If I were chatting to a medical student who was thinking about specialising, I would strongly recommend that he or she consider going into liver transplant surgery. Now there’s an area that is only going to grow in the future. I will now resist the temptation to make a Manto joke, noting instead how binge […]
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 inNews/Politics
The Aussie politician who keeps her enemies in the freezer
One of my next projects, once I’ve finished the third and final volume of the South African Insult series (The Revenge of the South African Insult, which will feature a black cover with glow-in-the-dark writing), is an examination of the Australian insult. It’s a daunting task, and not just because it means reading many Australian […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle
Why is Australian clothing so expensive?
My Nokia, the South African one, bleeps to announce the arrival of another SMS. My heart sinks: another update from FNB, chirpily informing me of how much I’ve just spent on my Clicks Clubcard. I will have to be employed in Australia for at least three months before the banks will even consider approving a […]
Posted inGeneral
Are (some) Muslims their own worst enemies?
Last month, Camden in south-western Sydney hit the headlines when its council refused an application to build an Islamic school on planning grounds. The ruling brought forth both cringeworthy Aussie nationalism and criticism of narrow-minded rednecks displaying cringeworthy Aussie nationalism. When you consider that Sydney is coming to a virtual standstill — at taxpayers’ expense […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Are South Africa’s politicians pleasers or doers?
Are South Africa’s politicians pleasers or doers? These two categories of politicians came to my attention courtesy of an article by Don Russell, who was once an adviser to former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating. Russell describes pleasers and doers thus: Pleasers will try not to upset people, will seek approval from as many groups […]
Posted inLifestyle
Weather and South African patriotism
South Africans with no stated intention of leaving South Africa will be pleased to know that the weather in Sydney has been absolutely bloody awful for the past week, and has no prospects of improvement. Since Sunday, it’s been grey skies, persistent rain and winds strong enough to blow the crappy little umbrella I picked […]
Posted inGeneral
The flip side of the freedom of not having a car
Walking. Walking, and waiting. I do a lot of both now. Tonight, in the autumn cold, I sit on a bench on wharf 5. It rocks almost imperceptibly on the inky waters of Sydney Cove. The next ferry is forty minutes away; I fed my ticket into the turnstile just in time to see the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Should criminals be identified by their race?
One of the differences I’ve noticed in the way that crime is reported in South Africa and Australia is race. As in specifically identifying the race of the suspects. South African reports tend to stay tactfully away from this awkward subject. Occasionally, if the criminal involved is white, the story will draw attention to this […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What does the ANCYL have in common with Young Labor?
Who would have thought it? Australia’s Labor Party, the Ruddites, and the ANC Youth League have something in common. Both of them campaign against youth binge drinking and both of them are given to enjoying a drink or two. Or three. The Daily Telegraph, Australia’s equivalent of the Citizen, is featuring this story on members […]
Posted inLifestyle
A place where they torch cars in the street
Last week, someone torched a Landcruiser in the suburb where I live. It seems that the resident, known only as “Stephen”, awoke in the middle of the night to discover his car, which was parked in the street, on fire. Someone — for reasons presumably unknown — had decided to torch it. I found this […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Working families, workers and pubic wigs
In every political culture, there’s a favourite construct, a sort of Pavlovian bell that is designed to trigger the immediate cessation of critical thought. In South Africa, it’s “the workers” or “the people”. The workers want, the people demand: appeal to this amorphous entity and people will vote for you. In America, Dubya likes to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Is this really a victory for ‘decency’?
‘Decency’ is one of the most overused and abused words in the English language. It is a word that has emerged in two events to capture the attention of Sydneysiders in recent weeks. One of them, a police raid on an art exhibition featuring photographs of nude adolescents, has drawn stark lines between the anti-child […]