Russell and co-host Gareth share their thoughts on King Charles' Coronation (and what those choristers singing to Camilla as she walked in?). From Belmarsh prison to Buckingham Palace, Russell reads out a letter Julian Assange wrote for His Majesty. Plus, Australia's renowned royal collector Jan Hugo joins us live as well as mainstream media reporter Hugh Riminton.WATCH the full episode on Rumble: https://bit.ly/3O4r3dbFor a bit more from us join our Stay Free Community here:https://russellbrand.locals.com/ Come to my festival COMMUNITY - https://www.russellbrand.com/community-2023/ NEW MERCH! https://stuff.russellbrand.com/
You are a wonder, you are awakening, you are therefore an awakening wonder.
Are you joining us on YouTube or have you joined us on Rumble yet?
That bastion, that citadel, that oasis of free speech.
There's a link in the description because we'll do the first 20 minutes over here where we're going to be talking about the coronation of King Charles.
King Charles.
Our King.
Did you do the pledge, Gal?
Of course I did, yeah.
I nearly done the pledge.
No, I didn't do the pledge.
I won't do the pledge.
I don't like doing stuff like that and on a Bible type things.
We could be talking about that and also when we flick over being exclusively on Rumble, right what You know, we're going to talk about Julian Assange, still in Belmarsh Prison, who's written a letter to King Charles talking about free speech.
And we're going to be talking about what five things are right wing now that surprise you.
It's astonishing just to see how the taxonomies around politics and the categorisation of politics has altered.
We'll be talking about pageantry and ceremony.
And I'm going to offer you, I'm going to be offering you a Foucaultian dialectic, girl.
I love it when that happens.
Very relatable.
I'm a man of people.
I'm a man, are you right?
I'm like you.
We're all like each other.
I'm going to offer you a Foucaultian dialectic.
Is all ceremony and pageantry about violence?
That might seem like a bit highfalutin at first, but what is it about really?
Did you notice how much military presence there were?
And really, I'm not even anti-royal.
I've got tea towels and paraphernalia at my house.
Royal family tea towels.
Of course I have.
My nan, she loved the Royals.
Biscuit tins with them on and everything.
Even that one.
and impoverish the people in that country. I'm not even anti-royal. I've got tea towels
and paraphernalia at my house, royal family tea towels. Of course I have. My nan, she
loved the royals. Biscuit tins with them on and everything.
Even that one. I've even got a mug with... Yeah, they're all on there.
So, like, it's not like I'm anti-royal, even though the mainstream media did a right, like, snidey little anti-royal story on me.
Because I said, why are we, we're like hostages, why are we still funding all this stuff?
Do you think it's right with all the energy crisis?
In fact, I'll offer you this question in the same way I did it before.
Do you think that we should be funding expensive pageantry, whether it's inaugural events or stuff like in your country, America, or stuff in our country, these kind of ceremonies, when there's an energy crisis, when there's a cost of living crisis, when there's a food crisis, or do you think that we could be redirecting these resources?
Sometimes I think this about socialism.
I think like people go, oh we can't be funding healthcare and hospitals and schools and whatnot, but of course you're subsidizing the military-industrial complex, Right now.
We're subsidising energy companies right now.
So we're not discussing whether or not there will be redistribution of wealth.
We're simply discussing where it will be redistributed to.
In favour of ordinary people or against the interests of ordinary people.
Go on.
This shows the mainstream are watching this show.
Oh, the mainstream are watching because when they go on the attack it means they're watching.
There you go.
Yeah, yeah, that's good because there's only one thing worse than being talked about and that's being told to Well, are these words sayable while we're on YouTube, Gareth?
I'm talking about the first story and the Camilla.
Wipe your V word.
Well, that's a medical word, isn't it?
Are you allowed to say that?
Sure.
Who knows?
In part of the ceremony, here's one of the things, like, remember, in 20 minutes this is going to get double clever.
Foucaultian dialectics, facts, figures, all that stuff.
But for now, we're going to be talking about, like, There's this weird bit of the ceremony.
If you've seen it yet, you've got... By the way, join us on... If you join us on Rumbles... On Rumbles!
Join us over on the Rumbles!
Give us a mumble before you take a tumble!
If you join us on Rumble, you can become a member of our locals community.
They're on there now chatting.
