If taken in earnest, blogging provides a generous platform for research. Generous because responses are free, and, while the “research” can hardly be called scientific, it is a toe-tip test of the pool’s swimmability. In my relatively short (though, may I say, rather spectacular) adventure in the blogosphere, I have gained insights I would have […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics, Tech
Web 2.008
Here’s what I think 2008 holds. Because I’m an ignorant bastard who avoids newspapers and television and gets all my news from opinionated friends, my list can hardly be called well researched. Still, here it is. 1. Hillary Listen, whatever you may think of Hillary Clinton (South Africans, by and large, don’t seem to care […]
Posted inBusiness, General, Lifestyle, News/Politics
Talent is the new oil — why SA is running on empty
“Talent is the new oil and demand far outstrips supply,” executive search firm Heldrick & Struggles, in partnership with the Economist intelligence unit, noted in its Global Talent Index released late last year. But South Africa is getting it wrong if it wants to become globally competitive.
Posted inNews/Politics
South Africa — a worst-case scenario
Professor Steven Friedman, in his article on the potential direction of South African politics during 2008, looked at four possible scenarios pursuant to the charging of ANC president Jacob Zuma. Like his astute assessments at Polokwane, where his analysis alongside Justice Malala was most welcome, his knowledge on the mechanics of democracy and the South […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Alive with possibility?
Recently my cellphone rang. I couldn’t recognise the number. It was very long, but I answered apprehensively anyway. “Hey, Dad!” a familiar voice boomed, “I am standing here in First Street, United States, with my arm around my gorgeous wife and looking down at Cinderella’s Castle.
Posted inNews/Politics
Mbeki’s exit strategy allied to a tricky Zuma precedent
With more than 130 dead in the aftermath of the Kenyan elections and Pakistan going through a maelstrom post-Benazir Bhutto, it is in the interests of all South Africans that president Thabo Mbeki map out an exit strategy sooner rather than later. I am not suggesting early elections but rather a measure of certainty being […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics, Sport
Generalisations of the year
Everybody knows generalisations are the heartbeat of truth. Leonard Cohen, the greatest living poet, said: “Everybody knows the dice are loaded, everybody rolls with their fingers crossed, everybody knows that the war is over, everybody knows that the good guys lost.” So the panel of pundits at TopEditor have put together the generalisations of 2007 […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Politics in 2008: The good, the bad and the likely
One of the few certainties about our politics is that things usually do not turn out nearly as bad, or as good, as we expect. The signs suggest that the political drama that the re-charging of Jacob Zuma will spark in 2008 will broadly follow this pattern. So prepare for neither doomsday nor Utopia as […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics, Sport, Tech
2008: A sneaky preview
Here’s what the coming year has in store for us, courtesy of Nostradamus’s greasy little ball. In January Saru announces what they call a “compromise candidate” to take over the role of Springbok coach. It is Andre Markgraaff, the former disgraced coach of telephone-tap/racist-comments fame.
Posted inNews/Politics
Is Zuma Forrest Gump with a ‘sheeple’ following?
[Disclaimer: The author of this blog has never studied politics, journalism or any other discipline remotely useful in analyzing the ANC conference or any other political situation. Furthermore, he has been spotted at the student union canteen typing furiously on his PC in between healthy gulps of beer. Believe his pseudo-analysis at you own risk.] […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Living in interesting times
There is a Chinese curse about living in interesting times, and that has certainly been the case in South Africa this past year. The year 2007 will no doubt go down in South Africa as the year of Jacob Zuma. Internationally there were some other major events, such as the assassination of former Pakistani prime […]
Posted inBusiness, General, Lifestyle, News/Politics, Tech
Ten Predictions for 2008
Hillary Clinton will become the 44th US president on November 4 2008 and if she is wise and the world is fortunate she will select Barack Obama as her vice-president or appoint him to a senior position dealing with internal US policies. The world will shift intense and expensive efforts focused on HIV and Aids […]