So, we’re at war with Australia again. As usual it is about sport. The conspiracy goes that it was Australian athletes who challenged Caster Semenya’s gender. They are the ones who accused her of being a man. Apparently after seeing the size of her shoe. Caster’s story has been hotly pursued by the Australian press, […]
David J Smith
David Smith is a world famous artist and a British Olympic hammer thrower. He is a curler for Scotland and Manitoba. A pro wrestler fondly known as the British Bulldog. A Canadian economist and a Mormon missionary they call the Sweet Singer of Israel. He is a British historian and a bishop. David Smith is the biographer of HG Wells, a professor of physics, a composer and a music teacher at Yale. He played rugby for Samoa, England and New Zealand. He created the Melissa worm, a deadly computer virus. He is the Guardian's man in Africa, he starred in a reality TV show and shot his way to silver in the 600m military rifle prone position at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.
But this isn't that David Smith. This is the blog of the other David Smith. David J Smith. The one from Durban by the Sea. The one who lives in Amsterdam. Yes, him. The David Smith who likes to write about himself in the third person.
To learn about all the other David Smiths:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Smith
To contact this David Smith:
[email protected]
Posted inLifestyle
Don’t worry about the zombies
In a time of crisis scientists will rise to the occasion. They will solve our problems. Rescue us from our ills. Whatever the global disaster, the men in white will save us. My faith in geekdom is unquestionable. And when I checked the BBC this morning, it was once again affirmed. Scientists have now come […]
Posted inLifestyle
Should we reduce the driving age to seven?
So there is this seven-year-old in Canada who can drive a car. Samuel. I saw it on YouTube. His dad let him drive while he filmed it on his mobile phone. The clip has sent the Canadian press into overdrive, expressing shock and horror at the incident. How can Sammy’s dad be that irresponsible? The […]
Posted inGeneral
Open letter to Mr Schabir Shaik
Yo! Mr Shaik I read in the papers that you were spotted in your BMW trying to buy a balloon. I have to say I am disappointed. Not because you broke parole or anything like that. But getting caught over a balloon is kinda lame. You’re losing your touch. You used to be a stand-up […]
Posted inGeneral
Of and concerning Zuma
Zuma is a beautiful boy. His big doleful eyes and playful face have been a hit with the press. Every photographer making funny gobbledygook sounds to try and get his attention. Moving the camera about until the light catches that soft wisp of hair on his shining dome. Much to everyone’s delight, he has now […]
Posted inGeneral
The man who invented teenage dreams
John Hughes is dead. I have no idea about him as a man. What he liked to drink, whether he was into chicks, guys or fast cars or rock ‘n roll. In fact I am not even sure how he died. But this is a man who has informed every part of my life. A […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Putin, man of the people
I’ve always been a little suspect when a leader is described as a man of the people. It implies this person has the sanction of a nation. That he is their dreams and desires embodied in a man. It says: he is one of us. But so often it seems the more dubious a leader […]
Posted inGeneral
Johnny Clegg, the famous British singer
Hold the phone! That’s not true. Or is it? I read today the Brits are trying to claim Johnny Clegg from us. The BBC had an article titled: “Ten famous Britons you’ve probably never heard of”. And there he was, number ten on the list. Ok, granted, he was born in the UK. But does […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Gay haters in the park
Yesterday I was the victim of a homophobic attack. I use the word “attack” for lack of another. It involved a lot of spitting and heavy words but didn’t come to physical violence. The threat of it was definitely there but my attackers were unsure of themselves. Unsure if I was gay or not. As […]
Posted inGeneral
The theatre of war
We had lunch the other day with a British soldier friend. A nice civilised Dim Sum before she shipped out to Basra. This was going to be her second tour, having already done a tour in Helmand. Of course we spent a lot of time talking about the war and what it was like out […]
Posted inGeneral
The white middle-aged, middle-class man
Tomorrow I turn 35. Officially, I become a white middle-aged, middle-class man. And doesn’t it suck balls? There was a time in history when that statement wouldn’t have struck fear in my heart. It would have been a coming of age. The reaching of a pinnacle of human development. In the 1950s we were the […]
Posted inGeneral
The Hitler dollar
Have you ever read Mein Kampf? I did. At school. Okay, I didn’t finish it but I did take it out the library. How bizarre is that? It was readily available in my school library. There on the shelf in the Non-Fiction section. Yes, in the Non-Fiction section. Makes you wonder about that word. But […]