So there I was, standing at the restaurant counter in one of the UK’s many Wyevale Garden Centres. I thought I’d asked a sensible question and, presumably, the young bloke behind the counter thought that he’d given me a sensible answer. “Do you have a vegetarian option?” “Yes, we’ve got fish and chips.” For some of the red pill crew, March 2009 was a meat-free month and it opened our eyes to how biased our society is towards carnivores. Read more about our veggie adventures here....

Always on the lookout for good new music, we’d been keeping track of Twisted Wheel, three boys from Oldham who had been getting some rave reviews from the usual suspects (NME, Xfm). It’s been easy for people to pick up on the band’s swagger and to lump them in with the Manchester scene (“gobby frontmen might be a Manc cliché, but then so are ace bands” – NME) but we wanted to know if Twisted Wheel were the genuine article or just the next big hype. Now we’ve got our grubby paws on the eponymous debut album and can make up our own minds.

We’d always cited Innocent as a shining example of the resistance to ethical and independent companies selling out to global corporations*. The funky smoothie maker with a halo in its logo was an exception to the rule that an ethical start must end in a sell out justified with weasel words. So when we read about Innocent selling a share of its business to Coca-Cola, we felt like we’d lost a friend. And judging by the amount of negative public comment on the brand’s own website, we’re not the only ones who feel disappointed. Has the halo slipped?

As I write this and think back, I am angry and I feel sick. Many people will have watched the news or read a newspaper about events in the City of London last Wednesday. They may have got the impression that it was all about violent protesters and criminal damage but we know different. How? Because we were in the City on Wednesday – very close to that RBS window - and saw it with our own eyes. Here’s our report and pictures from a day when legal protest was stifled and more people saw the police for what they really are......

I used to know a lot of England’s towns and cities solely from travelling to away football matches but these days it’s more the draw of great live music that gets us out and about. On Thursday, Gill, Billy and I visited the delightful city of Peterborough and discovered some fine culture down one of its lamplit back streets (we did park near the cathedral). The venue was called the Park and mercifully was not sponsored by that cheap brand of sappy lager that seems to be taking over most UK music venues. On the bill tonight, the wonderful Skints from London........

The old joke about protest marches is that the organisers usually claim a million people turned up, the police say it was nearer a dozen and the truth lies somewhere in between. So when “the police estimated the crowd at about 35,000”* on Saturday’s Put People First march and rally in London, it would be fair to assume that a lot of people turned up. Steve, Gill & Billy from Take the Red Pill spent a day down south, marching, whistling, shouting, listening, dreaming of a new revolution and then hoping that the coach was coming soon ‘cos it was bloody cold......

It’s the year 2055 and our world lies devastated. One man sits alone in a remote structure high above the Arctic Ocean. He’s watching archive footage from 2007 and keeps asking himself the question, ‘why didn’t we do something about climate change when we had the chance?’ The Age of Stupid is a powerful film about climate change, oil, war, politics, consumerism and human stupidity. It’s part drama, part documentary but 100% sobering. Here we review the film and provide some ideas for action we can all take to prove we’re not stupid......

In early 2006 the Rifles were supporting the Subways at the Roadmender in Northampton and when Joel Stoker swaggered onstage, all Fred Perry and Paul Weller, I knew that I was going to love them before they’d even played a note. They looked sharp and meant business. Three years later and I still love the Rifles and now the modern boys from Chingford have finally released their second album The Great Escape. But could they make the big step up from their first album No Love Lost?

Walkers Crisps is an iconic British brand, proud of its British heritage and still making its crisps from “100% British potatoes” at the world’s largest crisp factory in Leicester. On its website, you can read things like, “next time you get stuck into a pack of Walkers Crisps just remember every crunch is the best of British!” Gary Lineker, ex-England striker and now Mr. Bland on BBC’s Match of the Day, is the brand’s poster boy. So why would any patriotic Brit have a problem with buying and eating Walkers Crisps?

For those of you who enjoyed the Perks of Being a Wallflower*, we’ve managed to track down a couple more excellent books about the joys and pains of the teenage years. We’re not sure if they’ve caused quite so much controversy as Perks but, despite appearing to be aimed at the younger end of the market, one of them comes with a sticker declaring “not suitable for younger readers”. Both of them come recommended by Take the Red Pill.