Lady Midnight, hello, hello.
Lady Grey, 312.
Like, you can join the conversation on there.
It's a beautiful little community of joyous, free-thinking radicals resolving their own issues there in conversation right now.
Tell us What do you think they're saying in this ceremony?
Is it wipe that...
V-word?
Sure.
It's a medical word.
Yeah.
It's a medical word.
If I write it down, will it be censored?
Because you have to be so careful on YouTube.
It's the opposite of a winky-woo.
Are they opposites though, Gal?
Well... No, I guess... Is a winky-woo and a V-word, are they opposites?
I guess not.
Are they?
I don't know if they are opposites.
Maybe you're accepting a V... Oh, you think this is better, do you?
Just writing it on a page?
Are they saying, wipe your that?
Right.
WIPE YOUR THAT!
WIPE YOUR THAT!
Have a look.
That couldn't sound any more like Wipe That Vagina Camilla.
I'm sorry I said it now.
Just because I said it.
Sorry, I was irresistible.
We knew it up and eventually.
Because he said it, they said it!
Wipe that vagina, Camilla!
They shouldn't have included that.
The big PR campaign for two years, trying to get everyone to forget about Princess Diana and Laika, and then the minute they get her marching down the aisle, Wipe that vagina, Camilla!
Oh, what was the point?
We paid a fortune to Freud PR, and if only we were seeing this!
They didn't do that in rehearsals!
Wait a minute, I don't remember that song!
What's really interesting, of course, about all ceremony and pageantry is that it's part of the installation and ongoing instantiation of power.
But we talk continually, don't we, on this channel about decentralization.
The decentralization of power is one of the things we continually talk about.
Now, the Royal Family are aware that they are not liked in the city of Liverpool.
That is why they used this song, famous and popular in Liverpool, the anthem, in case you're not a fan of British football, and if you're not, you should be, the anthem of the great football club of Liverpool, all respect to Everton fans, you're all great as far as I'm concerned, their anthem is You'll Never Walk Alone.
Now, part of the pageantry, part of the ceremony was they did a cover of You'll Never Walk Alone.
The people of Liverpool hate The British establishment, because of a disaster, Hillsborough, where 97 people were unlawfully killed, because they feel that they've been ostracised, alienated and ignored by the establishment.
And really, like many of the working communities of the North of England, they're aware of how the South and Southern-based establishments have rinsed them and turned them over.
And you know we're always arguing for decentralised power.
Would Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, even Birmingham, Nottingham, would these great cities be better with more autonomy, more devolution?
How do we benefit from centralisation?
You are a federal nation.
Would you like to see more federalised, localised power, more food grown in your own community, more democracy, more of your energy problems solved directly?
That that should be the function and the focus of an organised society?
Stay free with Russell Brand.
See it first on Rumble.
Donnie Mack goes, it would have been better if Charlie, the king, had put one of his fat sausage fingers in a roll and fed them to the rest of the royals so he can't get his hands on even more stolen gem gems from around the world.
Hashtag not my king.
That's Donnie Mack.
Think about that.
Well, I wonder if they'd have enjoyed that, the other Royals.
It'd be a bit where you're biting through bone.
Tonebird at Tonebird.
I didn't watch it.
I'm not a fan of pomp and circumstance.
That's what they reckon.
And then as a response to that bit where we played that Wipe Your Vagina, Camilla, or whatever that bit was, the blessed old bird goes, isn't it Regina?
Of course it is.
It is that.
And that takes Bless your bird, just take the fun out of it!
You'll take the fun out of it, Lotus Mother, I think you're fucking brilliant.
Thanks, mate.
Pride Feltz, Foltz, I didn't, excuse me, Pride Feltz, I didn't watch it either.
Just reading some of the ones in Locals that are going by right now.
You can be a member of our Locals community.
Before we go to our guest, who is literally, literally, Gareth, and you know I'm not one to exaggerate, am I?
Never.
She is the owner of the largest collection of royal memorabilia in Australia.
She's been brought over to our country by the British media and then they've left her in a porter cabin and made her miss the best bids!
But before that, a person who has got something to complain about when it comes to lockdowns, it's Julian Assange.
And I was going to read his letter because I forgot to read it earlier and it's important.
So I'm just going to read it.
I've got it.
I found it.
What's that?
Oh, there it is.
