EDITORs Michael Calderbank,James O’Nions, Hilary Wainwright sTIll wEaRIng puRplE 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, Tim Hunt, Zoe Jewell, Mathew Little, Grace Livingstone, Vittorio Longhi, Enzo Mangini, Siobhan McGuirk, 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 pREss OffICER Clare Woodford OffICE managER Ian Gollan aCCOunTs Bob Tydeman suBsCRIpTIOn salEs Red Pepper office 020 7281 7024, office@redpepper.org.uk aDvIsERs AnthonyArblaster,DavidBeetham,Huw Benyon, Roy Bhaskar, Victoria Brittain, Sue Bowen, Tony Bunyan, Louise Christian, Tony Cook, Jeremy Corbyn MP, James Curran, Larry Elliot, Diane Elson, Max Farrar, Nigel Fountain, Trevor Griffiths, Barbara Gunnell, Nigel Harris, Billy Hayes, Pete Jenner, Penny Kemp, Bruce Kent, Hugh Kerr, Richard Kuper, Michael Kustow, Colin Leys, Su Maddock, Michael Mansfield QC, Martin McIvor, Simon Mohun, Sheila Rowbotham, Denise Searle, Amanda Sebestyen, Jane Shallice, Aleks Sierz, Kate Soper, Jonathan Steele, Dave Timms, Guy Vincent, Gary Younge, Stuart Weir THanKsTO MaryWhittaker,AlexandraZeevalkink, Seth Stauffer

RED pEppER 1b Waterlow Road, London N19 5NJ tel 020 7281 7024, fax 020 7263 9345 office@redpepper.org.uk www.redpepper.org.uk annual suBsCRIpTIOn RaTEs UK £29 (students, retired, low wage, unemployed £24), Europe £35, rest of the world £40, institutions £50

03Editorial

James O’NiONs

06l EttErsNoticEboard

08Post-ElEctioN PlattitudEs The world according to steve Platt

29uNdEr thE radar

Trouble at the sausage factory

30MikE MarqusEE

Fighting a protean force

54 55

kNow your ENEMy Fiscal fire-raisers G uErrilla GuidEs Zine team booktoPia

66 Helena Kennedy

56slash aNd burN at thE bEEb What’s the future for the BBC? siObhaN

mcGuirk speaks to key figures

58rhyME aNd rEasoN Radical rapper Lowkey talks to

PablO Navarrete

62bookrEviEws

60JourNal dE coMbat emilie bickertON reviews French filmjournalCahiersduCinema

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.

GlyN Ford on controversy over the US military base in Okinawa, Japan roz PatErsoN on public spending cuts in Scotland

Red Pepper is on Twitter as ‘RedPeppermag’

04 red pepper jun | jul 2010