Russell Brand is trending.

When you put it as baldly as that, it’s rather like writing ‘Jeffrey Bernard is unwell’. David Cameron is lying. Ed Miliband is drowning. John Ward is drinking. And so on.

Russell Brand is trending because he has a new book out: an 80-page pamphlet about what a crock capitalism is, and why socialism would be better. He’s obviously decided to fight fire with fire.

My own view would be that neoliberal globalist capitalism is a risible idea, and socialism has been proven at least eight times on every continent to be a disaster both in terms of economics and civil liberties. That an economy of mixed motives and mutual creativity – still capitalism, but with a human face – is by far the best outlook for humanity. But that Brand is right: as long as all the Parties fighting the 2015 election accept our current politico-economic model, there is no point in voting for any of the buggers…including Faisal Naraj and the UKippers.

I do like Russell Brand by the way. I’ll go further: I adore him when he’s being ironic, bombastic, sarcastic, and lots of other words ending in ic. He can destroy an opponent with one raised eyebrow and a withering glance into the middle distance. If you’ve never seen his msnbc interview, then you must: but stay close to a lavatory.

I’m also in awe of his ability to precis, simplify, debate on the hoof and take on the Big Beasts. ‘Brand destroyed Paxman’ wrote one hack of their interview, although that was a criminally misleading conclusion: Brand charmed and countered Paxo, but there was no destruction involved. When Jeremy said at one point – “You really are a hopelessly superficial young man” – he was still Paxo, the scourge of every smartarsed University Challenge contestant.

But Russell dear, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. And sad to relate, while his recent FT interview with Lucy Kellaway was exquisitely written up, I found myself largely disappointed in the content.

This wasn’t just Brand’s fault. Ms Kellaway has always seemed to me a jolly good egg, but she was just as constricted as her interviewee. It was, in the end, two people lobbing archaic eggs at each other from inside two equally arcane boxes.

On the one hand, we get the standard ‘I protest that capitalism has lifted billions from poverty in his lifetime’ from Lucy – which, up to a point, is true. And on the other, there is this tosh from Russell early on in the interview: “That’s a very capitalist and selfish attitude, Lucy, very individualistic”. This is Good from Greed versus 1984. It is like choosing the least horrible between Ribbentrop and Molotov.

The Nazi-Soviet Pact was over three quarters of a century ago. But still we are wading through the mud of decaying econo-political philosophy with lead boots on. We are caning Keynes, frying Friedman and masticating Marx, but we are not going anywhere new.

I blogged earlier today about what the realism of our situation in 2014 suggests. I wrote in that post:

‘Old ideology is a curse. Only by dumping old and discredited ideology will we ever get any new ideas. Old ideology killed the USSR, and it will just as surely kill the EU…Ideology produces oligarchy, and oligarchy produces policies designed purely to defend the oligarchy….The oligarchy – once it is shown to be the only choice on offer – then attracts money. When monied interests are themselves clinging to an unreal ideology, the only possible end-result is disaster. But while heading towards that disaster, the political oligarchy loses the plot, and starts working for the money….against The People’.

The sovereign individual bestowed with a sense of responsibility becomes the motivating creative force behind a community of manageable size.

This is where I think we will go. And to be boastful here, I think that is an infinitely better thought-through protector of real manufacturing output, real social values, real freedom, real Citizen Power and a really fulfilling working life than anything on offer from either Lucy Kellaway or Russell Brand.

But I will keep reading what they write and listening to what they say, because at least they think. And I would only suggest in conclusion that they read a definitive tract on social anthropology, while signing up to neuroscience websites. Because they really would learn something by doing so.

Earlier at the Slog: Tesco incurs wrath of ratings agencies.