EDITORs Michael Calderbank,James O’Nions, Hilary Wainwright ROaDRunnER Steve Platt PRODuCTIOn EDITOR Tom Walker DEsIGn & PRODuCTIOn Tom Lynton www.tomlynton.com

POLITICaL CORREsPOnDEnT Alex Nunns COmmIssIOnInG EDITOR Lena de Casparis EnvIROnmEnT EDITOR Oscar Reyes EuROPE CORREsPOnDEnT Leigh Phillips LaTIn amERICa EDITOR Pablo Navarrete aCTIvIsIOn EDITOR Andrea D’Cruz WEBsITE EDITOR Fiona Osler website@redpepper.org.uk

WRITERs KevinBlowe,NaimiBouteldja,NickBuxton, Matthew Carr, Katie Coyne, Mihail Dafydd Evans, Nick Dearden, Andrea D’Cruz, Kate Ferguson, Gemma Galdon Clavell, Jan Goodey, Ben Hayes, Keith Hayman, Stuart Hodkinson, Solomon Hughes, Zoe Jewell, Mathew Little, Vittorio Longhi, Enzo Mangini, Siobhan McQuirk, Roz Paterson, Laurie Penny, Jon Robins, Angela Saini, David Sambrook, Chris Sands, Sally Tallant, Graham Usher, Derek Wall, Jonathon Wright TRansLaTORs Una Hamilton,Pablo Navarrete, Ilaria Perlini PICTuRE REsEaRCH Louise Emily Thomas vIsuaLs Andrzej Krauze,Martin Rowson, Tim Sanders PuBLIsHER Fiona Osler fiona@redpepper.org.uk

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03EditorialHilaryWainWrigHt

06lEttErsNoticEboard

08PlattitudEsTheworldaccording to Steve Platt

36MikE MarqusEE The left lacuna

38dEMocracy Now The erosion of the universal franchise

44 48 49 66

asyluM watch Trapped waiting kNow your ENEMy International money fiends tEMPEraturE gaugE Mending the Pacha booktoPia UrSUla OWen

54iN PicturEs: uNioN black amanda SebeStyen tours an exciting spring for black British art

57is art falliNg off a cliff? PaUl elSam looks at The House, an

‘artwork’on the edge

58oNE Night iN thE North 20 years on, JOHn rObb remembers the Stone Roses

62bookrEviEws

Red Pepper is a member of INK, the independent News Collective, trade association of the UK alternative press www.ink.uk.com

Red Pepper is published by Socialist Newspaper (Publications) Ltd (Reg. No. 02644973, VAT No. 507 5026 20) and printed by Cambrian Printers Ltd, Aberystwyth. Distribution: COMAG Specialist Division, Central Way, Feltham, Middx TW14 0RX (020 8844 1000) and Central Books, 99 Wallis Road, London E9 5LN (020 8986 4854). Red Pepper accepts no responsibility for unsolicited material. Only submissions with SAEs will be returned. © Socialist Newspaper (Publications) Ltd 2010. All rights reserved ISSN 1353-7024.

Red Pepper’s cover is FSC certified stock and paper stock comes from sustainable forestry. All inks are soya oil based and print cartridges recycled.

Red Pepper’s Grassroots Guide to the election and the ‘absent agenda’ will be updated on the web all the way until May. Why not contribute yourself?

04 red pepper apr | may 2010

Red Pepper is on Twitter as ‘RedPeppermag’ 10 chaNgE wE caN’t bEliEv E iN Jeremy Hardy isn’t at all excited aboutpollingday the absent aGenda

RedPepperlooksattheissuesthebigparties won’t be talking about in the election...

28 rUtH liSter examines inequality and the state’s role

40 thE futurE of MoNEy mary mellOr argues for public control of the money system

Grassroots Guide to the election

12 alex nUnnS surveys the lay of the land, and we interview independent candidate david Henry

16 andrea d’CrUz takes a look at left wing Respect and Green candidates

18 JOnatHan HOUnSdale and tOm WalKer meet the BNP’s voters in Stoke

20 tHOmaS rainSbOrOUgH finds out who’s in line for the safest seats

22 rOz PaterSOn says Scotland is shifting left

50grEEcE: cracks iN thE systEM

PavlOS KlavdianOS says Greece’s spending squeeze is reaching its political limits

29 31 32

gail Cartmail backs the Robin Hood Tax JOn rObinS looks at legal aid, arguing for ‘access to justice’ raHila gUPta puts the economic case for open borders anna COOte argues we should all work a 21-hour week

33 34 rebeCCa JOHnSOn on ending the UK’snuclearaddiction,andCyntHia

COCKbUrn and Sian JOneS on the anti-nuclear blockade at Aldermaston

52

aNgola: coNtracts to corruPt JUStin PearCe speaks to campaigning journalist Rafael Marques

Plus

45bOb COlenUtt on the new politics of community action

24doN’t votE labour? miKe manSfield and meliSSa benn discuss who the left should vote for

Cover image by CliffOrd Singer, creator of the MyDavid Cameron.com website red pepper apr | may 2010 05