At last, the opportunity to combine some political activism with a decent lie-in. The very wise organisers of the Take Back Parliament rally on Saturday 15 May had the good sense to arrange the event for 2pm, giving me time to love my pillow and democracy. I’d just stood in the General Election and had seen the effects of our substandard electoral system: voter apathy; people unable to vote with their hearts; and grossly disproportionate results. I felt the need to be a part of a new movement which is mobilising for greater democracy, demanding fair votes now.

“Ash welcome here” is not a sign that’s been seen a lot around Europe recently, especially in the vicinity of travel agents and airports. While the volcanic output has frustrated business and holidays alike, there is a form of Ash that is very welcome round our way. On 5 May, a day when the nasty ash hit the front pages again, good Ash - the band - played the Roadmender in Northampton. I took one of my sons to enjoy a band that has lasted almost two decades, which is probably what most local candidates did to chill out the night before the General Election.

Way back in June last year, Gill and I ran a No2ID stall for a Mark Thomas gig at a theatre in Wellingborough. In return for being able to have a stall at each gig on the tour, No2ID volunteers agreed to help Mark out with one of his many cunning plans. Little did we know where it would all lead. Gigs based around crazy and radical ideas from the audience for a people’s manifesto? Less than a year later, the book is out and Danny Kushlick is standing as the People’s Manifesto candidate for Bristol West in the General Election. Game on…..

The shareholders of Cadbury, the iconic British-based company, recently accepted an improved takeover bid from US food giants Kraft, much to the disgust of British workers, customers and trade unions. Kraft promptly reneged on its promise to keep open the Cadbury’s factory in Bristol, resulting in 400 job losses. Did this confirm Cadbury’s Chief Executive Todd Stitzer’s response to the original bid when he launched a fierce critique of “unbridled capitalism”, comparing it to what he calls his firm’s “principled capitalism”?

In his debut novel, The Silver Linings Play Book, Matthew Quick shows courage in taking on the issue of mental health. The story is told in the first person by Pat, a twenty-something man who has spent some time in a mental institution for a reason we don’t discover until near the end of the book. One reviewer describes the novel as ‘a captivating, life-affirming read, guaranteed to be the feel good book of the year’. Considering the subject matter this seemed a bit unlikely but I was willing to be proved wrong so I decided to give it a try…..

Environmentalists don’t get a very good press in general. They are often portrayed as being dull, a bit too earnest and too busy hugging trees to form proper relationships with other humans. More recently they’ve been likened to pseudo-religious fundamentalists who refuse to discuss their dogmatic beliefs. It’s a shame one of these journalists hasn’t come down to a meeting of local Greenpeace activists at the Labour Club in Northampton or, even better, joined us on a protest. They’d find that environmental activism is alive and well, and lots of laughs……..

The world can be a miserable place at times and it’s easy to lose hope when we see people mistreating each other. It needn’t be something huge like a UK citizen being tortured with the permission of his own government. It might be a relatively minor matter like discourtesy on the road or in the street. So it’s always good to spot the positives when they come along and to appreciate them and be grateful for them. That’s why a small incident at a recent gig brought a smile to my face.

We don’t know the true motives behind Gordon Brown giving MPs a vote for a referendum on electoral reform. We don’t think the proposal for an AV system goes anywhere near far enough down the road towards change. We’re just glad that, at long last, the issue of electoral reform has got beyond the talking stage. Take the Red Pill is strongly in favour of radical reform of our voting system. Unlike the Tory leader, David Cameron, who is strongly opposed to proportional representation but, like Blackadder’s Baldrick, has a cunning plan……

There was a great story in the news last week. Tosco, that supermarket bastion of all things posh, decided enough was enough when it came to sloppy ‘in store’ dressing. One of its hideous outlets in Cardiff put up a notice which in effect bars customers who are barefoot or wearing pyjamas. At first we thought we should protest at this outbreak of fashion fascism but then we had a better idea. Let’s make dress code rules for everyone associated with the retail disease more commonly known as Tosco Horribilis……..

Christiansen, De Uralde, Schmutz and Thijssen may not be household names like the contestants in lame TV show The X Factor but history may view them as the heroes of a much greater contest, the fight to stop governments and big business killing off our planet. While slimy corporate lobbyists and spineless politicians were toying with the earth’s future at the Copenhagen UN Climate Conference, these four – and several colleagues - carried out a daring piece of non-violent direct action. Here's why we think they’re heroes and the Danish authorities aren't.