded evidence of impropriety) Goodwin gets to keep his £320k a year pension while disabled people have had their independent living fund scrapped.

 

And it’s not just RBS mate. Lloyds, Barclays, Citibank and HSBC have all been found guilty of market rigging and not one banker has been jailed.

 

Trillions of public money lost and stolen and no one prosecuted. Remember in the riots when disaffected youth nicked the odd bottle of water or a stray pair of trainers? Criminal, I agree. 1800 years worth of sentences were meted out in special courts, to make an example. Some crime doesn’t pay, but some crime definitely does. My school mate Leigh Pickett, a fireman is being told that he and his colleagues won’t be able to collect their pension until five years later than agreed, five more years of backbreaking, flame engulfed labour – why? Because of austerity.

Put simply Jo, the banks took the money, the people paid the price.

 

I was there to ask a few questions to the guilty parties, now I know that’s not you, you’re just a bloke trying to make a crust and evidently you like that crust warm - but again, it wasn’t me who locked the RBS, I just asked a few difficult questions and the place went nuts. The people that have inconvenienced homeowners, pensioners, the disabled and ordinary working Brits are the same ones who inconvenienced you that lunchtime. They’ve got a lot to hide, so they locked the doors. You said my “agro demeanor” reminded you of school. Your letter reminded me of school too, when the teacher would say, “because Russell’s been naughty, the whole class has to stay behind”.

 

I’d never knowingly keep a workingman from his dinner, it’s unacceptable and I do owe you an apology for being lairy.

 

So Jo, get in touch, I owe you an apology and I’d like to take you for a hot paella to make up for the one that went cold – though you could say that was actually the fault of the shady shysters who nicked the wedge and locked you out, I’d rather err on the side of caution. When I make a mistake I like to apolgise and put it right. Hopefully your bosses will do the same to the people of Britain.

Someone needs to get some memes on the go to publicise some of the headline issues he raises. We need an Internet version of Katharine Hamnett's 80s t-shirts: "£80bn in austerity cuts, £81bn in bankers' bonuses".

 

The whole "Labour caused the recession" line has been bought hook, line and sinker by almost everyone and is never challenged by any media outlet when trotted out by the Tories. It's not that I'm especially arsed about Labour getting unfairly tarred though; it's more these obscene ultra-capitalists getting away with all the loot at our expense when they caused the whole fucking mess.

[Major Tom]

I don't view welfare, social security as handouts. It's how we all contribute to our society to be civilized. Yes there's utter scum who abuse it but they should be the ones targeted not throw the baby out with the bath water and see good people struggle. why subsidize companies that make billions then demonize people who are just claiming something back to what they have put in when they are down on their luck. Not everybody is of equal intelligence and physical capabilities, everyone can't run their own business and be a huge success, wealth isn't the automatic result of hard work. Why would you want to live in a society that doesn't look after each other.

 

This is one thing I simply cannot grasp when it comes to the right wing, because it seems they do.

 

And I really resent them for it.