About a week ago I submitted an opinion piece to this website and have been asking myself what I believe is a very pertinent question which can easily be asked all over the world. When does sport transcend rationality to become hatred and violence. How can we take the positives of support, passion, provincial and […]
General
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
The Dalai Lama saga: Episode 2
Concerning the small matter of the second failed attempt by the Dalai Lama to get a visa into South Africa in as many years, let us begin by giving the South African government the benefit of the doubt. Notice how I have carefully constructed the preceding sentence along the lines suggested and hinted at by […]
Posted inGeneral
Summer cricket — what a bonus!
As the summer of cricket is upon us, excitingly I have to admit, I am still left wondering what is the situation with the massive amounts of Cricket South Africa (CSA) money that seemingly is still under discussion. As recently as September 8 2011, Telford Vice reported in the Business Day the following: “CSA can’t […]
Posted inGeneral
SuperSport’s reputation suffers again over Davies
SuperSport is purportedly one of the best and largest sports broadcasters in the world. Seven channels, slick production value, a 24-hour news channel no longer reliant on foreign broadcasters and an infrastructure as big as any other major sports broadcaster out there. It is, like SAB-Miller, a South African company that has exceeded the borders […]
Posted inGeneral
Three steps to better contact centre management
Communication technologies have the power to dramatically shape company performance, and if the bottom line is shaky there’s little doubt the contact centre can make a positive contribution to turning things around. But within this context, many decision makers get caught in the tactic trap — changing and re-changing various elements of the contact centre […]
Posted inGeneral
Mandela and the Dalai Lama
So damaging was the fall-out over South Africa’s denying the Dalai Lama a visa when he wished to attend a peace conference a couple of years ago that it was hard to imagine such a blunder being repeated. At the time, it was perhaps the most egregious example of the last administration’s penchant for shloeping […]
Posted inGeneral
Dan Carter: Kiwi World Cup talisman or jinx?
Dan Carter was to have captained the All Blacks for the first time on Sunday. An honour bestowed on him as a Kiwi legend akin to that of teammate Richie McCaw who had to withdraw because of his injury. “Twang” went Carter’s groin muscle during kicking practice yesterday and now he is out and gone […]
Posted inGeneral
Knox, Murray, Dewani and Nazi justice
On Monday night I watched the trial of Dr Conrad Murray, who is charged with the involuntary manslaughter of pop icon Michael Jackson, and the decision on the appeals of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito against their 2009 convictions for the murder of British university exchange student Meredith Kercher. In the case of the former, […]
Posted inGeneral
Road to Purdah-tion
A news dramatisation by Alex Searle Although you are a fully qualified doctor, sharia law dictates that a woman’s place is at home. Your children are waiting to be picked up from school but you are not allowed to drive. The rancid sweat beneath your abaya (women’s covering) offends your husband’s friends. They don’t care […]
Posted inGeneral
True marketing mavens
The year is 2011, advertising, marketing and communications agencies are beside themselves with the array of channels from which to promote and publicise their clients’ products and services. TV, radio, print, Twitter, Facebook, mobile and the list goes on. Armed with a new brief, the client calls up the agency and gets them to craft […]
Posted inGeneral
Titanic battle ahead for Boks and Wallabies
I’m currently in Cape Town, and after getting through the frequent stop and goes along the N1, the town of Colesburg (home of an awesome Wimpy breakfast and many a speed camera) was where I and a friend spent the night. Whenever travelling through the Free State, the sheer expanse and flatness of the Highveld […]
Posted inGeneral
Telephone management systems: A policing, cost-cutter or business enabler?
Telephone management systems (TMSs) have been largely under-utilised by many companies. These applications are often procured, sometimes at considerable cost, with only one objective in mind — to identify and cut unnecessary costs, while ignoring the invaluable business intelligence they can deliver. TMS systems as cost cutters TMS systems are most often used to identify […]