Russell Brand and Nigel Farage on Question Time tonight.

[Darren redstar]

As he had Johan Hari ghostwrite it for him, I wouldn't be surprised if he claimed direct consultancy from yahweh.

[Anonymous]

SocialistPunk wrote:

Given the fact that Brand has somewhere in the region of eight million followers on Twitter, can any of his detractors say with absolute confidence that he is a "flash in the pan"?  

Yes. How does a profusion of followers on Twitter supposedly signify anything of importance?  Katy Perry, undisputed "Queen of Twitter", far out-trumps her ex-husband with over 61 million 'followers'.  What conclusion should we draw from that except that there are a very large number of sad wannabes who not so secretly crave the life-style, notoriety and wealth of those that have made it into the limelight?   Even if Brand has any genuine socialist pretensions it's extremely unlikely (and unfortunate) that more than a mere handful of his 'followers' will share them.

[Anonymous]

Gnome,  the important point of followers on twiter is not that they agree with who they are following – many follow people they despise – the point is your followers see your tweets every day and may be influenced by what you say.  Which is why I propose the party twitter account should use the usual tecniques to increase its followers.I follow all the political parties and they recipricate by following me, the result is they see all my tweets. Not much but they will get to know us.To follow on twitter is not to agree. I have a guy following me who makes anti-Leninist/Stalinist replies and it gives me the chance of explaining our position. His followers will see my comments, which may include a link to the Socialist Standard. 

[jondwhite]

I have to agree with Gnome on this one.Rhetorical similarities is not the same as a sincere specific ideological commitment. So far I've not heard much that you wouldn't hear from the likes of Green left for example.Here's a question though, does/ should the party twitter account follow Russell Brand?Also what is an anti-Leninist Stalinist? A Stalinist who agrees with the Kautsky interpretation of Lenin and rejects it?

[ALB]

That doesn't make sense. Twenty or so years ago we did a survey of readers of the Socialist Standard. One of the facts revealed was that about 25% (one in 4) had voted Labour at the previous election.  So should we throw the message out with the medium and not bother to publish the Socialist Standard?

[Anonymous]

jondwhite wrote:

Here's a question though, does/ should the party twitter account follow Russell Brand?

 Do you mean we are not?   The Party's twitter accounts are not being used anywhere near their full capacity. This one has only had one tweet 5 years ago.   https://twitter.com/@worldsocialism If you follow brand and retweet a Brand quote the party's name and reply reaches 8 million.  

[Anonymous]

jondwhite wrote:

Also what is an anti-Leninist Stalinist? A Stalinist who agrees with the Kautsky interpretation of Lenin and rejects it?

 Here's an exaample:I tweeted the party's election video and a guy retweeted and said something along the lines that it would lead to the SU type dictatorship. It gave me the opportunity to inform and educate all his followers.     

[Anonymous]

ALB wrote:

 So should we throw the message out with the medium and not bother to publish the Socialist Standard?

 Preverbial nail on the head, ALB. Should we only sell to Socialists? Or should we swap publications?

[jondwhite]

I don't understand the leap from 'we shouldn't appeal to Russell Brand' to 'we shouldn't bother to publish the Standard'?

[alanjjohnstone]

Farage popularity at a new low but nothing to do with Brandhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farages-approval-rating-hits-record-low-as-popularity-suffers-in-wake-of-ukip-sex-scandal-9932931.html

[jondwhite]

Quote:

Mr Farage dismissed the apparent drop in his popularity, telling the Evening Standard it was “a volatile market”.“Ukip has had a pretty remarkable year,” he said. “If we are ending on a slightly softer note, it’s perhaps not surprising.”

Bet Farage gets more votes than Brand at the next election.

[SocialistPunk]

jondwhite wrote:

Quote:

Mr Farage dismissed the apparent drop in his popularity, telling the Evening Standard it was “a volatile market”.“Ukip has had a pretty remarkable year,” he said. “If we are ending on a slightly softer note, it’s perhaps not surprising.”

Bet Farage gets more votes than Brand at the next election.

Has Brand announced he is gonna stand in the next election?

[ALB]

jondwhite wrote:

Bet Farage gets more votes than Brand at the next election.

Not if Brand is able to count non-voters as his.

[Anonymous]

jondwhite wrote:

Bet Farage gets more votes than Brand at the next election.

That would not be a measure of what? 

[jondwhite]

Contesting elections is a major component of entering the field of political action determined to wage war against all other political parties and calling upon the members of the working class of this country to muster under its banner.

[Author]

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