Facebook has changed the nature of friendship for many South Africans; I know that without it, my own sense of isolation would be so much worse. Facebook has also changed the way we mourn. Now, when terrible things happen to people we care about, we create Facebook groups in their honour. I was reminded of […]
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 inLifestyle
Watch out, it’s snake-bite season
“Mid-summer is snake-bite season and Sydney vets are treating more pets than usual for brown and black snake bites,” reads the article in the latest issue of The Mosman Daily. “The snakes are biting in suburban areas too, not just in neighbourhoods near bushland. Dozens of cats and dogs are being treated each week but […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
History has moved on
I’ve been following this whole Jewish money, influence issue with some interest and, I’ll confess, not a little alarm. Specifically, the fact that many respondents to Sentletse Diakanyo’s piece were absolutely unfazed by the fact that one of his key sources has a (justified) reputation as a neo-Nazi. In debates both on Thought Leader and […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle
So, have you changed your spending habits?
The new frugality? I know all about the new frugality. The global financial crisis is causing all sorts of people to change their spending habits. High-powered executives are –- shock, horror –- flying first class instead of taking the corporate jet, while their wives and mistresses are being forced to cut back on spending. Everybody […]
Posted inMedia, Sport
Here’s to a great champion who deserves more fans
He doesn’t get a lot of publicity. When he wins, again and again, it often doesn’t make the papers. As an athlete, he ranks right up there with the best in the world. He’s earned over R7,7-million, but chances are that many of you can’t recall his name. “Let’s hope,” Charl Pretorius wrote recently, “there […]
Posted inNews/Politics
On Australia Day
(Warning: this is long. It’s intended primarily as reportage rather than opinion.) THE WEATHER on Australia Day is most un-Australian. Cool and overcast, it’s more reminiscent of the soggy island whence this continent’s first European immigrants sailed. Still, it’s a welcome change from the heat wave that has baked New South Wales for more than […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A possible explanation for SA’s violent crime epidemic?
There’s a fascinating article on the spread of happiness in the New Scientist, reprinted this weekend in the Sydney Morning Herald. It seems that the notion that one should choose one’s friends carefully holds more truth than we might have imagined. For it seems that phenomena as apparently ephemeral as happiness — or as weighty […]
Posted inGeneral
The aggressive South African patriot
I used to fight a lot with the South African expats I encountered online. I hated their obsession with bad news; I hated their self-righteousness, their thinly veiled racism and “told you so” attitudes. Once I wrote a piece on expats for the Sunday Times which found its way onto most of the expat forums […]
Posted inLifestyle
Armed response … eventually
We were having after-dinner coffee with friends when my husband’s cellphone rang at eighteen minutes past ten. The signal was bad and he had trouble hearing what the caller was saying. “Is that ADT?” he asked, and my heart sank. The alarm had gone off, they said. The dinner party came to an abrupt end […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Noseweek: essential reading for the cynical
I’ve been a fan of Noseweek for years. It has consistently picked up stories others wouldn’t touch and followed them with dogged persistence. Occasionally, as in the case of Brett Kebble, a Noseweek story will eventually enlarge into a national saga that runs and runs. But for the most part, you’ll find things in here […]
Posted inNews/Politics
I always admired you, Mrs Suzman
In 1989, when I was in Standard Seven, our Afrikaans teacher had us write a short essay on somebody we admired. I chose Helen Suzman. For me, she represented courage, tenacity and the rejection of apartheid – and she was a woman. “Good choice,” said my teacher, a young verligte who taught us to appreciate […]
Posted inGeneral
Land grab!
I’m being invaded. The neighbours spend entire days on my property, and on more than one occasion they’ve managed to get inside the house. Just last night, I found one of them in my bedroom, acting as if he owned the place. Perhaps it’s cat karma. For months I’ve been without feline company, and now […]