The proposed pledge of allegiance for schoolchildren has already received voluminous comment from contributors to and diverse readers of Thought Leader. Minister Naledi Pandor said she could not see why people might have any problem with the pledge. Here’s an angle from the perspective of the Khulumani Support Group, the national non-party political membership organisation […]
2008
Posted inGeneral, Sport
Bring me the head of Rafa Benitez
I am so sick of hearing about how Rafa Benitez is not to blame for the Barnsley FA Cup debacle, the poor league form and just about everything else that is wrong with Liverpool Football Club. The fact is, he is front and centre the reason why this great club is languishing while Man United, […]
Posted inGeneral
Zuma vs Motlanthe? Colour me confused
If, as suggested, there is a split in the Zuma camp between those who believe that Kgalema Motlanthe rather than Jacob Zuma should replace Thabo Mbeki as South Africa’s president, then I am more than slightly confused. In terms of JZ facing a trial for corruption and his being tainted by the rape trial, I […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Trains, tragedy and the light at the end of the tunnel
This morning a colleague of mine saw a man killed at Retreat Station. Trying to force the door of a moving train, my colleague tells me, he slipped onto the rails and was cut in half by the train’s wheels. This is all I know at this stage, and this from a traumatised colleague not […]
Posted inGeneral
The Pledge: “We” or “I”
Slapping my forehead and calling myself an idiot, I realise now that something I didn’t think to mention in my column in this week’s M&G (“We, The Zombies”, Page 30) is that it seems absurd to pledge on behalf of anybody else. So the We x 3 thing really doesn’t work. I’d be interested to […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics
A tale of two singers, a child molester, the media and the law
Now here’s a story. A few years ago the high-jump star Hestrie Cloete left her husband for the Afrikaans singer Jurie Els. Last month, the newly married couple announced that they were emigrating to New Zealand. Els said they were fed-up with crime, lack of service delivery and bad management. “I am tired of driving […]
Posted inGeneral
The receptivity to the idea of change
Barack Obama’s emphasis on change, or the desire for change, as something that unites his supporters in the race for the Democratic nomination in the US, has been so conspicuous that it is difficult not to see in it something significantly symptomatic of the general social and political mood in America, and perhaps in the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Can’t we all just get along?
Submitted by Suntosh Pillay What a day they had to choose! It’s ironic that the ANC’s Polokwane conference began on the Day of Reconciliation, December 16. But first, here’s two stories about four men. Zackie Achmat, leader of the Treatment Action Campaign, recently married Dallie Weyers, “an Afrikaans boy from the Free State”. They’re both […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Water: Dreaded déjà vu bug strikes
“I can categorically say that we are not facing a water crisis, or a water-contamination crisis,” Lindiwe Hendricks, the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry told a media briefing in parliament yesterday. “The water that comes out of our taps is among the best in the world.”
Posted inLifestyle
Freedom of movement
I have it! Uh huh. After a whole month of being transport-less (after the debacle of my scooter being stolen and then dropped off the back of a truck), I am now, once again, a scooter girl! Hallelujah! These are a few of my favourite things about being mobile, and, in particular, mobile on two […]
Posted inGeneral
Five things (other than the pledge) that leave me mystified
Why would a racehorse “pee like a racehorse”? If I didn’t have any pants on and I always had grass beneath me, I’d be letting my wee out in small quantities all the time, not storing it up and carrying it around with me just for dramatic effect. Am I the only one who’s a […]
Posted inTech
The end of a long relationship …
I’ve loved Firefox since the day I installed it. I was an early member of Spreadfirefox.com and have been evangelising it prior to version 1. I even had my name in the New York Times as part of an advert for Firefox 1.0. Sadly, almost four years later I’ve just switched. It was a tough […]