On Wednesday night I went to see Jethro Tull in concert. Not because I’m a fan, but because my wife is and one of my favourite things to do is go to live concerts. Another is to keep my wife happy, so this worked all round. In fact, even saying I’m not a big fan […]
Tony Lankester
Tony is a corporate animal but it wasn't always so. He used to work in the media, with a specific interest in technology; travel; music; and getting free stuff. He doesn't consider himself a thought leader, although he does confess to having thoughts. He presents the M&G's weekly podcast.
Posted inBusiness
Chop suey or McDonald’s? You decide …
We learned on Thursday that Standard Bank had sold 20% of its operations to the Chinese. As a customer, my wife is well positioned to take advantage of this — she recently spent some time heaving with the crowds in Bangkok, celebrating Chinese New Year with the 9 048 423,3 Thai people of Chinese descent. (Source: Wikipedia […]
Posted inGeneral
We’re all in this together … not
I’m tired of hearing how I need to play a role in fighting crime. In the wake of Lucky Dube’s shooting last week, President Mbeki said we should “act together as a people to confront this terrible scourge of crime”. The Ministry of Arts and Culture said in a statement that “crime is a South […]
Posted inSport
Why we’ll lose the World Cup
It’s Saturday evening. 9pm. The World Cup final. Fifteen men in green and gold line up to face fifteen men in white. It’s a showdown of epic proportions — England want to avenge past humiliations; South Africa are equally hungry and need to prove their worth as “past World Cup winners”. In the UK, millions […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle
What’s for supper tonight? Ask Arnold
Somewhere a computer is quietly thinking about you. It is deciding what you want for supper tonight and sending instructions to trucks and warehouses to make sure that your local Woolworths can sell it to you. It is basing its thoughts on a whole range of factors — weather patterns (thanks, Al Gore), holidays (Eid, […]
Posted inGeneral
Exclusive: Johannesburg goes mad
Pardon me if this blog is interrupted by the sound of gunshots; intermittent power failures or typhoons, but I’m in Johannesburg at the moment. I lived here for seven happy years before venturing through the curtain of pallid stares from eyes-too-close-together in the dusty Karoo and settling in the Cape. Returning — as I do […]
Posted inLifestyle
When Mick Jagger sang ‘Sympathy for the Devil’, was he referring to record companies?
I read on the Mail & Guardian that there is an intriguing trial under way in Minnesota. Jammie Thomas is one of 26 000 people being sued by a viper’s nest of record companies for making available songs on her PC for download via Kazaa, a popular peer-to-peer MP3 download mechanism that replaced the trailblazing Napster. […]
Posted inSport
It’s official: 2010 won’t exist
There has been much talk lately of trademarks in light of 2010. My view is that Fifa has gone slightly bonkers on the whole subject … a year is, after all, just a year. But yet virtually every single iteration of the year has been trademarked and protected by phalanxes of lawyers (is that the […]
Posted inGeneral
Thabo Mbeki’s Facebook page
I bet you are wondering if our country’s First Citizen has ventured into the world of Web 2.0 during his late-night browsings. Well, I can confirm that he has. After tracking him down on Facebook, I asked him if he would be my friend. Wouldn’t you just know it, but he agreed. So I grabbed […]
Posted inTech
I hate it when it all comes together
When it comes to technology, I’m an early adopter. Heck, I’m more than that. While others are filling in the adoption papers, I’m nursing the gadget into adolescence. In 2001, for my 30th birthday, a group of generous friends chipped in to buy me an MP3 player. None of them knew what the hell this […]
Posted inBusiness, Sport
Sepp Blatter is wearing no clothes
I hate to be the one to say that the emperor is not wearing any clothes … but, the emperor is not wearing any clothes. The 2010 World Cup in South Africa has become overhyped to the point where ordinary South Africans are being duped and are headed for financial disaster. Let me say, though, […]
Posted inGeneral
Can paedophiles be funny?
If you haven’t ever heard of Chris Langham, you’re missing out. He was the comic genius behind the toe-curlingly-delicious spoof documentaries People Like Us. In that series he took the role of investigative journalist Roy Mallard, and made “documentaries” about seemingly normal people and situations. It was understated, nuanced British comedy at its best. He […]