General

The discovery of several new planets outside of our solar system is really exciting. Why? Well the incredible astronomers working tirelessly to expand our minds and our knowledge of space have discovered another star that has similar heat and light potential as the sun. This “sun2” is surrounded by planets in its own solar system, […]

To be honest, I am glad Facebook and Twitter are not available in China. I believe there are “vays und means” to get through via proxies but agh, it is just the waste of time that gets me. I would rather be working on my various book projects, studying Chinese or pouring myself a vodka […]

By Sadiyya Sheik I recently sat in on a case presentation by a psychologist that got me thinking about human behaviour and the reasons we behave the way we do. The case presentation was that of a patient who as a result of “unmet childhood needs” was now displaying significant social dysfunction. His disastrous relationship […]

Thirty years ago, the quickest means of speaking to someone was via the use of a telephone, with perhaps a letter being the best personalised way to contact someone across the globe. The status quo today is extremely different. The Internet (with that capital “I” rightly letting us know how important it is) has changed […]

When I was editor of the Cape Times and decided in 1998 to launch a project called “One City, Many Cultures”, I knew that I needed the best people to work on it. It was going to be an editorial project for which I was going to hire some of the best writers and photographers […]

We must not ridicule nor confuse genuine emotional responses with ignorance when African Americans first land here. The ignorant ones are those amongst us who so readily dismiss this response without a moment’s pause to consider or understand the reason for the reaction. (For a while, I was in this number. I too used to […]

By Peter Church In 1992, the Sydney rain came down on a gutsy SA cricket team’s bid to win the prestigious Cricket World Cup. When Brian McMillan and Dave Richardson returned to the centre, the revised target left them with 22 runs to score off 1 ball! Since that day, the Competition Curse has consistently […]

“I got this cool joke,” I said as a group of us Scrabblers sat and sipped our coffees after an exhausting round of Scrabble at the coffee shop on Fish Hoek beach some years back. “A long time ago a Jewish couple had a baby and the father, Giuseppe, especially wanted to know what career […]

There’s this turf war going on. Cape Town versus Durban. Peeps are getting fired up, calling each other out and throwing down with the insults, the stereotypes and the cliches. Getting red in the face, tapping away on keyboards, ringing up the papers. Claiming this place is a dump or that place is a shithole. […]

Seems as if every day is Christmas in the new South Africa so why not celebrate it? South Africa’s Twelve Days of Christmas On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me: A medical parole sans amnesty On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Two police stays […]

Some articles have appeared recently on Thought Leader with regard to “China taking over the world”. It is also big in the current literature, for example Martin Jaques’s recent When China Rules the World. The key word there, of course, is “when”, not “if”. The book to some extent explores the “how”, and, to state […]

“Cosatu has called for a full investigation into the A400M military transport plane deal, which will reportedly cost the taxpayer an extra R30-billion. Spokesman Patrick Craven said on Friday the trade union federation was outraged at what he called “another arms deal scandal” which could cost South Africans R47-billion. “The deal, negotiated by the Armscor […]