Oh no!
I want me pudding!
I want me pudding!
Right, that's from a sitcom called Bread.
To His Majesty King Charles III, on the coronation of my liege, I thought it only fit in to extend
a heartfelt invitation to you to commemorate this momentous occasion by visiting your very
own kingdom within a kingdom, His Majesty's prison, Belmarsh.
You will no doubt recall the wise words of a renowned playwright, "The quality of mercy
is not strained, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath."
I wonder what renowned playwright that is?
Ah, oh it's the Bard, it's Shakespeare.
Ah, but what would that Bard know of mercy faced with the reckoning at dawn of your historic reign?
After all, one can truly know the measure of a society by how it treats its prisoners, and your kingdom has surely excelled in that regard.
Your Majesty's prison, Belmarsh, is located at the prestigious address of One Western Way, London.
Just a short fox hunt from the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.
How delightful it must be to have such an esteemed establishment bear your name.
It's here that 687 of your loyal subjects are held, supporting the United Kingdom's record as the nation with the largest prison population in Western Europe.
As your noble government has recently declared, your kingdom is currently undergoing the biggest expansion of prison places in over a century, with its ambitious projections showing an increase of the prison population from 82,000 to 106,000 within the next four years.
Quite the legacy indeed.
Why are we not Wow.
Told this sort of thing about expanding the prison population.
Did you know that?
Let me know in the chat and the comments.
Does this happen in the UK and in the US?
We're doing it.
We're banging up our own.
We're banging up our own.
How can we have feelings of patriotism and celebration of the icons of our power and of our nation when people are treated so poorly?
I don't know.
That's a genuine question.
Let me know in the chat.
As a political prisoner held at your majesty's pleasure on behalf of an embarrassed foreign sovereign, I'm honored to reside within the walls of this world-class institution.
Truly your kingdom knows no bounds.
During your visit you will have the opportunity to feast upon the culinary delights prepared for your loyal subjects on a generous budget of two pounds per day.
Savor the blended tuna heads and the ubiquitous reconstituted forms that are purportedly made from chicken.
And worry not, for unlike lesser institutions such as Alcatraz or San Quentin, there is no communal dining in a mess hall.
A bellmarsh, prisoners dine alone in their cells, ensuring the utmost intimacy with meals.
This is pretty heavy guys, I'm sorry about this but, you know, what did we want?
I mean, this is a letter by a political prisoner to a newly anointed monarch.
And really, all of that pageantry and ceremony is the framing of power, the lack of dissent, the inability to offer dissenting opinions.
And again, let me reiterate, I don't think monarchy is a huge problem or the abolition of the monarchy the solution, but symbols of power and the inability to critique power is a significant part of the problem.
Beyond the gustatory pleasures, I can assure you that Belmarsh provides ample educational opportunities for your subjects, as Proverbs 22.6 has it, train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Observe the shuffling queues at the medicine hatch where inmates gather their prescriptions, not for daily use but for the horizon-expanding experience of a big day out all at once.
You will also have the opportunity to pay your respects to my late friend Manuel Santos, a gay man facing deportation to Bolsonaro's Brazil, who took his own life just eight yards from my cell using a crude rope fashioned from his bedsheets, his exquisite tenor voice now silenced forever.
Venture further into the depths of Belmarsh and you will find the most isolated place within its walls.
Healthcare, or Hellcare as its inhabitants lovingly call it.
Here you will marvel at sensible rules designed for everyone's safety such as the prohibition of chess whilst permitting the far less dangerous game of checkers.
Deep within Hellcare lies the most gloriously uplifting place in all Belmarsh, nay the whole of the United Kingdom.
The sublimely named Belmarsh End of Life Suite.
Listen closely and you may hear the prisoner's cries of brother I'm gonna die in here.
A testament to the quality of both life and death within your prison.
But fear not, for there is beauty to be found within these walls.
Feast your eyes upon the picturesque crows nesting in the razor wire, and the hundreds of hungry rats that call Belmarsh home.
And if you come in the spring, you may even catch a glimpse of the ducklings laid by the wayward mallards within the prison grounds.
But don't delay, for the ravenous rats ensure their lives are fleeting.
I implore you, King Charles, to visit His Majesty's prison, Belmarsh, for it is an honour befitting a king.
