Thought Leader

February 26. Not a day I’ve ever associated with anything significant. It’s my niece’s birthday and it’s the day that Thriller first hit number one on the charts, but that’s all. February 26 this year seems no different from all the others. I wake up, scroll listlessly through Twitter, check my mails and think about…

The gestation period of the human being is conventionally held to be 280 days. Nine months to get used to the idea, which is a good thing, because some of us, like me, have a lot to get our heads around. Those of you who’ve read my previous musings on the subject of children will…

The world is abuzz with the news that Kate is pregnant … again! Besides the fact that most women are already jealous of her post-pregnancy blowout, why do we care? Like the five stages of grief, there is a protocol for receiving royal baby news (assuming you’re not a royalist): * Anger — Why am…

Mpho, who lives in Alex, tells me how “sugar daddies” hit the townships on weekends in their smart cars. They cruise the streets looking for young flesh. One thing the sugar daddies rely on is the teenage hunger for bling-bling. They know that teenagers crave to feel they are part of the world of glamour…

The world’s super-teacher, Ron Clark, recently told CNN how he “met a principal who was recently named as the administrator of the year in her state”. “She was loved and adored by all but she told me she was leaving the profession. I screamed ‘you can’t leave us’ and she quite bluntly replied ‘look, if…

Many of South Africa’s urban centres have a common and extremely worrying denominator – brightly coloured advertisements urging the public to visit a doctor of dubious origin for services ranging from the reconciliation of relationships, to increasing one’s sexual prowess, to what my local “doctor” advertises as “same-day abortions”. While all of these are worrying…