General

“Racism is a subject that people often seek to avoid, it being deemed too politically embarrassing, any suggestion of its existence often eliciting a response of outraged indignation and immediate denial. Yet it is central to the discourse of most, if not all, societies.” So writes Martin Jacques in his recent book When China Rules […]

Earlier this afternoon, (it’s a Sunday, and I last watched a Formula 1 Grand Prix when I was nine years old and Nelson Piquet was still around), I found myself, as usual, collating material for my chapter on Jacob Zuma, Helen Zille and the Wild Whore Libido, when I happened across this quote from fellow […]

Lionel Faull They came to Grahamstown from all over Africa — from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Gabon, Zambia, Zim — and from all over South Africa, too. Thirty-seven bright young things — all alumni of the coveted Mandela Rhodes Scholarship, Madiba’s intervention to create exceptional leadership capacity in Africa. They brought some pretty amazing speakers with […]

The Prosperity of our Potential, or Poop — as I have named it — marks the beginning of my foray into the world of humour and satire. I hope that people will be less offended than I expect them to be and I invite all of you to read it and comment here. I have […]

Well well well. As much as we wanted to believe SA Rugby about the Southern Kings’ chances of making it into the expanded Super 15, there was always a little voice in the back of our minds, referred to as Cynical Sam (as mentioned to me by a friend), who knew otherwise. The Southern Kings […]

By Guy Taylor The emotions that drive us are strange things, anger over the dehumanisation of Caster Semenya, fear of an unknown East taking over an unfit West, and hope for a better day, and a better land that we love. Yes I’m an ardent patriot, doing what I feel is necessary to change the […]

I have many male friends who really enjoy presenting me with suspicious sexist articles to see how I feel. Normally I take the bait and can’t resist seeing what has been cooked up by some male wally with the aim of discrediting women. But I must say that I got a real giggle out of […]

By Roger Diamond. Let me be clear — I am not a climate change denialist. But given the chance, that we all have, of selecting something meaningful to do with our lives, to leave a positive legacy or at least to reduce the negative impacts of our consumptive lifestyle, pick something tangible and manageable. Climate […]

First Laugh on Friday Dear Mme Angie, I noticed that you waltzed into parliament late when President Zuma visited the house last week and spoke of the challenges facing our education system. I am sure you had a good reason other than Prof Jonathan Jansen’s widely publicised remarks and totally unjustified conclusion that you are […]

The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report for 2009/2010 was released a few days ago and it reveals that South Africa has maintained its 45th spot among 133 countries assessed. It may be reason to feel rather chuffed with ourselves that despite the global economic turmoil, we have managed to retain our position among economies […]

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that YouTube is talking to major US film studios about offering movie rentals on the international video site. Speculation suggests they would charge about $3.99 (roughly R30 as of this writing) for on-demand movie downloads. After spending several billion dollars on YouTube (including the $1.65 billion purchase price), and differing […]

This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Is there any justification for ministers driving top-of-the-range cars?