As you embark upon your reign, may you always remember the words of the King James Bible, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy, that's Matthew 5-7, and may mercy be the guiding light of your kingdom, both within and without the walls of Belmarsh, your most devoted subject to Julian Assange.
God.
Pretty heavy?
It's heavy.
The thing that you were talking about in the presentation earlier, you know, you have nothing against necessarily King Charles or any of the royal family, they're just people, they're just born into this in the same way that we're born into our lives.
Well Julian Assange wasn't born into that life, he was put into that life.
He was put away illegally for something that shouldn't be illegal, what he shouldn't be there for at all.
And so it's an interesting way to, you know, an interesting counterpoint to what we're kind of talking about here.
Yes, we're all put in various lives.
We're born into this.
You're either born to be a royal or you're born to be a normal peasant.
Or you're Julian Assange who does something which is legal and gets put away for the rest of his life.
It's cruel.
It's so cruel.
It's cruel and it's illegal and it's not unrelated to the ceremonies that we witness, whether it's Biden appearing in Poland to talk about Ukraine lit in blue and yellow as if war is a spectacle and entertainment.
The business of power is war.
The enactment of that power is violence.
It will always be violence, whether it's the violation of Assange's rights or the ongoing violence required to sustain the military-industrial complex.
But to make sure this is so, Julian Assange, may he be freed soon.
May he be freed soon.
May the people in positions of power see the negligence of their current stance and release Julian Assange, and you should participate in that.
Spurring that on in any way that you can, and we'll find ways that we can help Stella, his wife, and the leader of the campaign with that campaign.
But so we don't end, let's not end on too down of a note, because we're meant to have a bit of a laugh, aren't we, for God's sake?
Julian Assange wouldn't want us going down on a bummer.
No, I don't mean that in prison parlance, by the way.
I mean, he literally puts jokes in this letter.
There's a couple of jokes in there.
There was one about the rats and stuff.
That was a bit depressing.
Now, let's take a glance and in a minute we're going to go over to Locals.
You should join us in Locals where we can read many more of your... some people saying that that letter was heart-wrenching.
Yeah, it did wrench the old heart, didn't it, mate?
Let's have a look now.
Jan Hugo, the owner of Australia's largest collection of royal... excuse me... ...belches and memorabilia.
But I want you to pay attention to see how many things that are Diana-related you can see in the background because I'm going to be asking her about that in a second and I'll be talking to you in a minute.
Jan Hugo.
Let's have a look at her on Normal News now.
Jan Hugo's Royal Memorabilia Collection has long been her crowning achievement, but it's about to be topped.
We're heading off to the coronation.
Why is Jan using that picture of King Charles that's based on like a Ralph Steadman satire, the spitting image puppet version?
And what are these Diana and Charles slippers that you slide your tootsies into?
I'm going to ask Jan about those.
We're in the UK.
I heard it at eight o'clock in the morning.
Nine o'clock, I was on the phone to the travel agent.
By lunchtime, had the house sitters all ready, all the flights, all the accommodation, all done.
OK, let's have a look at Jan Hugo.
She's here in the UK right now.
All right, Jan.
Hi, Russell.
How are you?
I'm good, thanks, mate.
Have you been having a good time at the coronation?
Did you get enough access?
What's your best souvenir you've got so far?
Oh, look, we've had a ball.
Parked right at the gates of Buckingham Palace.
We saw the coach come out and Camilla was on our side so she waved and I've got a suitcase full of things to take home.
What do you like about the Royal Family, mate?
Look, it all started mainly with the history of it all and then of course Diana come along and we just adored Diana and she probably was the one that got me hooked.
Yeah, she got a lot of us hooked, did Diana.
I'm still not over that.
Mate, I want to ask you a serious question, I think.
Firstly, did the BBC bundle you off into a porter cabin and make you miss the best bits?
No, look, they took us over to the spot where we were supposed to stay for the interview.
It started to rain, so they then bundled us back to a cabin to keep us dry, and the cabin was closer to the gate.
Right, so you see enough royal stuff.
What about though, can I ask you this question?
And just tell me your honest answer, of course.
When you're Australian, Julian Assange is Australian, how do you feel about hearing that appeal by Julian Assange?
And do you ever think that while royalty is presented as kind of just a bit of a laugh and it's fun and it's glamorous and it's cool, that sometimes it is used to mask power and to make people look favourably upon powerful institutions that can do bad things?
