A Bit of Fry and Laurie - Bank Loan

[j0shissocoollike]

I'm a big fan of Fry and Laurie (you have must mad not to be) but their politics are really rather left wing. I've noticed that in quite a few of their sketches. Still, it's all funny, of course!

[boosh90]

up a gumtree without a paddle! :)

[Masterbrax1]

Problim?

[iamthechampofme]

problem?

[msunicorn21]

Excellent.

[AnthonyPetros]

Fantastic scene.

[ConfusedDavid]

red tape, yes...

[BelatedCommiseration]

Further to my comment to Donmaker I would say that I myself am not particularly advocating communism and complete collective ownership. But there must be some accountability. Blind self interest and its associated public praise and elevation should not be continued, and corporations must be made more accountable to the public interest. The trouble with this is the world is a big place, and the only way to do this is if the world co-operates, otherwise companies will just move but not change.

[Zorg2006]

@BelatedCommiseration Great stuff.

[WSWarthog]

@BelatedCommiseration

How about making government accountable to the public interest?

[BelatedCommiseration]

@WSWarthog Hmmm...smacks suspiciously of democracy to me my friend, rather than the pleasing oligarchy we have going at the moment which has obviously done so much to keep Britain great. Whilst I don't believe that AV would have made any radical change at least it may have been a beginning and make politicians more accountable to grass roots feeling. The only way to get government accountable is if you completely divorce it from markets and dedicate it to the public.

[drtoonie]

@BelatedCommiseration

I'm not complaining, since this is probably the most intelligent youtube debate I've ever seen, it still never ceases to amaze me that a humorous video about a guy getting a bank loan for his drug company resulted in a (surprisingly civilized) discussion on the pros and cons of various political systems.

I can only assume it's because Stephen Fry was in it. Everything he touches becomes classy, even youtube commenters.

[BelatedCommiseration]

@drtoonie Its true. The mighty hand of Mr Fry is felt in all things. Though I would say that I am a pretty classy guy solo, whether this facet of my personality is inextricably linked with Stephen Fry's influence or whether its just because great minds think alike is debatable (;

[Amaranthus616]

@BelatedCommiseration not all great minds think alike all the time....which i think is a good thing, breeds new ideas. but umm..on topic though, interesting discussion you guys had there anyways heh

[BelatedCommiseration]

Further to my comment to Donmaker I would say that I myself am not particularly advocating communism and complete collective ownership. But there must be some accountability. Blind self interest and its associated public praise and elevation should not be continued, and corporations must be made more accountable to the public interest. The trouble with this is the world is a big place, and the only way to do this is if the world co-operates, otherwise companies will just move but not change.

[DonMeaker]

Marx was many things, but he wasn't an economist. His imagination failed. He extrapolated from the southern slave plantation and the beginnings of industrialization to his notion of a community of happy slaves, glad to work for the vanguard of the proletariat, who magically ended up in 'the big house' running everything. And of course they would say that it was for the common good that they ate the best food, wore the best clothes, and spend their time telling people what to do...

[WSWarthog]

@DonMeaker

The Vanguard was Lenin's idea, not Marx's. Marx believed the state would wither away after the proletariat gained ownership of the means of production.

[DonMeaker]

@WSWarthog Yes, Marx suggested that Communism would occur first in the most industrialized nations, rather than a backward state like Russia.

[Lightrider4444]

The monetary system is self destructive and leads to negative tendencies. There is no morality, right or wrong, good or evil in the monetary system. There is only profitable or unprofitable. We need to transition to a resource based economy if we have any chance of surviving as a species.

[DonMeaker]

@Lightrider4444 Money is wonderfully moral. If you have more money than character, you will lose your money. If you have more character than money, you will make money. Of course that offends those of low character, so they go into politics to coerce money out of the productive people.

[Lightrider4444]

@DonMeaker That is not a refutation to my statement. Money is an idea that we have invented and it is currently controlled by a banking cartel that is self serving and corrupt. No amount of personal character can overcome the inequity of our financial system if we continue to choose to use it.

[BelatedCommiseration]

The sad fact is that not a lot of people have grown up yet. Praise of and adherance to market forces with no control whatsoever is the reason why we are in the current financial state we're in now! Someone should have broken the news to Tony Blair early on rather than have him running around at christmas believing in market forces and WMD's. The sad fact is, after a purely keynesian solution to the pitiable economic solution (which has worked to a degree) I sense a shift back emerging....

[DonMeaker]

@BelatedCommiseration The problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other people's money.

