There may be few greater contributions we can make to democracy in this country right now than to explain the difference between a democratic government and a business. Comparing government to a business has become popular among supporters of President Thabo Mbeki. They repeatedly dismiss criticism of both the firing of deputy health minister Nozizwe […]
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Posted inNews/Politics
Dear Mr Zuma: So what’s your next move?
Dear Mr Zuma My excitement has gone beyond fever pitch and well into the realms of renal failure in anticipation of just how you are going to steal the limelight back from the Pres. You must admit he’s been pretty darn shrewd firing old “prosecute-and-be-damned-Pikoli” so soon after getting at that attention from firing the […]
Posted inLifestyle
All of us are racists
Race is not a subject that South Africans talk about easily and readily, and I think that this particularly the case with white South Africans. The other day I was presenting a lecture on race at what used to be known as Pentech but now is known as the Bellville campus of the Cape Peninsula […]
Posted inLifestyle
Masters of our domain
In the days before mass communication and globalisation and extremely fast air travel turned our world into a shoebox (metaphorically speaking, of course) it was easy enough to be master of your domain. Kill a few wild animals. Perfect the art of the slow-cooked pheasant. Tell a particularly good fireside tale. Hell, even make fire […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Face it, adult men are uncaring scum
This piece of politically-correct tripe was South Africa’s contribution to a UN waffle-fest on climate change recently: Women and children are particularly vulnerable to the devastating effects of climate change….
Posted inLifestyle
The Knackered Chef
Since my public admission (on this website) about my non-existent handyman skills, I’ve recently been challenged on another essential “must have” before I can officially call myself a “millennium man”, but this one I refuse to take on the chin! According to my wife, I can’t cook, but picture, if you will, the following scene […]
Posted inLifestyle
The all-New Novel Life (and barking dogs named Brunhilde)
So I’ve had me an epiphany. A three-week-old epiphany, but when epiphanies come a-knocking I don’t like to refuse them. Instead of rabbiting on about life and love and everything else (which is, in fact, what I do on my daily blog — www.blog.bridgetmcnulty.com), I’m going to stick to my word (or words, in my […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
Why is cricket still a white preserve?
If anyone asks you what you think of our national cricket team, reply with Gandhi’s famous words about Western civilisation: it would be a very good idea. Fifteen years after this country re-entered world cricket after apartheid, its cricketers took the field against New Zealand the other day with precisely two black players out of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why the ANC needs to cleanse itself
The ANC needs to cleanse itself like the ocean. If it does not do that, then the rest of us and our dreams are doomed. The bloodletting in this movement that carries the aspirations of the African people in our country needs to come to an end so that the delivery of key basic services […]
Posted inGeneral
Can paedophiles be funny?
If you haven’t ever heard of Chris Langham, you’re missing out. He was the comic genius behind the toe-curlingly-delicious spoof documentaries People Like Us. In that series he took the role of investigative journalist Roy Mallard, and made “documentaries” about seemingly normal people and situations. It was understated, nuanced British comedy at its best. He […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Cliff Jennings, lonelygirl15: We’re all playing characters anyway, so why the fuss?
I must have been napping during the class on ethics in marketing, because I don’t understand the reason for the furor over the Cliff Jennings/Idols saga in South Africa. This has happened before, is happening as I sit here and will certainly become more prevalent in the future. In May 2006, a 1:32 webcam video […]
Posted inLifestyle
There is no painless way to murder a book, but it must be done
For the past 10 years I have been trying to read Umberto Eco’s The Island of the Day Before and, although it is not a particularly long book, reading it from cover to cover has been a bitter struggle. First, some context: Eco is my favourite author, regardless of how pretentious that makes me sound. […]