General

First, the bad news: With an estimated carbon footprint of 2,7 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the 2010 World Cup will have the largest carbon footprint of any major international sporting event (nine times higher than the World Cup in Germany in 2006 and more than twice as high as the Beijing Olympics). Fortunately, the […]

It’s quite clear that many people in South Africa actually want to make a difference but are not sure how. Most of us don’t have as much time as we’d like to but we do have some money, some of us have plenty of time but no money, some of us have a specialised skill […]

It seems nothing can be thought or written outside the context of 2010 this year — 2010 has ceased to be just the year, like other years, it has come to take upon a larger symbolic character than just a label for a year in our discourse. It feels like historical time itself, at least […]

By Vasti Roodt Another debate is upon us. Following the uproar over her snubbing of a risque art exhibition, Arts and Culture minister Lulu Xingwana has called upon South Africans to debate the line between art and pornography. We will have to find space for this new debate among various other debates that are clamouring […]

By John Capel Mining continues to drive South Africa on many fronts — economically, socially and politically. No day passes without it being in the news. Thus one would have thought that the annual Mining Indaba Conference which ended in Cape Town recently would have included in its deliberations the people whose lives are most […]

It’s the simple things in life that give us the most pleasure. The most meaning. And what can be more meaningful than sinking your teeth into the denials and accusations of Winnie M&M and the latest shenanigans of leaders like Zuma and Malema? Look at the sheer delight on Zapiro’s face as he shows off […]

The Banking 2.0 panel was so good, I thought I’d pull all the thoughts together into a post. This is more a list of trends and themes, but it’s well worth a read. Banking, gambling and porn are going to be the dominant industries on the internet (you laugh — but it’s true). And banking […]

An open letter to the minister of communications Dear Retired General, When I moved into a small flat in the suburb of Mowbray in the Cape back in 1998, when you were still in the army, I got to learn of a company called Dial-a-Bed. They way it works it can even be understood by […]

Let’s get one thing straight here, folks. David Beckham’s absence from the World Cup is probably a blessing in disguise for Fabio Capello and England’s chances. For starters, the world’s most celebrated part-time footballer was never a starting option for a serious match — he is simply over the hill. His inclusion would have sidelined […]

Why is French film important? Not only because the French, such as Auguste and Louis Lumiére — who invented the cinématographe — and Alice Guy Blaché were among the pioneers of film technology, but because as film directors and film actors/actresses, not to mention theoreticians of cinema, they have made a lasting and very influential […]

Though former president Thabo Mbeki was often guilty, to a fault, of defending his administration, nothing could have prepared South Africans for the inappropriate appointments and point-blank refusal to accept wrongdoing among those who occupy positions of power or who are allied to current President Jacob Zuma. It’s as if a totally different set of […]

So I witnessed an accident. There I was on a Friday afternoon, waiting behind a flashy black ML — as you do — indicating to turn right from Bryanston Drive into Wilton Avenue, thinking about how, when I got home, the first thing I would do is phone the doctor’s rooms to find out if […]