I don't really know the answer to that.
I've never really thought about it too much politically like you have.
I've sort of learned a lot since I've turned you on at five o'clock.
I've learned an awful lot.
But no, I look at it as more as just being a collector, not so much on the political side of any of it.
Me and all, sometimes I have things, I can't think like this all the time, I go nuts.
Like when I'm trying to watch football or whatever, I try not to do my own head in by thinking about it too intensely, but I do get caught up in it.
Hey, what bit of Australia are you in?
We live in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales.
New South Wales.
What are them like, miners and stuff?
Yes, my husband works in the mines.
What type of mines, mate?
Coal mines?
Yeah, it's coal mining down there.
Now, I met this person, and this is not a joke, he was known by the name of Pearl Knob, and he'd done diving down there, and he said, with the native folks of Australia, the Aborigines, and it was their custom, if I may say, to keep a pearl somewhere within the private reproductive organ of the male, and he had one, and he showed me it.
Is this common practice in the nation of Australia, or did I mix with an oddball?
I think you may have.
I've never heard of that before.
That's the first time ever.
Right, I've been tricked.
I think so.
Very much like the one you did on the BBC.
I just took the BBC's notes and recreated them.
Word for word verbatim.
But on the BBC did they say, I bet, right, I can do the BBC interview, you think I'm not mainstream?
I'll do mainstream.
Right, on BBC I bet they said, did you like their outfits?
Did you like someone's hat or something like that?
And did you like Penny Mordant having that sword?
I didn't say that because I saw Jan on the BBC.
Alright, go on then Jan, what was their best, and who's better, me or them?
Say me.
Oh, definitely you.
What else would I say?
Pitch some of your TAT to Jan.
What TAT?
You've got some stuff in your house.
See if Jan might be interested in any of it.
It's not TAT.
Sorry, I didn't mean TAT.
They're collector's items.
Collectibles, sorry.
Some of my collectibles.
What, related to the rose?
Tell Jan some of your collectibles.
Your royal stuff.
Have you got your grandmother's biscuit tin?
Oh, I'll tell you, mate, I've got some good ones.
I've got some.
I've got some that they won't be making.
I've got Fergie and Andrew, like, cups and stuff like that.
I've got a few of those.
She's got it, she's got it.
I've got King Edward and that.
Cups, like going back a few years.
I've got plenty of those too.
Bloody hell, go on, keep going.
I'm not going to get in a Labourabilia contest.
You said you'd win in a contest.
You told me earlier you'd win in a contest with Jan.
You've sent me into a shit fight armed with a fart, my man.
And that doesn't surprise me, the way you spend your barbecue Fridays.
What about the Andrew thing you've got?
Go on.
All right, I did not think that some of my... All right, I had a Royal Dorton Charles and Die.
Like, little blue plate like that.
Yeah.
Got them?
Got plenty of Charles and Diana.
There's a whole room full of Diana and Charles.
Yeah, because you like her better, let's face it.
Don't you?
Own up.
I did, yes.
Until I met Camilla.
And I will say she's a lovely person.
Don't be swayed!
For God's sake, Jan!
No, she's really, really nice.
No, she's cool.
She's nice.
She's a human being.
I've got mates that are mates with her.
And they say she's well nice.
Of course she is.
She's a human being.
She's a child of God.
I love all of God's children.
What's your best bit of memorabilia, both from an expense perspective and from just your favourite, you know?
Oh, gee.
There's so many pieces that I love.
You know, there's so many Royal Dawg figurines.
I want you to imagine there's a fire.
Not in Australia, because I know that's a terrible evocative issue for the Australians, because you have them too bloody often, frankly.
While you're here in England, you've brought your cherished pieces here.
There's a fire and it's the fault of, like, just, I don't know, a negligent Gas Board official probably working for a terrorist organisation.
We don't need the backstory of the fire.
In the fire, you have to grab your most cherished piece.
You've only time for one.
Jan, I urge you, with God as my witness, what is it?
Look, I don't know.
We had a fire probably two years ago.
It was five houses away.
The fire brigade said, quick, get in there, get ready to pack up in case you've got to get out.
And I ran inside and took one look and threw my arms up and went, oh my God, I don't know where to start.
