Empires and revolutions

Empire is a BBC documentary about British colonies in Asia, Africa and America. 
Jeremy Paxman begins by telling us how it all began, then how it flourished, and finally, how it ended. He tries to understand the conquerors' perspective and the populations' perspective.

We can't deny our collective memory, it's not possible and certainly not healthy. As Jeremy Paxman says, not everything was bad. Well, he was very surprised when someone told him, in Egypt, that everything had been bad, except... perhaps... for sports...

Now, just watch this interview to an enthusiastic Russell Brand calling for a revolution. When we think of his performance as a comedian we don't take him seriously and surely wouldn't never expect to listen to these fundamental truths. But this is the beauty of life: the ironic surprises.