British commentator Joan Smith dismissed Brand as the "canny self-publicist" who indulges in "waffle about 'revolution'" as "one celebrity, I'm afraid, who's more idiot than savant." Former "Independent" editor Simon Kelner largely defended his appearance on "Newsnight": "It sounded rather attractive, even if it wasn't exactly worked through. But Brand's rhetorical flourishes made up for the lack of detail". A few months later, documentary film maker Adam Curtis, in an interview for the "New Humanist" magazine, questioned Brand's advocacy of not voting in elections: "Who benefits from that? The unelected powerful, because you’re emotionally and psychologically disempowering politicians. The only power politicians have is the collective confidence we have in them. The most radical thing is to recapture the idea you can change the world."