General

Later today, history will be made when, for the first time, a South African journalist will be punished for blogging. A hearing is due to be held at Avusa (formerly Johnnic Communications) at 3pm today (Thursday) to decide the fate of a Sowetan sub-editor, who has been found guilty of ”gross misconduct” for what he […]

There is a new technology in our midst, and once again old-school thinking is about to get a serious shake-up. Kindle is a new gadget, available from Amazon.com, that allows digital books to be downloaded and read on the go. The device is sexy, smart and intuitive. It also apparently offers a very good reading […]

These are interesting times for those of us in the business of explaining South Africa to rest of the world. Here’s what our current politics look like to someone who reads the Washington Post or the New York Times and listens to National Public Radio (that would be your high-end United States news consumer): The […]

There is no question that David Irving, the convicted Holocaust denier, and Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, espouse views that are abhorrent and even dangerous. There is also no question of my distancing myself unequivocally from their views. Notwithstanding, they have been invited to address a debate on free speech at Oxford […]

The trouble with blogs is that you have to be opinionated. That is, you have to have opinions. And observations. And comments. And when you live your life (as I do) in a charming little bubble far removed from current affairs, the news, sport, politics, business and all other Opinionated Sectors, it becomes a bit […]

Just to have some fun, here are some predictions by more or less famous people about all sorts of things. One thing this list teaches us is to be careful when saying “never”! When I wrote an article on the death of the PC, several people shot back at me that the PC would never […]

I have just put down of Mark Gevisser’s Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred and I have to say I am disappointed, but only because the end came too soon — I thought I had at least a chapter to go, but in fact the pages under my fingers were the 90-odd pages of footnotes, bibliography […]

John Mearsheimer, professor of political science at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard, published what they have styled a working paper (updated from 2002 through 2007) on the Israel lobby and its effect on US foreign policy. The March 2006 version may be seen here. The latest version […]

Humans are notoriously, if understandably, self-centred. It takes long years of education to teach children to consider the needs of others, and even then the struggle between narcissism and altruism continues unabated. At present, we live under economic conditions, known as neo-liberal consumer capitalism, that promote self-interest rather than consideration of others. Unfortunately, since the […]

Decades ago, renowned British novelist, John Fowles, wrote in a rare work of non-fiction, The Aristos, that “having, not being, governs our time”. In this sometimes startling statement of his personal philosophy, he further observed that “the great driving obsession of the last 150 years … is money”. This obsession, he further claimed, is “the […]

We used to have to stare around the room uncomfortably in awkward social situations. Now we have the cellphone — an endless tool of distraction and exclusion in any place, at any time, in any situation that demands discomfort. Waiting rooms bloom cellphones like tumours. Even if there’s nothing doing on said phone — no […]