I hastily jabbed in a text message to a friend of mine in China: “I have a new, cute, teaching assistant, her English name is Easy. I wonder if she is”. Randy (aptly named) rapidly replied: “Well try her out and give me immediate feedback”. Thereafter, the flow of text messages back and forth got […]
2009
Posted inLifestyle
How Malema and you can help me spice up Australian sex lives
I could use Julius Malema’s help here in my battle with some undemocratic types Down Under. Boet, if you’re not doing anything particularly controversial this week or putting your foot in someone’s mouth, help me out here, please man. Those Nando’s guys will love you for it — and it’s a great way to tell […]
Posted inGeneral
Coaching South Africa
I spend some of my time coaching executives in South Africa and across Europe. I got thinking the other day what South Africa could need from a coach. I mean the whole country. Not the president — not any individual — all of us who live on this southern slab of Africa. All together — […]
Posted inMedia
Truth, lies and scepticism in the media
I approach writing that finds news media fallen from grace into the gutter with deep suspicion. There never was a golden age of journalism, and each generation feels its problems to be unique. A new book by UK journalist and documentary-maker Nick Davies about the defects of global news media has some of this, to […]
Posted inGeneral
Rising from the ashes
Remember the good old stadiums from the bad old days? If any venue symbolised apartheid-era soccer in South Africa, it was the Rand Stadium tucked away between the mine dumps on the south side of Johannesburg. Construction of the 15 000-seat facility was completed in 1951 and, for the next 25 years or so, some of […]
Posted inGeneral
Zuma, ANC fail their first ethical test
Bess Myerson, a 1950s beauty queen, once said: “The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference.” The shameless regularity with which acts of impropriety re-emerge at every station of life has certainly numbed the collective conscience of society. Even those who lament the erosion of morality and ethics in all spheres […]
Posted inGeneral
I’m a born-again South African
I have finally decided to break my self-imposed silence on our recent elections. The first thing I would like to do is congratulate our new president, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma. Whatever one thinks of the man, you have to admire how he managed to clear every single obstacle in his way. I know that many people […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Cosatu called it right on S’bu Ndebele’s Merc
As we noted earlier this week the row over British members of parliament claiming expenses on their second homes does not revolve around the issue of whether they were legal or not but rather the question of their moral defensibility. Indeed in the overwhelming majority of cases the items concerned were totally legitimate in accordance […]
Posted inGeneral
Super 15 Rugby: Nothing is what it seems
I don’t quite know how to put this but SA Rugby has just received a monster shove in the derriere by Australia with regards to the Super 15 plans announced on Tuesday. Of course this is the release trotted out by SA Rugby with the details of the Super 15 tournament starting in 2011 and […]
Posted inGeneral
Salute the champions and their ageless dictator
Well, it all ended in the most un-United of ways with a rather desperate draw but Manchester United had done more than enough in the previous 36 games to earn a day off on their way to a third straight league title. There were cheers when it ended, tears when Tevez departed, and most certainly […]
Posted inGeneral
At the heart of the matter
Submitted by Lynne Brown This week’s battle about gender is not simply a fight between two women or two political parties. The gender issue is a human-rights matter, a complex subject that is of concern to all South Africans. Studies have shown that there is a direct link between a country’s attitude towards women and […]
Posted inLifestyle
How do you trust this dog again?
I’m a cat person. Anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time will know that I have a soft and smooshy heart for all things feline. One of the best things about being back in Joburg is getting to live with a cat again. (She still prefers my husband to me. Ah […]