This Sunday’s referendum in South Sudan is a seriously big deal. I didn’t think it would happen. I thought it would go the way of the referendum in the Western Sahara, the one that should have taken place well over a decade ago but hasn’t, because the Moroccans are still afraid that they might lose. […]
2011
Posted inGeneral
Embrace online channels to ride out the recession’s aftermath
As the after-effects of the global recession continue to suppress demand, many businesses are discovering the benefits of an online strategy. A great example is British retailer Marks & Spencer. Hard hit throughout the recession, M&S reported mildly resurgent figures for the first quarter of 2011 in July 2010, mainly on the back of a […]
Posted inGeneral
The year ahead for SMS
2011 is the year South African consumers become amongst the best protected in the world thanks to two important new laws. Far from seeing this as a threat, businesses should see this as a huge opportunity for improved customer communications, especially if they have SMS included in the mix. This is one of the main […]
Posted inGeneral
Panopticism, Facebook, the ‘information bomb’, and Wikileaks
In previous posts, I have argued that, at this stage, the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which Facebook has succeeded in exposing users to more (potential, if not probable) attention from companies marketing commodities or services than they probably anticipated, have no more than financial or economic objectives, but that the potential for extensive social […]
Posted inGeneral
Human, all too human
Issues of human origins and ancestry have more often than not been coupled with, and clouded by, a battle of identity. The history of our species is littered with examples and madmen who have attempted to carve out a distinct identity for a people, and usually for nefarious reasons. The notion of a separate, “chosen […]
Posted inGeneral
What I wanted for Christmas
Well, Christmas has come and gone. I did not get what I really wanted. What I really wanted was a good bottle of castor oil! You see, my late mother used castor oil for pretty much everything that ailed the children in the house. You had a cold, castor oil would fix it. There was […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Hlophe would never be appointed to hear Dewani trial
Though it is physically possible for Judge John Hlophe to hear the murder trial of Anni Dewani, the Swedish beauty that was killed while on honeymoon in Cape Town, it will not even be in the contemplation of the South African judiciary. Shrien Dewani, assisted by British publicist Max Clifford and his legal team, are […]
Posted inGeneral
PC brigade’s reign of terror goes too far
So in 2011 you cannot beat your kid, cannot speak frankly to another adult, even if they consent to it, cannot compliment a female colleague, or even solicit sartorial advice from a gay colleague. Why? Because why (as they say in the die Oss Rand) we have allowed the PC brigade to dictate our lives, […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Lifestyle
Shell-shocked
I think it’s outrageous that Shell sponsors part of the environment section on the National Geographic website. What makes the situation even more ironic is that right beneath one of Shell’s adverts on the page is National Geographic’s slogan: Inspiring people to care about the planet since 1888. Now I don’t think there are many […]
Posted inEquality, Lifestyle
The F word
It’s 2011 and it’s hard not to wonder what happened to feminism? People, and sadly women in particular, are scared to label themselves as feminists because it is seen as outdated, and irrelevant. Feminism has become the official dirty F word for women. The world of post-post-feminism tells women that we’ve arrived, we’re here, we’ve […]
Posted inGeneral
What is a liberal communist?
Like all oxymorons, the oxymoron (literally:”sharp-blunt”), “liberal communist”, seems to combine the impossible. And yet, as every lover knows, Shakespeare’s “sweet sorrow” of Romeo and Juliet’s parting is all too real. So, too, the fact that liberal communists, who ironically call themselves by that phrase, are an all too tangible part of our world. As […]