Candice apologised for her son Amo. He was, she said, just hyperactive. He was destroying my home and possessions, and spreading my tools round the whole house. I grabbed my two little pull-back toy cars, sat myself on the floor and we played for 20 minutes, until I became bored. He concentrated on making the […]
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Posted inNews/Politics
The insecurity dilemma faced by Zimbabwe’s ruling elite
Reflecting on the crisis in Zimbabwe, one is immediately struck by the preoccupation of most commentators with President Robert Mugabe and the land reform programme. Many have touted the confluence of these two issues as the main drivers of that country’s political, economic and humanitarian woes. This particular perspective, which is most dominant in the […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
West Texas polygamist sect ranch – Whatever happened to great pick-up lines?
It’s funny how people see things so differently. To me my girlfriend is the most beautiful, caring, kind-hearted and special woman in the world – but to my wife she’s… Mind you I’m sure the police weren’t laughing when they removed hundreds of children from a ranch in Texas recently. According to the Houston Chronicle […]
Posted inTech
Science for sustainability!
I confess that gadgets in sci-fi and ‘spy vs. spy’ movies have always intrigued me. You have to admit that some of these ‘inventions’ are quite novel and innovative, and play quite an important element to the success of the movie. It is difficult not to marvel at the idea of being beamed from one […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Is piracy immoral?
In a time when the latest album or movie is available, for free, to anyone, from your desktop, where is the incentive to hand over money for the identical item? Is it a moral imperative? And what is the moral issue? The line that we’re constantly being fed by the copyright folks is simple: piracy […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Letter about Lhasa
I remember a time not so long ago when one could pick up T-shirts in the markets of cities in India and Nepal embossed with a very colourful flag and the words “Free Tibet”. The markets are still there, as is the clothing and the flags, but the word “free” seems largely to have been […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Tired of being tired
It was a Friday afternoon in Manesar – about an hour southwest of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport – and I was filled with dread at the thought of another two days of conferencing. It was day one of a “Global South Dialogue” on access to essential medicines, one of my areas of expertise, and […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
I’m proud of our unions today
A few weeks ago, in my editorial on the Skills Portal newsletter, I complained about union calls for an additional public holiday. Leaders of union federations were writing letters to Thabo Mbeki and holding interviews with the media, all for one extra day’s holiday. With all the social challenges we face in our country, was […]
Posted inGeneral
Is religion the new social evil? Pope on the slippery slope?
In a poll conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in the United Kingdom, faith — defined here not as limited to extremism but rather in the broadest possible terms — was considered to be tantamount to “intolerance, irrational behaviour and the basis for justifying persecution”. Many of those polled not only believed that faith was […]
Posted inLifestyle
African beauty is not in the hands of the beholder …
Submitted by Cynthia Ayeza There was a time that I believed that the idea behind the Nokia Face of Africa was brilliant as it inspired young girls to get into modelling careers. The show inevitably gave a limited variety of girls the opportunity to compete more on a physical level than on an intellectual level. […]
Posted inGeneral
Brains think, skin doesn’t
The race card: Frequently used among South Africans from all backgrounds to express their disapproval in an argument, debate or discussion with a person from another race. The race-card is usually flashed in case of significant or arbitrary differences of opinion between one or more individuals. The object exists in various shapes, sizes and, of […]
Posted inGeneral
Another take on human fulfilment and happiness
There are, indeed, many ways of addressing the issue of human happiness, and even in the work of one particular thinker one encounters more than one set of concepts to do so. In my previous posting, I looked at Martin Heidegger’s notion of the existential structure of being-human (thrownness, projection and falling) in relation to […]