by Jonathan Todd
It would take a heart of stone to be unmoved by some of the songs that Morrissey has sung. It’s also necessary to be drunk on this emotion to not cringe at some of the daft things he’s said. Whether his friend, Russell Brand, has reached equivalent comedic heights to those scaled in musical form by Morrissey is debateable. But I’ve enjoyed all the Brand gigs that I’ve been to.
When Brand outraged America by calling George W Bush “that retard and cowboy fella”, I appreciated the joke on Uncut. When his phone jinks with Jonathan Ross went too far, I bought tickets for his next show. When he went to the Home Affairs Select Committee, I thought he spoke powerfully and perceptively about addiction.
But – Morrissey pun alert – that bloke isn’t funny anymore. He is a comedian who seems no longer able or willing to be so. While others, such as Mark Thomas, have made the dreary journey from a comedian with political content to an unfunny activist, Brand is a pied piper with wackier ideas and more followers. He’s telling them to not vote, that no established politicians or parties care about them, and that there is a grand collusion between this politics and the media and business – to such an extent that we should keep an open mind about what really happened on 11 September 2001.
Of course, politics has its problems – Adam Lent of the RSA gives a good account of them. But is every single member of the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties – hundreds of thousands of people – part of an establishment stitch-up? Or are they, while divided on what this constitutes and how it might be achieved, all united in wanting the best for UK and the wider world? In this sense, are they really any different from the Occupy protestors that Brand applauds?
As for business, does anyone really think that markets cannot fail and that business is always beyond reproach? Even – as it backs TUC calls for pay rises – the Institute of Directors?
