Last Wednesday in a Newsnight interview, Russell Brand told a bemused Jeremy Paxman: “David Cameron says profit is not a dirty word; I say profit is a filthy word, because wherever there is profit there is also deficit”.
He is absolutely right, of course. Back in 2007, you wouldn’t believe what Mr Brand was paid to present a television series called Russell Brand’s Ponderland. That was one stonking profit to Mr Brand, while the balancing deficit was incurred by me and hundreds of thousands of other disappointed viewers who switched off during the first episode. 25 wasted minutes stolen from our lives, never to be repaid. And not a single laugh in the bank.
"We take the A train," said our leader, squinting at the map, before exclaiming like Captain Mainwaring, “This way, chaps.”
We struggled to keep up. Ahead of him were two large signs – one with a large red A pointing right, the other left with a B indicating left.
“Look, there’s the train,” shouted the leader, confidently turning left.
I opened my mouth to protest, then saw that it was a double decker. None of us had ever been on a train with an upstairs. We were like excited schoolboys as we clambered aboard.
Deep down, maybe I’m an old hippy at heart.
Why else would I have felt such nostalgia last weekend when I read of the death of the Volkswagen campervan?
