http://bugs.python.org/issue2422 - adaption of the patch there to honour our G_SLICE
--- misc/Python-2.6.1/Objects/obmalloc.c	2011-07-26 13:10:12.668380720 +0100
+++ misc/build/Python-2.6.1/Objects/obmalloc.c	2011-07-26 13:17:41.951444953 +0100
@@ -1,7 +1,18 @@
 #include "Python.h"
+#include <stdlib.h>
 
 #ifdef WITH_PYMALLOC
 
+static int running_with_system_allocator = -1;
+
+/* If we're using GCC, use __builtin_expect() to reduce overhead of
+   the allocator checks */
+#if defined(__GNUC__) && (__GNUC__ > 2) && defined(__OPTIMIZE__)
+#  define UNLIKELY(value) __builtin_expect((value), 0)
+#else
+#  define UNLIKELY(value) (value)
+#endif
+
 /* An object allocator for Python.
 
    Here is an introduction to the layers of the Python memory architecture,
@@ -728,6 +739,11 @@
 	poolp next;
 	uint size;
 
+	if (UNLIKELY(running_with_system_allocator == -1))
+		running_with_system_allocator = (getenv("G_SLICE") != NULL);
+	if (UNLIKELY(running_with_system_allocator))
+		goto redirect;
+
 	/*
 	 * Limit ourselves to PY_SSIZE_T_MAX bytes to prevent security holes.
 	 * Most python internals blindly use a signed Py_ssize_t to track
@@ -927,6 +943,9 @@
 	if (p == NULL)	/* free(NULL) has no effect */
 		return;
 
+	if (UNLIKELY(running_with_system_allocator > 0))
+		goto redirect;
+
 	pool = POOL_ADDR(p);
 	if (Py_ADDRESS_IN_RANGE(p, pool)) {
 		/* We allocated this address. */
@@ -1121,6 +1140,7 @@
 		return;
 	}
 
+redirect:
 	/* We didn't allocate this address. */
 	free(p);
 }
@@ -1150,6 +1170,10 @@
 	if (nbytes > PY_SSIZE_T_MAX)
 		return NULL;
 
+	/* Treat running_with_system_allocator == -1 the same as 0 */
+	if (UNLIKELY(running_with_system_allocator > 0))
+		goto redirect;
+
 	pool = POOL_ADDR(p);
 	if (Py_ADDRESS_IN_RANGE(p, pool)) {
 		/* We're in charge of this block */
@@ -1177,6 +1201,7 @@
 		}
 		return bp;
 	}
+redirect:
 	/* We're not managing this block.  If nbytes <=
 	 * SMALL_REQUEST_THRESHOLD, it's tempting to try to take over this
 	 * block.  However, if we do, we need to copy the valid data from