General

Leo Tolstoy wrote War and Peace, arguably one of the most celebrated pieces of fiction in the Western world. War and Peace is a story, grossly simplified, about five aristocratic families and how Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812, including the spectre of the invasion itself, goes about bringing change to the Tsarist society, which […]

By Danny Glenwright Desmond Tutu is a dishonest bigot. At least according to a group of 350 or so South Africans who recently took time out of their lives to put their names to a petition calling for Tutu to be removed as patron of South African Holocaust centres. It’s the funniest thing I’ve read […]

I did not applaud the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) when they called for the lowering of marking standards for black students especially in matric. A strong regional branch in KwaZulu-Natal asked that examination markers understand that black students are not only taught in a foreign language but come from poor backgrounds. Why? That […]

Mamelodi Sundowns had it all going for them, a healthy lead at the top of the log table and they were playing some good football. Even in matches where they didn’t play well they managed to get the desired results. It is said that champions are made of such qualities. But as things stand at […]

By Steven Hussey Francis Collins, the lead scientist of the Human Genome Project, has in a recommendable book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief argued for rational harmony between science and faith. The “language” that he refers to is of course the human DNA sequence. But if you were expecting (as […]

By Cynthia Ayeza Mutabaazi The world of physical abuse is one of the most annoying I have ever encountered, mostly because it is protected by both the accused and abused. Imagine having to tell your girlfriends that your boyfriend assaulted you? For many girls and women, the shame that comes with knowing you were so […]

When Sentletse threatened to respond to my post (“Africans are humans too“) I packed my bags in a state of panic and headed into the mountains, Cathedral Peak in the Central Drakensberg to be precise, to escape this particular “swart gevaar“. I had naturally revised my entire first week of 2011 because of my typical […]

It would seem even the dumb criminal fraternity is geared towards starting off the new year on a productive note. Just this week there have been two incidents of crime which have made a strong bid for the 2011 Dumbest Crime/Criminal of the Year Award — award to be presented by M Trapido at a […]

By Steven Hussey Perhaps the most breathtaking scientific revelation is that of our origins: the dawn of the universe 13.7 billion years ago, the first single-celled organisms 3.5 billion years ago, and the kaleidoscope of multicellular life (and their demise) over the last 550 million years. Darwin’s On the Origin of Species has inconvenienced religious fundamentalists since 1859, […]

The functional evolution of social network platforms has allowed the most successful among them (notably Facebook and Twitter) to become channels for integrated customer engagement via the web. Social both integrates multiple previously separate channels (web, mobile, email etc) and boasts increasingly advanced integrated functionality, thanks to its success in attracting developer and user interest. […]

By Dr E V Rapiti I fully support the views of Professor Sean Davison on euthanasia and his intention to set up an organisation to assist the terminally ill to die in dignity. I am sure that there are many that would support him but they remain silent fearing the reprisals by the small group […]

By Jane Madembo The first lady of Zimbabwe, Grace Mugabe, was in the papers again recently. She is suing the Zimbabwean Standard newspaper US $15 million. The Standard published a story based on a report from the WikiLeaks US embassy cables, which alleged that the first lady was involved in illegal diamond trafficking. There is nothing […]