Just read Breyten Breytenbach’s piece in Harpers. If you don’t have anything nice to say, shut up, is not a piece of advice I’ve generally…
Posts published by “Simon Barber”
Simon Barber is a Business Day columnist. Between 2002 and the end of 2014, he represented Brand South Africa in the US. His association with South Africa dates to 1977 when the Sunday Times gave him his first full-time job as a reporter. To help him get acquainted with the country as it then was, the editor, Tertius Myburgh, sent him, as a junior understudy, to help cover the Biko inquest. He has been involved with South Africa, in one way or another, ever since.
I’m just back from a magical eight day tour of South Africa with a group of great American bloggers and South Africa’s own Nick Haralambous,…
A group of American bloggers will be arriving at the end of the month to create what the International Marketing Council hopes will be some…
How, exactly, is the UN Security Council going to contribute to the resolution of the crisis in Zimbabwe? What would a special envoy say to…
In May 1961, President Kennedy addressed a special session of the US Congress. It was the height of the Cold War. There was a sense…
I’m a fan of American football. I like the mix of chess, athletic grace and brute force. I like the stop-start nature of the game.…
If Barack Obama wins Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary — and after his decisive showing in the Iowa caucuses last week, his chances look very strong…
In the US coverage of President Thabo Mbeki, you constantly bump into words such as “aloof”, “technocratic”, “professorial” and, with regard to Aids in particular,…
What does Jacob Zuma’s election as president of the ANC do for South Africa’s overall image in the United States? At first blush the answer…
These are interesting times for those of us in the business of explaining South Africa to rest of the world. Here’s what our current politics…