The other day, while checking the news on the Sydney Morning Herald website, I happened across this story. It’s about how a spectacularly tasteless Greek wedding in Sydney, spread to Facebook and then across the world, passed on by those of us who treasure chav* culture in all its rich and varied forms. Have a […]
Sarah Britten
During the day Sarah Britten is a communication strategist; by night she writes books and blog entries. And sometimes paints. With lipstick. It helps to have insomnia.
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Could Twitter be a tool for nation-building?
The other night, as I checked up the news on Twitter and added a tweet of my own (from which David Bullard has mercifully been shielded) something struck me. So many of the people I follow on Twitter had made comments about the Bafana Bafana/Brazil match. There was a real sense of shared experience, of […]
Posted inLifestyle
Pedestrians and other road hazards
“The people in this town only know the pace of the cow,” said my aunt, who lives in Pietermaritzburg. She was responding to my husband’s moans about the way the locals took as long as possible to cross the road, so that they were still strolling along the tarmac long after the lights had turned […]
Posted inMedia
The Huggies ad that caused the stink
Well now this is interesting. The Huggies ad that caused such a stink — no pun intended, but I’ll take what I can get — has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa. Having successfully* defended several ads subject to rulings by the ASA, I always follow their rulings with interest, but […]
Posted inMedia
A.c.kermans or Armani? Or both?
The other day I was walking around a local shopping mall when it occurred to me that perhaps I didn’t look as if I belonged in some of the shops where I happened to be browsing. My ensemble consisted of items sourced from Ackermans, Edgars (specifically, Edgars Kelso) and a pair of corduroys I bought […]
Posted inLifestyle
When the world is your ashtray
This morning, on the way to a meeting with a client, I found myself behind a CitiGolf (Volkswagen drivers … I tell you) the colour of a swimming pool after it has been left an entire summer without the addition of HTH. I didn’t pay too much attention to it; just another car in the […]
Posted inBusiness
So, how useful was your university degree anyway?
While I was trawling through my favourite meme blogs, I happened across this trenchant piece of social commentary on GraphJam. “Where a philosophy degree gets you in real life,” the pie chart demonstrates — 95% of the chart is red, and represents “Nowhere”, 5% of the chart is green, and represents “Also nowhere”. Is this […]
Posted inMedia
Does freedom mean being free to shop?
When Jacob Zuma visited the Maponya Mall a couple of weeks back, he made an interesting statement. “I came here because I wanted to see the shopping mall because this tells a new story, he said. “Here you can walk into world-class shops and buy what you want. You don’t have to go to town […]
Posted inLifestyle
Polo drivers: (Possibly) the lowest form of life
Some of my best friends are Polo drivers. Honest. In fact, one of my very dearest friends drives a sensible blue Polo Classic. We were all tremendously relieved when he finally went out and got a proper car after years of driving around in the tuna can on wheels otherwise known as a CitiGolf. But […]
Posted inBusiness
Australians racist, backward, says Sol
So, a businessman Aussies love to hate says Australia is backward and racist. “I would say that Australia definitely is different [from] the US,” he told the BBC. “In many ways it was like stepping back in time.” Australian political and business leaders are flabbergasted. Sol Trujillo — not the Sol you might have been […]
Posted inNews/Politics
When did the African renaissance die?
Whatever happened to the African renaissance? I thought that shifting priorities, not to mention last year’s xenophobic violence, had long since consigned it to the dustbin of history, as a catchphrase anyhow. Just when it seemed that we were to hear of it no more, here’s the man, who started it all, going on about […]
Posted inMedia
This woman should not be famous, but she is
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems standards of fame are declining. Back in Andy Warhol’s day, everyone got fifteen minutes; in the YouTube era, it’s down to five. Maybe that’s just as well, because nowadays it’s possible to be famous for anything, no matter how stupid or pointless. As in the case of Clare […]