Cities are cool, unpredictable and hard to control: Russell Brand should run for mayor | Simon Jenkins

They are our future states, electing dynamic leaders and welcoming new politics – as the win by New York's Bill de Blasio shows

If Russell Brand and Jeremy Paxman are so keen on a new politics, why don't they run for mayor? Mayors are direct democracy. They are cool. They do things and have to account for them. Mayoralty is the perfect outlet for a couple of old fogeys moaning on television that voting isn't what it used to be.

New York has now ended 20 years of Republican mayors and voted in B...