“South Africa needs a lot of love at the moment…” It is easy to react to Lucky Dube’s murder with outrage and grief. It is right to do so. I would also wish to celebrate the life of a friend. It is appropriate to do so in this blog, because Lucky Dube was an unheralded […]
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Posted inLifestyle, Sport
What crazy rituals will you be performing come Saturday?
One of my favourite human behavioural idiosyncrasies is the level to which we all delude ourselves about our perceived rationality. Rubbish. Our “rationality” is at the same level as that of poultry. We might not bury our heads in the sand physically, but we sure do it inside our brains. One of the manifestations of […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Free expression means nothing if it’s limited to the media
Steven Friedman wrote a brilliant post, “The people our national debate does not see or hear”. I began writing a comment in response to his post, but then realised it was too long and needed a post of its own. Steven is absolutely correct. Too many of us who are involved in the media in […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The people our national debate does not see or hear
Do our public commentators know nothing about the lives of grassroots South Africans? Or do we simply not care? One of the more important plusses of our democracy is that we still have a loud and vigorous national debate. Despite worrying signs that politicians might want to reign in the media, we are often able […]
Posted inBusiness
An hour with Lood Bester
Meet the man who is revolutionising the motor-car salvage industry and a Blue Bulls fan to boot. Traps (T): Tell me a bit about Ludewikus Bester. Lood (L): I matriculated at Lichtenburg High, having spent most of my school days at boarding schools in Pretoria. I’m 36 years old, married to a wonderful girl, Aldurette, […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle
What’s for supper tonight? Ask Arnold
Somewhere a computer is quietly thinking about you. It is deciding what you want for supper tonight and sending instructions to trucks and warehouses to make sure that your local Woolworths can sell it to you. It is basing its thoughts on a whole range of factors — weather patterns (thanks, Al Gore), holidays (Eid, […]
Posted inMedia
Leave whoever took Manto’s records; our political health is at stake
Who makes the judgement call about what resources to deploy in a police investigation, and then whether to pursue a prosecution? Because whoever did so in the case of the Sunday Times leadership, who are now apparently facing prosecution, seems to have been motivated by reasons that go beyond sheer law enforcement. And sheer logic. […]
Posted inSport
Brian Ashton to be rewarded?
Barely weeks after the English media were telephoning vets across England to ascertain the price of having their coach spayed comes the heartwarming story of the English RFU’s decision to extend his contract. Wonderful news, which means I can now throw away my copy of Dr Alan Cresswell’s report. The vet from Bath was waffling […]
Posted inLifestyle
Have you started your own I-can-moer-my-kids-if-I-want-to stokvel?
Have you heard the latest from that congregation of wise heads who are busy formulating the new Children’s Act? Apparently if I should inadvertently (hypothetically speaking, of course) roundhouse-kick my son in the jaw and knock his back-chatting behind out, it will cost me R300. I hate hearing news like this because I’m never sure […]
Posted inSport
Mark Boucher: Potential fulfilled
Potential. It’s often that little bit of something that many of us possess, but never maximise. An ingredient or two that steers us in a particular direction, begging to be fostered, nurtured and ultimately acted upon. Often it’s latent ability, so obvious that to consign it to the scrapheap of “unfulfilled potential” would be a […]
Posted inGeneral
Jesus is a myth: The atheism debate revisited (part two)
In my previous post I argued that the question of God’s existence is largely an unsolvable one and that, in that limited sense, we must all allow the possibility that there is such an entity in the universe (or not). Which brings me to the other big question: 2. Is the Bible true? Bundled into […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Blogging Player of the Week: What a schmuck!
The first blogger I knew didn’t call himself a blogger, because the word hadn’t yet been invented. Once, in the dawn of internet time, Roy Blumenthal was at the helm of “a hare-brained art prank” called Dirty Laundry, in which he created a web page asking people to send their dirty laundry to him for […]