[BelatedCommiseration]

@DonMeaker The whole point is there should be no personal ownership. Property and money is owned by the community (or in Marxian terms the proletariat, but that's a different story). Thereby personal gain is removed from the classical economic equation and community is king. Of course this is where the system potentially falls down as, without initiative, how does money circulate? The key, as in everything, is in peoples attitudes. Move away from blind self interest and towards social interest.

[DonMeaker]

@BelatedCommiseration You say that so confidently. So, it it is true, then start a community. Attract people to it. Make what you want. Share what you want. Be free of the horrible cartel. Humanity has tried it in the past, and it only attracts the lazy ones, the unproductive ones. Eventually the productive get tired of having their work stolen,and they leave. Then the rest starve.

s

[BelatedCommiseration]

@DonMeaker Robert Owen tried it to remarkable success in New Lanark, so much so that royalty from foreign countries and the celebrities of the day came to marvel at it as a new dawn. It is true I grant that it was somewhat of an abberation in terms of history, although a pleasing one. Essentially the Japanese have broadly the same idea in a benign corporate culture backing social care. The corporation's money backed Owen and his community until greed took over, despite the fact it was profitable

[DonMeaker]

@BelatedCommiseration So, go ahead, start it, and when you are starving, naked, and alone, I will laugh at you.

[BelatedCommiseration]

@DonMeaker No need to get offensive my good man. I was just having an academic discussion with you. Suck yourself unto infinity on the dry teat of capitalism and pull the forelock to the bankers and assorted parasites who conform to an imagined idea you may harbour as some kind of personal wish fufillment for all I care. Also remember that personal insults in debates are for those who cannot back arguements with logic and reason and is a recourse for weak minds.

[gbushimprov]

The sad fact is, the tories they were taking the piss out of still believe in it.

[GarnetBering93]

That's Terry after he was "ffired"!

[matttyrermusic]

I miss the days when banks offered you coffee... having missed them completely...

[DonMeaker]

@matttyrermusic I guess you never invested enough money in your bank. If you walk in with a sizable sum to invest, you will get coffee, and taken out to dinner too.

[maricimo]

God I love Hugh Laurie.

It's scary that he looks like my Dad in this, when my Dad was younger -facepalm- it's the moustache.

[fritspas]

A banker raising the question of morality..

[DeathSlayer2]

because this is probably all one take and he stuttered for a split second.

How did you even notice that?

[Colourbend]

I don't see what you're talking about hog

[leapoffaith20]

Laurie is playing the typical 80s wanker.

Amazingly done.

[andrewjosephsmith]

@leapoffaith20 I had a boss like that... down to the moustache :P

[hellkhat]

the market is for sure there... lol

[insomniaccinque]

freakin hilarious! XD

[xxpurpleCHROMExx]

lol!! was laurie saying he still believed in father christmas at the end? or market forces? cuz he looked so much like a shocked child, i thought perhaps it was the father christmas thing....

[lucke001]

laurie looks nice with a moustache

[pppdc55]

growing up, eh

[merdufer]

haha the ultimate anti-captalist sketch. even better than "the privitization of the police force".

[drattigan91]

It's not better than "Privatization of the Police Force" but still a perfect critique of Thatcherite economics.

[merdufer]

i meant to say it's more direct

[drattigan91]

Maybe, you can hardly say that the Privatization of the Police Force was a veiled attack. I mean, it had been done in New Zealand (with predictably dire results) at about the same time.

[glebber]

the only problem w/ this sketch is... heroin is already a brand name.

:[ i'm a dork.

[hypocrita]

LOL!! indeed!

now that you said i remembered that it is already a brand mark of bayer!

[NivMizzet89]

he was still thinking of brand names ;)

[68david09]

yeah! market forces suck.

[MarkJConstable]

- Problem?

- Possibly, possibly...

[pokerjoe09]

fabulous series

[cognatoman]

Not working. :(

[SomeguyX]

Same here

[LilKimHottie69]

...and here

[Laurie76K]

and here

[wolfxbloed]

and here

[THGhost]

and here also

[wblstudios]

But not here.

[CassisLips]

wow, the matrix creators got their inspiration here ;-)

[IndigoCrayon]

I love the ending part. xD

[BelatedCommiseration]

I love the crazy monatarist sketches that Fry and Laurie used to do in the first two seasons. Right on the button for the times they were in and consequently, given New Labours distinct privitisation fetish, still applicable to us today in terms of humour. As, disappointingly, many members of our current Government still havent grown out of the myth of market forces...

[electricrussell]

Yay, socialist Stephen!

[Opullal]

Funny, love these two.

[Laurashmlaura]

Thanks, this is great.