By Jan Hofmeyr Since it assumed office, the Zuma administration has been frequently faulted for not being able to forge a coherent vision for this country. Arguably the president’s recent State of the Nation address has been perceived by some to not alter this view. Workmanlike it was, and touching on the right issues it […]
2011
Posted inLifestyle
What is the mood of your city today?
Frustrated? Stressed? Like chilled hey china? I’ve been asked to tackle the question of: “What is the mood of your city today?” and like “What makes you smile about your city?” it’s a challenging one. How do you pin Joburg down to a single mood? On a single day? Which day do you choose anyway? […]
Posted inGeneral
Who is the coach?
We have a problem in this country. Our standard of coaching is not acceptable. Why, is the question we should all be asking. When this amazing country became free and fair we opened up the opportunities by another 45 million people at the time, I think we have failed SA sport by not doing more. We […]
Posted inGeneral
Doing evil to do good
I have just finished reading Robert McNamara’s In Retrospect, which seeks to provide answers to why the “best and brightest”, who, after skilfully navigating the Cuban Missile Crisis, led the US into the tragic Vietnam War. President Barack Obama’s team, apparently, diligently studied this period of history when they drew up the new administration’s Afghanistan […]
Posted inLifestyle
A beer at the finish line please
I rounded the final bend where a family of six, the spectators, pattered a modest round of applause, and as I wheeled up to the finishing table a thick-set man handed me a dewy can of beer. “A beer?” I stared at him in disbelief, tentatively extending my hand while an obnoxious, Lycra-clad, cyclist droid-type […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Why a free news media is essential to economic prosperity
Musician Frank Zappa famously remarked that communism collapsed because people want stuff. That is an oversimplification, clearly, because a closer look at the history of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe shows that each country was different. Moreover, the desire for democracy rather than simply material well-being should also be considered. Yet there is […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Lara Logan and life on the frontline
By Robyn Burger The battery and sexual assault of Lara Logan, SA-born CBS News correspondent, while reporting on events in Tahrir Square, Cairo, illustrates the risks taken by those who bring us reportage from the frontline. While violence is not unusual in such situations, as a “sideshow” to the main event of the revolution in […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why a revolution in Zimbabwe is destined to fail
Can the Egypt/Tunisia revolutionary model work in Zimbabwe? Many of us Zimbabweans who have watched over the years with impotent anger and often hapless bombast as the Zanu-led thug regime has desecrated every democratic ideal in its war against its own people have repeatedly asked ourselves this question. The comparisons between Zimbabwe and Egypt are […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Dewani remarks by Cele, Simelane inappropriate
South African Justice Minister Jeff Radebe was correct when he pointed out during his media briefing that the South African criminal justice system and Constitution would ensure that Shrien Dewani need have no concern about his right to a fair trial. This must not however detract from the fact that Police Chief General Bheki Cele […]
Posted inLifestyle
Black Swan — requiem for a dancer
Ballet has always been a loaded subject, suspended uncomfortably between art and masochism, between the divine and the pathological. But Black Swan transcends ballet, playing more like the dark existential crisis of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde than the fairytale of Swan Lake, around which it is written. Darren Aronofsky has always been drawn to […]
Posted inGeneral
Measuring website conversion rates
Conversion rates have long been the determining factor of a website’s success — whether you have a fully fledged e-commerce website, lead generating website or other, your conversion rate (usually) determines the overall return and success you are getting from the website. But what exactly is conversion rate? Most people measure a website’s conversion rate […]
Posted inGeneral
Stage 2 of Cell Tour of SA cancelled
Stage 2 — 163km — Montecasino via Soweto to Montecasino Stage 2 of the Cell C Tour of South Africa was neutralised due to traffic concerns on the road. The race started off well, leaving Montecasino in the north of Johannesburg towards Soweto. Attacks were fast and furious with Johan van Zyl (Toyota CSA), Christiaan […]