Where did you start?
I can't even answer.
We left a lot of it.
You're a nihilist.
Jan, you've got to pick one.
Look, I saw up on there some plates of Diana.
Why do you use that Prince Charles head that's a satire of him?
That's a mask that I got from England last time we were here.
It's just put over a mannequin to make it look like Charles.
Charles, did you?
No, it's not Charles.
I'm just saying it's spoofing him.
Oh, right.
It's spoofing him.
It sounded like you were saying you thought it was Charles.
I love you, Jan.
Thanks, mate.
Thanks for coming on and thanks for spending a bit of time helping us get over the horrible tragedy of Julian Assange's illegal imprisonment with a bit of lightness and a bit of fun.
OK.
Thanks for having us on.
See you later, Jan.
Bye bye, mate.
Take care.
Bye.
See you later.
Bye bye.
I liked Jan, didn't you?
She's absolutely adorable.
Oh, don't go straight to the sex dolls.
Who's done that in the gallery?
They've gone straight to the sex dolls!
For God's sake, shall we go look?
We better go over to locals, right?
Now, if you're watching us on Rumble now, go on to locals.
It's still free, it's just you're a member of a community where we get... I don't know what the advantage of it is.
We can give you paid content.
I think that's the point of it, innit?
Why are you looking at me like that for?
No, it was just, it was a very entertaining... About Jan?
Yeah, Jan.
This is about Jan!
You and Jan.
I thought that's probably the last thing she does before she leaves this country.
She's had a lovely time.
Why did I ask her about Julian Assange and the sex dolls?
GAL!
I went mad!
Yeah, a little bit.
Poor Jan.
She might as well have said, we've got RFK on the show.
Tamara, have you got any questions for him?
The RFK's coming on this week.
When is RFK coming on?
Tomorrow.
We've got RFK tomorrow.
They're asking in the chat.
Pride Faults.
Mr. Bean's sex toy.
I can't even think of a context for that.
Tomorrow on Locals.
That's why to be on Locals.
Check this.
If you're a member of the Locals community, not only can you join us now for additional chat with someone, another Australian, Hugh Rimmington from 10 First News.
We're going to talk about mainstream media.
Don't grin, gal.
I'm trying my hardest here.
Right.
You can also join the RFK chat live.
That means Soobs will have to be with me to pass on your questions.
Proper questions.
Don't be silly.
Lots of crap.
He, Gareth Roy, my sinecure and on-screen assistant, comes out with mad questions where I'm boasting about my Andrew Tupperware, my Prince Andrew ashtray, for God's sake.
Shouldn't be using an ashtray.
You couldn't smoke if you're underage.
Hey, come on.
Listen, why don't you press the red button on your screen to join us on Locals Baby.
On tomorrow's show, we're doing a deep presentation on Ukraine and the facts behind the US government's reasons for increased military aid.
Oh, is that those war games?
Oh, that war games one's well funny.
Also, we've got Professor Max Abrams, an international security expert, talking about the Kremlin drone attack.
But also, we're going to be quite light-hearted.
False flag or not?
Is it a false flag?
Let me know in the chat.
You should have asked Jan while she was on.
Ask Jan.
Jan, the Kremlin attack, was it a false flag?
I don't know about that, mate.
I'm just much more interested in collecting stuff for a bit of light-hearted fun.
Why not?
It's not like you have to spend all your own time banging your head against the wall.
No.
Is it?
Is it?
You don't actually have to.
All right, join us over on Locals.
Get over there now.
Press the red button on your screen.
Stay free with Russell Brand.
See it first on Rumble.
You are the hardcore.
You are my cherished ones.
You will be on the arc.
You on the great rapture, on the great day.
It is you that will join me.
New members who have joined us over on Locals include Fifi69.
Saucy.
Luvdypepsiman.
Saucy.
Lofty Pepsi man!
You've all got silly na- Leslie Dunbar, bit more like it.
GG Penn.
Wooly socks.
All of you are sacred.
Why don't you guys talk on the comments, you know?
And tomorrow you can join us.
Imagine this, tomorrow you lot will be joining us for the RFK chat.
Why did you push me into all of that silliness with Jan Hugo?
Sorry about that.
I just, I know that you've got some, you know, nicknames.
Did you see it on the shelf when you were around watching the football?
Yeah, that's right.
