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 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 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 […]