I was listening to a depressing radio show phone-in this week. As usual, those invited to contribute weren’t the most reasonable and coherent speakers, but those taking the most extreme views. A stage managed row to make a more interesting show and to leave listeners shouting at the radio. No effort at unity or consensus. A couple of people kept repeating the well-worn phrase ‘blame culture’ and it got me wondering whether, to some extent, we’ve allowed this catch–all phrase to stop us asking the right questions.

Being a sucker for live music, I found it hard to resist the offer of five bands for a fiver.  So it was that redpillbill and I ended up at the Racehorse in Northampton on a miserably cold Friday night in January for something billed as Stalkers Night.  The scene of one of our early gig reviews – Real Beer, Live Bands and a Load of Old Cobblers – it seems like there’s never a dull moment in this particular establishment.  A skanking pensioner, unreliable bar stools, a good dj, a selection of strange ales and some great live music added up to a top value for money night......

Like many boys of my generation, I had a Father who enjoyed watching cowboy films and there was little I enjoyed more than snuggling up with my Dad to watch TV.  Thus it was that I whiled away many of my childhood hours cheering Hollywood-sanitised stories depicting the ethnic cleansing of native American Indians.  At about the same time, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee was published, written by Dee Brown, a man haunted by the American Indian tragedy since his own boyhood.

For quite a long while, I have been thinking of writing an article on the subject of swearing.  I’ve been wondering whether it’s just an issue on which I have quite strong opinions or whether it could actually raise some important and wider questions of principle.  Well, here it is at last.  Those of a nervous disposition or easily offended by words like ‘bottom’ might want to click away at this point so that we can still be friends.

It’s official – there’s now a worldwide shortage of half decent band names.  New bands have put every word in the English language into every conceivable combination and have concluded that the good band name well has run well and truly dry.  So it’s little surprise that I found myself at the Soundhaus in Northampton with Gary the Music Man again, watching three up and coming bands with faintly ridiculous names.  Still, can’t judge a book by its cover* and all that, so we listened, learned and started to love a little.......

On Sunday 2 December, Hugo Chávez suffered his first electoral setback since being elected as President of Venezuela in 1998.  By the narrowest of margins – 50.7% to 49.3% - the opposition won the referendum and defeated the proposed changes to the Venezuelan constitution.  Despite this disappointing result for Chávez’s democratic socialist revolution, Take the Red Pill can still look on the positive side.  The President remains in a strong position and the revolution could grow stronger if it learns a few lessons from the defeat.

For several weeks I’d had this recurring nightmare.  I was stuck halfway up a rock face, hands frozen, fingers unable to function.  Each time I tried to move, one of my feet slipped from its tiny foothold.  I couldn’t climb higher and I was too scared to descend.  I was halfway up a rock in a hard place.  Who on earth would rescue me?  Down below, on firmer ground, a frail little old lady of 90 shouted out, “come on, Steve, you can do it!”  Each time I awoke, it was in a nasty cocktail of fear, sweat and humiliation.  My dream almost came true......

Here are a few singles which have been released – or are scheduled for imminent release – since we posted Very Early Stocking Fillers and New Singles Out of the Blocks.  Before you get too depressed by the shed load of sad Christmas re-releases and even sadder efforts by fabricated boy bands, check out these five tracks and don’t give up on the British music scene.

Growing up, I was taught – or perhaps more accurately, I assumed my parents’ view – that war was evil but, that at certain times, it was a necessary evil reluctantly used for the greater good.  Nazi Germany epitomised the sort of enemy which could only be suppressed by military force and World War 2 was held up as the ultimate just war.  Over the years my thinking has changed.....

We often bemoan the lack of talented musical artists who have something to say which is worth hearing.  There are plenty of bands and solo artists we love to go and watch but usually the buzz is 99% music and 1% watered-down beer.  Manu Chao is one of the very welcome exceptions, an artist unafraid to comment on social justice, and the redpillcrew were fortunate enough to catch him at Rock City in Nottingham a couple of weeks ago.