The Test series between SA and Australia is quite sadly coming to an end. I find myself almost thinking was this even worth it for all concerned. Sunfoil sponsored the Test. When I first heard this I thought it was a sunscreen company to then realise it was cooking oil. What am I trying to […]
2011
Posted inNews/Politics
An inoculation against cynicism and despair
The newspaper billboard bellowed in temple-pounding capitals: “TOP COP FAILS LIE TEST”. The nation yawned. Only had he passed would it be news. Meanwhile, Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel has just unveiled the National Development Plan (NDP). One of the objectives is that by 2030 South Africans will no longer live in fear of […]
Posted inLifestyle
We’ll need two planets by 2030
At the beginning of his latest book, Treading Softly: Paths to Ecological Order, American ecological scholar Thomas Princen quotes from the Living Planet Report of 2008: “Our global [ecological] footprint now exceeds the world’s capacity to regenerate by about 30%. If our demands on the planet continue at the same rate, by the mid-2030s we […]
Posted inLifestyle
Why getting married is like buying shoes
Getting married is a lot like buying a pair of shoes. Think about it. You go into the shoe store, you look around. Maybe you’re there because you actually need shoes, maybe you found yourself in there because there’s a sale on and those sandals looked gorgeous and and and … you just can’t help […]
Posted inGeneral
Understanding collaboration and unified communication
While social media is grabbing the headlines there are equally dramatic changes currently occurring across the world in the way groups of people are collaborating and working together. These changes should be throwing up many interesting communication questions for corporate decision-makers. A massive number of collaboration tools exist at every level of economic activity. These […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Divorce can be deadlier than criminal law
While I specialised in criminal law in 1997 I have been inundated with divorce matters almost from the time that I elected to narrow down the cases that I would be prepared to deal with. The problem is that ordinary people, both men and women, who feel slighted or emotionally scarred by their spouse’s conduct, […]
Posted inGeneral
Like, so now what?
As brand warriors battle it out on the social media platform for consumer favour, “Like” has shed its identity as a plain old verb in the English dictionary to become a sought-after means of creating a following of potential brand champions … and buyers. Social media is definitely one of the biggest trends of this […]
Posted inGeneral
Douglas Kennedy — a novelist to read
Through my daughter, as much a bibliophile as her father, I recently discovered the novels of Douglas Kennedy. Her birthday gift to me was Leaving the World, a novel she described as “beautiful, but sad”, which propelled me and my partner into a very rewarding fictional journey of discovery. I haven’t come across references to […]
Posted inGeneral
Education the key to our economic freedom, not land expropriation
By Khethelo Xulu The gloomy outlook on the attainment of economic freedom in SA is yet to be spelt out to the disadvantaged and desperate young citizens of the nation. Unemployment, poverty and the lack of access to natural resources such as land are the issues that plague our societies the most. In particular, they […]
Posted inGeneral
Sailing the stormy seas of recession
The world is moving yet again towards the threat of recession: exchange rates are yo-yoing, and even our kids know that “double dip” is not a kind of ice-cream topping. Under these circumstances, the natural instinct of many is to batten down the hatches and find a safe shelter in which to weather out the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Manuel’s ‘new’ development plan?
National planning commission chairperson Trevor Manuel recently released the much-anticipated national development plan aimed principally at tackling the structural economic problems of high unemployment and pervasive poverty. This is not our first attempt at formulating strategies to deal with these challenges. Many other growth strategies have been published since 1994 with similar fanfare. The latest […]
Posted inGeneral
Rugby players cash in on books
The Rugby World Cup has come and passed. New Zealand slayed the dragon, Quade Cooper was average, France are still the most predictably unpredictable team on earth and Peter de Villiers said it was the end of the road, then changed his mind. One would think with the tournament now out the way, the rugby […]