I have just read a work of fiction which I couldn’t put down and which shook me to the core.  I read a lot of books and think that I choose my reading material quite carefully.  I have read plenty of non-fiction which has shaken me and challenged my worldview.  I have read plenty of novels – holiday reading if you like - which have kept me turning the pages into the early hours because I wanted to know the outcome (the Firm and the Da Vinci Code to name just two).  Literary closure, I suppose.   When I finished this particular book, however, I was an emotional wreck.

If you read the mainstream press, you could be excused for thinking that the most exciting recent development in Latin America was an unelected monarch insulting a president who suffers from occasional verbal diarrhoea.  With respect, however, you would be wrong.  Significant events are occurring in that region and the majority of our media is not telling us the full story.  So here’s a brief summary gleaned from some more alternative and independent sources.

Take the Red Pill has a quick look at a couple of fair trade and organic beers.  Obviously we couldn’t do a proper write up by just looking so we had to open the bottles and try the products ourselves.  Professional interest only, you understand.  It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.

A few red pill thoughts about Christmas.  Like how to avoid being a gullible consumer of the fake McChristmas AND avoid being a miserable old git like Ebenezer Scrooge.  Is it possible to party without presents?  Why is an obese nation stocking up on extra food?  What do you give to the person who has everything?  Do sprouts come straight from Satan’s kitchen?  Will Tesco launch its own brand of myrrh?  And who is that fat bloke in the red?  No, we’re not talking about Wayne Rooney..........

Kate Nash wouldn’t appear naturally at the top of a Take the Red Pill playlist.  We bought the tickets for her sell out gig at the New Roadmender in Northampton more out of curiosity than anything else.  So it is with great pleasure (and some begrudging humility) that we can today announce our conversion.  Kate Nash live was hugely entertaining.....

Have you ever tried driving and sticking to the speed limits?  At the same time?  Have you ever had a go at putting other road users first?  It makes for an interesting experiment.  Redpillboy - driven by a mixture of desires (minimum environmental damage; maximum road safety; reduced stress; and improved fuel economy) - sets out to see if it can be done – and not just when anyone is watching.  In the process, he manages to drive everybody – including himself – just a little bit closer to a roadside breakdown.......

Occasionally the words sung by a band on stage take on more meaning because of something happening in the venue.  That was very much the case when the Rifles played at the Soundhaus in Northampton a couple of weeks ago.  Everything should have made for a totally enjoyable evening but the presence of a few idiots in the crowd took the shine off a great night.

Today is the fortieth anniversary of the execution of Che Guevara and, around the world, millions of words will be spoken and written about the Argentinian-born revolutionary.  Tacky souvenirs will be sold to people with little or no knowledge of who he was.  Even so, Take the Red Pill couldn’t let the occasion pass without adding a few words of its own.  Icon of the left and scourge of the right, we provide a potted history and a brief opinion of his relevance in 2007 and beyond.

Take the Red Pill has the pleasure of reviewing two upcoming singles which may prove that there’s yet more life in the British music scene.  Folk from Fife and raw power from Manchester.  Check out King Creosote and the Courteeners, two bands making waves with very different sounds.

The name of the tour is emblazoned on the plastic pint glasses - O2 presents the NME Rock’n’Roll Riot Tour 2007 in association with Samsung.  So many questions spring to mind!  Like whatever happened to the anti-establishment rock bands who trashed hotel rooms and lobbed the TVs out the fifth floor window?  And whose really bright idea was it to sandwich Lethal Bizzle between the Wombats and the Enemy??  Just your average Thursday night in Oxford......