Lux Interior, the singer of seminal psychobilly act the Cramps, died on last night. He survived a few death rumours in his time, but this one has turned out to be true. He was 62. A full article can be found here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/feb/05/lux-interior-the-cramps-dies It is a strange feeling when one is faced with the reality […]
2009
Posted inBusiness
M-Web retrenchments: Just like that
M-Web have confirmed rumours that it will be retrenching about 7% of its staff. The number of jobs is about 66, out of about 1 000, according to its CEO, Rudi Jansen, speaking on The World at Six radio programme. The reduction in staff numbers cannot however be attributed to the global economic slowdown, as the […]
Posted inGeneral
SA Rugby World Cup bid: Dirty, sexy, rugby
Come June, SA Rugby will need to come up with guarantees of R3 billion for an event to be staged in 2015 and 2019. And a strategic plan of note. This is the same organisation that if you pop along to their site you will see they are operating off a 2003 and 2005 plan for […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
History has moved on
I’ve been following this whole Jewish money, influence issue with some interest and, I’ll confess, not a little alarm. Specifically, the fact that many respondents to Sentletse Diakanyo’s piece were absolutely unfazed by the fact that one of his key sources has a (justified) reputation as a neo-Nazi. In debates both on Thought Leader and […]
Posted inGeneral
Catholic Church goes retrograde
Religion is not something I usually write about, mainly because I don’t want to offend anybody. It is after all everybody’s choice as to how they nurture their soul. But the Catholic Church’s latest political manoeuvres have gotten to me. Religion is one of those things many people can’t decide, or at least I can’t, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
To prosecute a president is to embarrass the country
In 1892, Rudyard Kipling lamented the gulf of understanding between the British and the inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent in his book Barrack-Room Ballads. He said: “Oh, East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.” Never before had I imagined myself to be of the same opinion as Julius Malema, […]
Posted inGeneral
Super 14 preview #3 of 4: Coaches and captains
There has been a dizzying amount of information pumped out by the Super 14 Rugby teams in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, all of it on team sheets, teams, warm-up games, venues and players beset with injuries — the latest being Dan Carter’s (Crusaders) Achilles tendon op to Jaque Fourie’s (Bulls) hand. It’s almost […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Trying Zuma is not the embarrassment, Mr Malema
“When (Jacob) Zuma comes back to court in August he will come back as the president of this country and the judges will have to address him as the president,” said ANC Youth League president Julius Malema in Pietermaritzburg after the city’s high court set the date for the next leg of Zuma’s legal travails. […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Free trade not always free
Firstly the idea of a free market stems from the idea of personal freedom. That no-one should be able to decide for you what you do, how you make a living and to demand that you pay them any part of your income. Obviously this is qualified by the facts that the rights of other […]
Posted inNews/Politics
As good as it gets?
For an apology, at least one issued by a senior politician, it’s not half bad. None of the “misquoted” or “quoted out of context” nonsense we have become accustomed to being dished. Instead, in a carefully worded statement, Fatima Hajaig, the deputy minister of foreign affairs, has gone some way in undoing the damage caused […]
Posted inBusiness
What can we learn from Nollywood?
Ever heard of Nollywood? Sure you will have heard of Hollywood and more recently have been introduced to Bollywood, India’s film industry. Nollywood? That’s Nigeria’s film industry, which boasts an annual production of about 2 000 films making this a rather respectable $500-million industry. What’s even more fascinating is the fact that these films are made […]
Posted inNews/Politics
United States of Africa? Not likely
Anyone who has been monitoring the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) response, or more importantly lack thereof, to the Zimbabwean crisis over an extended period would probably be staggered by any proposal to form a union government for the continent. Yet newly appointed chairperson Moammar Gadaffi and African leaders, currently […]