I saw them on the shelf.
I was surprised by how many there were, actually.
A lot of them are my wife's!
Well, I know that she's, yeah, she's into it, isn't she?
She likes the world.
She went to school with Beatrice and Eugenie.
Out of the Royal Family, didn't she?
She got goldfish off Prince Di.
Wow.
Imagine.
God.
It's good, isn't it?
Yeah.
How long did it live?
Not long.
Right.
Not long.
Does it die in suspicious circumstances?
Very suspicious.
It was being chased by a little paparazzi goldfish through a tunnel and it turned out that there was this big old trout going... Oh, that sounds weird.
All right, let's stop that joke immediately.
Joining us now from the mainstream media Oh, oh, it's like there's someone from 10 News First in Australia.
We invite Hugh Remington on in the spirit of grace and respect, but first one of Jack's crap graphics.
Let's have a look.
Crap, flat, terrible.
Let's have a look at Hugh.
Were you offended by that as we were?
I was, yes.
I was.
Because it's like saying that you're like Ron Burgundy and Ron Burgundy is a figure of ridicule.
That's no way to treat a guest.
Do you think that we should somehow give Jack an official warning, dock 10% of his wages or something less formal and more erotic?
10% of his wages towards something I think more erotic might be useful.
We need to spice this place up, maybe with those sex dolls of the royal.
I mean, that's literal objectification, isn't it?
You couldn't have a more literal objectification than making a sex object using someone's foot.
That shouldn't be allowed, does it?
No, I've gone off on them now.
I've got buyer's regret.
Mate, come on then, what was it like being involved right there in the thick of it?
Did you get any good interviews or anything like that, or was it difficult?
I was out with the punters out in the rain, chatting to people, and they were fun.
They were great.
Spirit was good.
People are nice.
I had to go back later on and watch the thing because I couldn't watch it on the screen.
There were too many umbrellas in the way.
And I loved it.
The bracelet of sincerity.
Oh, heaven.
I mean, I haven't had that much fun since Monty Python was at its peak, really.
Right.
You did this in your report because we watched your report and you attacked our precious country and our mindless pageantry.
Hugh, what is it in particular?
Oh yeah, let's have a look.
Hugh, we're going to show you, I would say, attacking the mother country.
Here you are doing it.
We see these subtle digs, Hugh.
We see them.
Let's look at Hugh doing his report.
Now, King Charles What do you mean issues?
So the realm is shrinking.
So there's 15 countries in the world of which he's head of state, including Australia, Canada and of course the United Kingdom.
More than half of those countries are in the Caribbean, broadly defined, and they're bailing out.
Barbados is gone, Jamaica is going to hold a referendum next year, a whole bunch of other countries, at least three others are current.
slavery issues have raised their head, reparation demands, so whatever else is
going on with Charles and however much people might or might not love him, he is
going, he's destined, his historical place is destined to manage a decline in the
realm and that seems to be unavoidable so you may as well report it.
You're right about that.
We talk a lot about how there are almost unconscious archetypal symbols pushing through, like Joe Biden presiding over decline.
And now, as you say, Charles reigning over decline, some sort of inevitability to his tenure being one of, I suppose, as you say, managed decline and deterioration.
Now, what's wrong with British scampi?
Look, I love London.
I love the UK.
I lived here years ago, and I love it.
But, by heaven, this is one of the mysteries.
The mystery between, say, Britain and France is summed up in the scampi.
Because it's the same bloody thing in France, but they call it le langoustine.
You'll apologize for my thing.
It's the same thing.
You go to France and you eat it.
It's delicious.
It's fragrant.
It's just sort of flash fried with a little bit of garlic.
And the Brits, by heaven.
Buried in breadcrumbs.
Deep fried.
Piece of mush.
Wrapped in cardboard.
Get it together, guys!
I'm still a bit angry about when Bouncer had to choose between Mike and Nell Mangle.
I'm a bit angry about it!
See, that's your culture.
How does it feel when I attack your culture?
That's the best part, is it?
Yeah.
Lady Midnight on our chat, mate, says, what do you think about Julian Assange and don't your Prime Minister think he should be pardoned?
Yeah, I'm glad you read out that letter from Julian Assange.
I thought what really struck me about that is that he's written a letter to the King and in no part in that at all does he actually petition for his own release.
