When in comes to selling cars, the badge obviously means a lot, but for buyers the nameplate often doesn’t tell the whole story. Take that good old South African favourite, the Toyota Hilux. How many of you lot know that in the 1980s Volkswagen assembled the pickup in Europe and sold it as the VW […]
2008
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Why is the ANC looking at a media tribunal?
ANC leaders charged with overseeing a probe into a tribunal for the media defended the initiative under interrogation by the country’s editors yesterday. The Jacob Zuma-led ANC confirmed at December’s Polokwane conference a decision by the then Mbeki-dominated organisation last July to investigate whether the current system of press self-regulation should be replaced by a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Sharia law an antidote to modernity or legislating misogyny?
When the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, opened this can of worms, he must have cut his hand on the tin. His suggestion that sharia law might have a place within British law has left a gash in his support base so wide that it will need umpteen stitches just to stop the bleeding. […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Tech
Bullies-R-Us
The armed forces always believed that subordination of the troops to the command was essential. If there were strictly enforced rules of behaviour maintained, then the soldier next to you would be able to rely on you performing according to drill during the times when the battle made everything else unpredictable. At what stage does […]
Posted inGeneral
Bullies-R-Us
The armed forces always believed that subordination of the troops to the command was essential. If there were strictly enforced rules of behaviour maintained, then the soldier next to you would be able to rely on you performing according to drill during the times when the battle made everything else unpredictable. At what stage does […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Satirists in desperate bid to keep Republicans in power
The US Republican Party isn’t just being kept in power by the military industrial complex, it’s being kept in power by satirists — what would they do without Bush, Huckabee or McCain? Last week Mitt Romney withdrew from the Republican race to replace George Bush as US President. Romney, who has a way of tightening […]
Posted inGeneral
Technology and identity
In an earlier piece — The changing face of identity — I reflected on the implications and possible influence, if not “effects”, of the social networking site, Facebook, on people’s sense of identity. At the time, Vincent Maher made an interesting comment on my piece, questioning what he saw as the implication that I was […]
Posted inGeneral
Sharia law for UK? Why not Fifa, IRB and ICC rules for SA?
There is an unholy uproar in the United Kingdom right now regarding comments made by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Dr Williams unleashed hell on earth by daring to suggest that parts of Sharia or Islamic Law be adopted into Britain. For my part I believe that if a community does express a desire […]
Posted inLifestyle
A Parktown prawn called Henry
I have a Parktown prawn called Henry living in my lounge. He is named after Henry Rollins, who I can’t wait to see tonight, because both look angry and inflated with steroids (and even Parktown prawns are more loveable when they have names). My Henry (the one without all the tattoos) has given me a […]
Posted inLifestyle
Genius cartoons
In the hopes that something here will make you smile … Pon and Zi (www.ponandzi.com) Cute but somewhat heartbreaking cartoon characters that love too hard. Cyanide and Happiness (www.explosm.net/comics/740/) From the bizarre to the macabre to the hilarious, you’re never quite sure what you’re getting with these guys, but it is (mostly) entertaining. Madam and […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, News/Politics
Thoughts on philanthropy in South Africa
My area of interest is that big word “philanthropy”. We in South Africa take the thousands of organisations that contribute to our democracy for granted. They provide relief and welfare, they educate, they create jobs, they build, they research, they publish, they contribute towards policy, they advocate, they contest and they help ensure that we […]
Posted inSport
Mr Zuma, South African sport is at war
South Africa’s three major sports are in turmoil and the problems lie with the politicians and individual administrators whose racism, negligence and megalomania are coming home to roost. South African cricket, after two successful series wins and a grand send-off for Shaun Pollock, is in the process of creating long-term hatred by the obsession with […]