General

By Matthew Tagg Figures from the IDC show that piracy went up a percentage point in SA between 2007 and 2008 — amounting to R3.1 billion in industry losses. While many people justifiably bemoan the spiralling piracy rates occurring across the world, it’s unlikely that we will see any changes in the numbers without a radical […]

As always I’ve been reading columnists from around the world and came across two lads bitching about pretty much the same thing. Firstly our own Dave Bullard who calls political correctness the curse of the chattering classes while Mark Steyn — who writes for far too many publications to mention here — was going on […]

I don’t think being rescued after nine weeks underground with 32 friends from work makes you a hero. I once spent an entire long weekend holed up in a beach house in Hermanus with 10 buddies and no one called us heroes when we got home. This is what men do — we try to […]

“If music be the food of love, play on!” With these opening words of Twelfth Night, Shakespeare captured an essential bond between two things without which no human being should have to do, but — at least in the case of the latter — many people regrettably often have to do without. Nietzsche once observed […]

By Nomfundo Walaza I first questioned the notion of “keeping the peace” several years ago while I was still practising as a psychologist. A refugee girl, who was sexually abused by her adoptive parent, was referred to me for counselling. She believed that her adoptive “mother” knew, about the abuse, but did not want to […]

The global economy is poised for a full-blown “currency war”, where countries deliberately devalue their currencies in order to boost exports and stimulate economic growth. At the recent IMF and G7 meeting in Washington, the IMF’s call for a ceasefire between the two main combatants, the US and China, failed. IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned […]

Epochs can defined by many different things: an era-changing event, a ground-breaking personality or a shift in dominance from one party to another that takes place over a gradual period of time which often crosses the finish line via what would normally be construed as a meaningless event. For the Cold War, it was the […]

1. John Mitchell: “I won’t let this deter my commitment or passion for the team. But I need to make sure that I am totally secure where I live. It is not at all nice waking up and having to defend your life.” 2. Peter de Villiers: “The guys have come back refreshed and hungry […]

By Gareth Knight New international submarine communication cables are starting to ring the continent, bringing with them the promise of cheaper broadband across the continent. That means Africa will soon have the infrastructure to compete more effectively in the online space than it did in the past. But Africa has missed out on several years […]

Nokia was kind enough to send me some rad bluetooth headphones, and more importantly, a R200 gift voucher for the Nokia Ovi Store (the artist formerly known as The Nokia Music Store). I did a quick interview with Jake Larsen when the store launched a couple of years ago, so I was keen to take […]

There are a number of regular commentators on Thought Leader who write as much as the bloggers do. Some are clever and witty and make relevant points that further a blog or challenge what the blogger wrote. Many also make nasty, snide, irrelevant remarks that have no bearing on the blog. I notice that some […]