He doesn't mention his own circumstances.
He describes Belmarsh and invites him to come to visit at Belmarsh.
But here's a guy who's been in one form or another, had his liberty constrained now for so many years, with the prospect of it going longer, that the Australian Prime Minister is on the record as saying enough is enough.
This has got to be brought to a conclusion.
He hasn't said whether he raised that with Rishi Sunak when he met him a couple of days ago at No.
10 Downing Street.
I suspect he didn't, because ultimately Britain is somewhat constrained by the legal reality of extradition treaties and so on.
It's really for the United States, but he's raised it with Biden as well, and he wants it brought to an end.
But it was fascinating to me that the tone in that letter was wry, sardonic, eloquent, biblical referencing, but not self-pitying.
God, yeah, that's some really good analysis, actually, mate.
You should do this stuff for a living.
Now, hey, Hugh, on the Australian mainstream media, do people talk about Julian Assange, or is it somehow censored by default, if not design, in your country as it is in ours and in the US?
So there's two things about it.
One is that it's been going on for so long that it naturally drifts off front pages.
The other thing is that he remains a controversial figure in Australia as elsewhere.
You know, a lot of people saw that, felt that he was giving comfort to enemies.
In the time when we were, you know, in shooting wars in Iraq and so on.
But I think the tide has definitely shifted to the point where people just think it's gone on too long.
And also people don't like the American malevolence in the way in which they do this legal pursuit.
They said that he wouldn't be arrested and sent over.
He was straight away.
Assange was right in his fears about that.
And also just the notion that he might I really liked your analysis of that and that you pointed to Julian Assange's lack of self-pity, the erudition in his references and the lack of clear petition.
It's just a shame that we live in a world where that won't be picked up.
Wouldn't it be extraordinary if Charles actually went, you know what, I should actually go and visit him.
Even someone with apparent and evident power only has the power that that role affords and really that is the power to sustain itself and form alliances with other systems of dominion rather than to challenge that hegemony in any way at all.
Even a simple symbolic act like visiting a political prisoner would be practically impossible, wouldn't it?
Actually, you make a really great point because I love it.
You interrogate Powell.
That's what you do.
He has no power in a legal sense to intervene in Assange and bust him out of jail.
That's not going to happen.
But you do raise the point there.
It hadn't actually occurred to me.
What if he did go and visit the jail?
What if he did say, you know what?
It is His Majesty's prison.
I'm going to go and I'll look at the conditions there.
I'll wander around.
And while I'm here, I'll pop into Assange and just You know, play a game of chess with them.
Checkers, I'm sorry, for a few minutes.
And just let that be seen would actually be soft power of extraordinary importance.
It'd be lovely to see that happen.
Oh, Hugh, thanks a lot, mate.
When I'm in Australia and you're presumably back there, unless you're reporting wryly on more of our institutions, I'll be happy to provide an interview if such a thing would be of interest to you in whatever province you find yourself in.
And I shall bring you some fine scampi.
I'll stuff my pockets with crustaceans before I get on the plane.
48 hours scampi.
I'll sit on the beach or in Sydney Harbour, mate, with some fine Australian seafood and You'll love it.
They're always attacking us.
They attack us through food.
They attack us through culture.
Hugh, thank you so much.
That's a fantastic conversation, mate.
Nice one, mate.
Hugh Rimmington is the national affairs editor and reporter for 10 News First Australia.
And actually, he's well clever, wasn't he?
Let's face it, he handled that really well.
Really did.
Showed quite a few signs of spontaneity and intuitive intelligence with the chess.
Nice.
Very nice.
Well delivered.
Well delivered.
Can't argue with that.
A lot of people that we get from the mainstream media, they're all right, aren't they?
Yeah, it turns out we're wrong about them.
We're the issue.
We're the bloody problem.
It's us.
What the hell's going on?
All right, join us tomorrow, you lot, and thank you, team.
Look at them in there.
Leon heading up the whole bloody operation, pretending not to be there, hiding his face.
Jamie in the corner.
What a ridiculous operation!
But still, too late now.
Isn't it?
We're in it for another three years, I think.
There you go!
We'll have to make it work.
We'll have to manage the schedule.
I don't like it, but I'll have to live with it.
Okay, join us tomorrow.
Not for more of the same, but for more of the different.
