red pepper issue151 april 2007

contents

features

HOUSINGSPECIAL

Not dead yet 18Real estate investment trusts, ‘social home buy’ schemes, stock transfers, PFI and more government reviews than you can shake a brick at – the privatisation of public housing is taking a new twist. But tenants and communities are fighting back. By Stuart Hodkinson

Bringing it back home 20Working class housing is back on the political agenda, writes John Grayson . And to win back housing rights tenants can find important lessons in their history

Kelly’s housing disaster 22Government housing policy is obsessed with ‘ownership’ – probably because its supporters can afford it. Austin Mitchell MP wants a policy for those who can’t. It’s called council housing

Taking stock 24‘I’m givin’ ’em away!’ is not only the sort of street patter heard around Petticoat Lane market, in London’s east end. It’s also become the slogan for the council’s housing policy, write Naima Bouteldja and Robin Virgin

Demolition derby 26Sham consultations, compulsory purchases, demolitions and the displacement of communities. Call this a housing policy? Ciara Leeming reports on the Pathfinder initiative

Guerrilla Guides: Alternative home sweet home 28There are many ways to live and provide housing beyond the simple rent or buy culture that dominates our lives, write Paul Chatterton , Larch Maxey and Jenny Pickerill

Guilty my arse! 30Ricky Tomlinson is better known today as a film and TV actor, but in 1973 he was one of a number of building workers who were jailed for ‘conspiracy’. Ritchie Hunter reports

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regulars 04Letters Agony Subcommandauntie

06Activision Around the left in 30 days: UK & World Know Your Enemy: Get Orf Moi Land Natural Born Rebel: Josh Richards Asylum Watch: A Victory of Sorts Ethical Eats Temperature Gauge: A social engineer

12World Around The Left in 30 days: World Lebanon: At a Crossroads Italy: Italy’s Great Divide

38Infrared David Osler on Nick Cohen

review 32Fool for you Behind the April Fool’s Day pranks lies an ancient subversive tradition. Martin Wainwright writes

34Book reviews Arts reviews

39Rear view Slave Britain: the 21st century trade in human lives

coming soon Focus on global labour The new EU’s great moving right show Scotland goes to the polls Kyoto Protocol’s un-Clean Development Mechanism on the web Climate change bill: fresh hope or false dawn? Hilary Wainwright on networked politics Fausto Bertinotti on the Italian political crisis

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