A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to take part in a writing project, organised by Darren Gorton. His plan was to bring 13 of South Africa’s most passionate bloggers together and have them each contribute a chapter to an online book / series. The theme “a piece of significance” was centred around the […]
2008
Posted inLifestyle
Weather and South African patriotism
South Africans with no stated intention of leaving South Africa will be pleased to know that the weather in Sydney has been absolutely bloody awful for the past week, and has no prospects of improvement. Since Sunday, it’s been grey skies, persistent rain and winds strong enough to blow the crappy little umbrella I picked […]
Posted inGeneral
Santana’s do or die encounter
I foresee an influx of job-hunting Brazilians raiding our shores in the not so distant future. This would be one incoming swarm, which even our self-styled special tactics division in Alexandra could never stop. A precedent has been set. The likelihood that a Brazilian job-hunter could be valued at no less than R1 million is […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Point taken? No point!
Picture this. A rep, late for an appointment in the next town, gets caught doing 143 km/h in a 120 zone. The fine’s supposed to be R750, but the cop seems a little reluctant to start writing. Finally, he broaches the subject of “breakfast.” He and his partner, he says, don’t feel like all the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Hold my hand, I’m a stranger in paradise
I was driving home last night and was half-listening to the news on 94.7 when I caught a sound byte from one of the areas affected by xenophobia. Some woman was screaming abuse at a reporter but her words were aimed at some of the foreign refugees, whom I would imagine were within earshot. I’m […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The myth of overpopulation
As the food price crisis deepens, many commentators are pointing the finger of blame at overpopulation. Apparently, the real problem is the “human plague”: all those teeming, swarming billions of people in China, India and elsewhere, who are wolfing down so much meat and rice that food production methods have gone into meltdown. It’s time, […]
Posted inGeneral
Matt Damon is the man from U.N.C.L.E Francois Pienaar
If there’s one think in this life that you can guarantee, it’s that a Yank or a Brit, cast to play the role of a South African in a movie, will duff the accent so badly that not one person from the Rainbow Nation will be able to guess which country he’s supposed to be […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Xenophobia: The environmental causes
Firstly, let’s clarify what the term “environment” means. Long gone are the days when environment simply referred to fauna and flora. At the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, the slogan “sustainable development” referred to a triangular relationship between people, planet and prosperity — giving each an equal importance. More recently this understanding has […]
Posted inLifestyle
Do you know what is on your child’s cellphone?
This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Do you know what is on your child’s cellphone?
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Ten myths about inflation and interest rates
“Someone stop Tito, please,” implores a headline on a News24 column by struggle journalism old-timer Max du Preez. His angry column brims with common myths about the economy, interest rates and inflation. Let’s look at them one by one. Myth No 1: Higher interest rates cause higher inflation, including higher food and fuel prices. “I’ve […]
Posted inGeneral
KISS – the time has come
One of the primary goals of any serious journalist is to take whatever they are writing about, and cover it in plain, simple English so that anyone, regardless of prior knowledge, can understand the story. Journalists are, after all, communicators, and if we write long, unwieldy sentences full of big words and waffle, we’re not […]
Posted inGeneral
Social media fatigue
After all the noise and excitement which came with the dawn of Social Media, we are now seeing signs of the Web 2.0 slowing and becoming a part of everyday life. Similar to what happened with email, it was a big launch and now it’s everywhere. Nielsen Online, the online buzz monitor, showed an approximately […]