5FM jock Gareth Cliff recently penned, or rather, let his fingers dance on a keyboard and published a letter to the government on his website. The letter, Dear Government was a sensational hit. It was forwarded to me several times by people who to a large extent share the same views as Gareth. Since Gareth […]
News/Politics
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle, News/Politics
We’d love to hang ’em high…but we can’t
There’s one very good reason why we could never reinstate the death penalty in South Africa, and it has little to do with the Constitution as far as I’m concerned. It’s simply that we couldn’t properly trust or control a state killing machine capable of churning its way through the tens of thousands of brutal, […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics
What was Woolies thinking?
At 16:29, a News24 Breaking News Alert came through to my inbox. I was intrigued, even a little excited. Had Uncle Bob announced his imminent retirement? Was the petrol price going down by half? No, apparently it was neither of these things. Instead, the headline read: “Woolies caves in on Christian magazines.” Years from now, […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Lifestyle, News/Politics
Is your lifestyle really worth it?
Last week I watched a documentary type film called Oceans. The whole film was spectacular, but for me one piece was particularly striking. Shot underwater, looking up towards the surface, we slowly panned over what looked like a bright red satin sari. It was gliding through the water, soft yellow lines rippling across the red […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Once upon a time there was a gay American soldier…
The United States of America is one helluva weird country. On the one hand, the land of the free and home of the brave claims to be the world’s biggest, bestest democracy. Indeed, it has a crispy clean Bill of Rights and on paper everyone is equal. In practice, however, things are a wee different. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The Swazis who dare to demand democracy
You know a monarchy is feeling the heat when errant subjects face a beating with spikes. Last month, the prime minister of Swaziland, Barnabas Dlamini, threatened to use “sipakatane” — the beating of the feet with of metal or wooden spikes — to cow pro-democracy activists into submission. His comments came after a protest march […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Hit me Doctor, one more time!
I love kids. I really do, and they seem to love me too. Therefore, one day, I hope to cough up some of my very own meenee-meehs. However, too much of one thing is never good for a person, and that definitely counts for mini humans. I therefore refuse to be a baby factory. I […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Finding a system to replace Pay-as-you-steal
Let’s just unpack the logic. You pay someone. They steal your money. You then pay them more, so that they can return your stolen funds.
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
What do our okes have in common with Al Qaeda?
Who would have thought. It turns out that Al Qaeda share an appreciation for something that is at the core of South African culture: the double-cab bakkie. In this fascinating piece in Newsweek, it emerges that the Hilux is famous in war-torn regions across the world. Whether we’re talking the Taliban, Somali pirates or Iraqi […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The silence of the religious in the face of growing injustice
“What we need is a bill of rights that will protect us against predatory governments now and for the next 200 years while we try to adjust ourselves to what freedom means and to resist all attempts to take it away again — which is the nature of all governments however democratically elected they may […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Chile finally buries the ghost of Pinochet
Every school child knows that Chile is a country in South America which occupies the long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps they might also know that along with Ecuador it is one of two countries in South America which do not border Brazil. Over and above that — […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
The US, African Union and new scramble for Africa
The past few years have seen a dramatic uptick in American diplomatic efforts in Africa, which has coincided with a decisive shift in political rhetoric about the continent. At first glance this might seem like a positive development, reflecting a more progressive attitude toward what has long been considered an unimportant global backwater. But a […]