The Front
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War protests have hat voters are (qwnfranchise isengaged I / ’
Tunnbck’s tea arty
As the elections loom, politicians have to adjust to an electorate that cares. war-as; Jason Hall
y girlfriend's got a story about .lack .\lc('onnell. It is in the mn—up
to a general election in the early 90s and she's partaking of'
'l’unnock's Tea (‘akes with a friend in a shared student house. It's a
warm day. so the front door is ajar. .lack. campaigning for Labour. lets himself
in and times right into the kitchen unannounced. uninyited and -- I can assure you quite unwelcome. lle reaches towards the table: ‘You won‘t mind il' l have a 'l‘unnock's Tea (‘akc‘." he smarms as a precursor to his pitch. ‘Actually'. yes I do.' says tny significant other as a precursor to sending him packing on his way with his tail between his legs and his paws notably 'l'unnockless.
l‘tlsl forward to last year and those pesky politicians are still trying to get their hands on our goodies in the shape of our valuable \‘UICs. With turnouts at the polling stations dropping exponentially. they're racking their brains trying to think of new ways to get us interested in politics. Remember how they openly discussed ways of drawing us in. by putting polling stations in supermarkets or letting us \‘ote online‘.’ Then
they finally cracktgd it. They dildthel one thing guarantcet to in atne our po itica passions. They started a war. Oh. they got our interest all right. But I don't think 90.000 people war, It’s marching through (ilas‘L‘ow' in )l'tllL‘sl is L uite
~ ~ ~ l l aboutour
what they had in mind. . You know what the real killer is'.’ Before VOICE, our the talk tttrned to war. they tliought we didn't . ~ vote, our
care. They thought the reason there was such
a low turn ottt at elections was because we were too uninterested. disengaged or just too
easily distracted to bother about what was going on in the world. But the fact is we were just disenfranchised. .\'o party spoke for us. so who was there to vote f'or‘.’ This is as true today as it was back then. ()1in more so. .-\ million people march on London. 90.000 in (ilasgow‘. eyery' opinion poll in Britain says that the people don't want war. yet those w ho we elected to speak for its decided to ignore us. With the Scottish parliamentary elections just around the corner. Jack .\lc(‘onnell is right about one thing. This is not about the war. But what he's failed to acknowledge is that it is about our yoicc. our \otc. our democratic system and the part we all play in it. With campaigning about to start in earnest. my guess is that those same politicians who once showed concem at our lack of interest may not be quite so keen to get us down to the polling stations now they know our votes may go against them. ls there anyone lel‘t worth yoting for"? Sure there is. Do they stand a chance ot‘ winning‘.’ .\'ot important. You're not filling out a betting slip and this isn't about picking a winner. It's a polling card. Make sure you use it. That‘s no 'l'unnock's Tea (‘ake you‘re holding there.
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10 THE LIST At"
1 Mario Testino
Art ShOOllfig stars has never been more popular. and Peruvran—born photographer Testan has snapped them all. See feature. page 14, Dean Gallery. Edinburgh.
2 Public Enemy
Music The high priests of hip hop show they still have what it takes to move the crowd with their full original line—up. See Music. page 44. Carling Academy. Glasgow.
3 Ali G
TV Sacha Baron Cohen heads straight outta Staines and off to the USA to wrnd up those over-sensnive Americans. See Watch It this Fortnight. page 101. Channel 4.
4 Andy Warhol
Art He wasn’t just all soup cans and car crashes. you know. Private Drawings from the 79508 sees the Pittsburgher at his most delightful and tender. See Art. page 80. Inverleith House, Edinburgh.
5 Dance Connections
Dance It's a Glastonbury for the dance world (sort of) as the likes of Adam Cooper. SDT and Birmingham Royal Ballet appear on one bill. See feature. page 12. Theatre Royal, Glasgow.
6 Slam
Clubs A house/techno extravaganza with Cajmere. H_Foundation and Adam Freeland among the guests for Slam's Academy debut. See Clubs. page 68. Carling Academy, Glasgow.
7 Intacto
Film A highly original thriller from Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. revolving around luck being a commodity. Max von Sydow gives it some starry clout. See Film. pages 22 and 23. Selected release.
8 Laura Cantrell
Music Bucking the country trend has brought Cantrell big success and her new album When the Roses Bloom Again is a stormer. See Music. page 42. Queen's Hall, Edinburgh.
9 Metroid Prime
Games Finally, players can get inside the suit of bounty hunter Samus Aran in this amazing Gamecube project. See Games. page 107. Nintendo.
10 Ali Smith
Books Scotland‘s last Booker nominee returns to scintillating form with another neat batch of short stories. See Books, page 102. Hamish Hamilton.