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Perestroika, SA style

After eight years of the theatre of the absurd ordinary South Africans generally welcomed Kgalema Motlanthe’s address to the nation as a breath of sanity. After the denialism, delusions and paranoia of the Mbeki era, simple commonsense and goodwill has rarely sounded so good. But while we count our blessings, a note of caution should […]

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What is democracy?

Recent events in South Africa have resurrected the age-old question of democracy. What is it? What does it mean to say, ever so glibly, that democracy is ‘the rule of the people’? Putting it that way does not necessarily mean ‘the rule of the people by the people’, but could easily reflect a docile kind […]

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Our time is coming …

The latest Human Science Research Council survey reveals that white South Africans are worried about the success of the 2010 World Cup. However, the survey also indicates “this by no means implies that they care less about hosting the mega event”. Furthermore, “at least 95% of white South Africans have consistently perceived there to be […]

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Football — stuck in the Dark Ages?

http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/Respect/ Football used to be a simple affair. Eleven fit young men from around the way would go down to the park on weekends and square off against another collective from another locale. The game would be played in high spirits and with goodwill all round, the ref would be a quiet authority on the […]

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Twitter: damned if you follow, damned if you don’t

I love Twitter. But I’m starting to fall very much out of love with some of the tweets that pop up in my stream. Yes, obviously, Twitter offers us a quicker, less formal, real-time version of email. And yes, it’s gone way beyond its original plan to publish everyone’s answer to “what are you doing?” […]

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Who knows what’s gonna happen next!

At least these guys are consistent in their inconsistency. Last week Arsenal did the hard bit and beat Bolton away, looking the business as their slick passing game beat the Bolton bruisers. Liverpool had drifted and drawn at home to Stoke. And Manchester City had thrilled all and sundry against a hapless Portsmouth. Fast forward […]

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Google SA — nothing to blog about

After seeing the decidedly deluxe and off-beat design of the Google Zurich office that has made the rounds of the internet, it is vaguely disappointing to see this blog post about Google South Africa’s sales office. Google Zurich reeks of money and Euro-hip design which seems entirely appropriate for Google in Switzerland. Schedule a meeting […]