An important international company in the web space recently discovered one of my blog posts and contacted me to tell me that I jeopardised the potential for future cooperation with it by being critical of it in my posts. I didn’t think I was being critical of the company, but it didn’t think so. This […]
News/Politics
Posted inNews/Politics
Obama Barack’s Clinton while Giuliani’s a Rudy lefty thingy
With all the runners in this year’s “November nominate a handicapped juvenile stakes” heading for the starting stalls, the Republican candidacy remains wide open while the Democrats are all trying to mount a challenge on clear favourite Hillary Clinton. Don’t let me catch anyone sniggering — Hillary and I happen to share the same views […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
A meanie in iRhini?
Thabo Mbeki has thrown a spanner into the Bafana Bafana works by suggesting that the national team change its name. “Boys, boys” just ain’t good enough for a national side. (Perhaps it’s time that somebody pointed out that the players themselves ain’t good enough for a national side. Ouch!) It’s not the first time the […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Info Scandal II
It’s a peaceful and sunny Sunday morning, but the morning news is once again troubling. The president’s men are, reportedly, hoping to buy Johnnic Communications, publisher of the Sunday Times. All of it.
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Mini-budget, mighty implications and the wooden spoon
I once heard Trevor Manuel say: “Let me take out my wooden spoon and stir.” Finally, I realised where his staff learned to use the phrase. Imitation is, after all, the highest form of flattery. It usually means that someone in the National Treasury is going to raise a controversial issue, with all the confidence […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Lying, traitorous blackguards …
It’s Friday and into my mailbox pops the words of another famous blogger. Herewith the words of El Presidente … To remind all of us of what it means to be a member of the ANC, at our 2005 National General Council, I quoted the Oath contained in the ANC Constitution, to which all ANC […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Margaret Legum: Thought Leader extraordinaire
In the traffic this morning, I was saddened to learn of the death of Margaret Legum. Margaret was an advocate for new economics. Her columns in newspapers provided a rare view that we could be doing better, and a view completely “out of the box”. In fact, her book is titled It Does Not Have […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
The best symbol of a united nation
Tuesday midday in GP: A R29 “business lunch special” at a Chinese restaurant in Rosebank with a colleague followed by filter coffee and baklava at Fournos around the corner. And as I used my finger to wipe the last drops of honey from the plate, I sighed in satisfaction: “What is this life if, full […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
SA’s press council: Public watchdog or (government) bloodhound?
Government’s constituency is highly irked by recent coverage, said Essop Pahad, Minister in the Presidency, on Thursday. “In the ANC, there are very, very, very strong views about how the media has been dealing with the ANC. There is real anger. The question is whether this will spill over to regulation — the answer is […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Let’s hear it for SABC management
Hands up who thought I was being sarcastic. Sorry to disappoint. Eddie Funde and Dali Mpofu, respectively chairman and CEO of the South African public broadcaster, are right on the money with their latest statements.
Posted inNews/Politics
Trading insults: Khulumani, Korman, Maduna, Mabandla
When the Khulumani Support Group’s appeal against the dismissal of its international lawsuit (Khulumani et al v Barclays et al) was granted recently, the decision was not, as implied by most reports, unanimous. The dissenting judge (in three parts of the judgment), Judge Edward Korman, stated that “[the] lawsuit [is] an insult to the post-apartheid, […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Royal blackmailed in gay sex video’s name withheld — well, sort of
If you want to guarantee the identity of a high-profile individual being revealed, then please ensure you take the following steps: 1. Obtain a gagging order in their country of origin. 2. Warn the media and the internet community of dire consequences if they infringe it. 3. Inundate the British media with tidbits concerning the […]