{"id":4328,"date":"2015-05-01T14:05:58","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T14:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/?p=4328"},"modified":"2015-05-01T14:58:28","modified_gmt":"2015-05-01T14:58:28","slug":"is-it-a-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/index.php\/is-it-a-joke\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it a joke ? Russell Brand\u2019s Miliband interview mocked"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Russell<\/a>Russell Brand doesn\u2019t vote, but his interview with opposition leader Ed Miliband has enlivened a staid, stage-managed British election campaign.
\nThe bawdy comedian turned anti-capitalist campaigner conducted the interview at his London loft and released an edited version Wednesday on his YouTube channel, which has more than 1 million subscribers.
\nIn the exchange, Miliband disputed the comedian\u2019s oft-repeated view that bankers hold more power than politicians and voting doesn\u2019t change anything.
\n\u201cProgress comes from people demanding change, politics responding, not all the way, and people pushing for that change to carry on,\u201d Miliband said. \u201cBut without politics, without government, the change doesn\u2019t happen.\u201d
\nBrand, a standup comic and former husband of singer Katy Perry, has forged a new career as political activist, campaigning for London tenants threatened by gentrification and writing the best-selling manifesto \u201cRevolution.\u201d He also appears in financial-crisis documentary \u201cThe Emperor\u2019s New Clothes,\u201d directed by Michael Winterbottom.
\nOpponents of Miliband\u2019s center-left Labour Party criticized his decision to be interviewed by Brand, who regularly disparages politicians and was once suspended by the BBC for leaving crude phone messages on an actor\u2019s answering machine.
\nPrime Minister David Cameron said \u201cRussell Brand\u2019s a joke. Ed Miliband, to hang out with Russell Brand, he\u2019s a joke.\u201d
\nOthers even criticized Miliband\u2019s accent in the interview, claiming he dropped consonants to sound more \u201cstreet\u201d than he really is.
\nBut Miliband said he wanted to reach the 7 million Britons who aren\u2019t registered to vote. The interview quickly became a social media talking point, with its own hashtag \u2014 #Milibrand.
\n\u201cThe crucial thing it seems to me, whatever people think of Russell Brand, is to engage with the people who are not engaged in this election,\u201d Miliband told supporters in London.
\nBritish voters go to the polls May 7. Polls suggest neither Cameron\u2019s Conservatives nor Miliband\u2019s Labour will win a majority of House of Commons seats.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\r\n