The scientific community is at odds with itself over the question of whether neutrinos are in fact faster than the speed of light. Some annoyed scientists are even suggesting that the recent experiment between a particle accelerator at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) in Switzerland and the Gran Sasso underground laboratory in Italy, […]
South Africa
Posted inGeneral
Budgeting for HIV: Let’s not forget what hangs in the balance
This past week has definitely had us pulling out our calculators and knotting our eyebrows as we tried to scrutinise the numbers, analyse the figures, and work out what the increases and decreases (and haircuts) of the 2012 national budget will mean for our own pockets. Ofcourse, I being the medic that I am (and […]
Posted inGeneral
Helping stir South Africans’ consciences
That most complex economic relationship — between domestic helper and employer — is well scrutinised in The Help, Kathryn Stockett’s New York Times bestselling book that is also a film with the same name. The Help depicts the usually fraught relationships between women who worked as domestics and those in whose homes they worked in […]
Posted inGeneral
None but the poor can save themselves
Poverty is not a priority problem in this country. In fact, it does not deserve the status that it has been given. What is needed is to provide for the material needs of the poor through infrastructure-building and inspirational messages. It is enough that that is being is done. The black poor cannot continue to […]
Posted inGeneral
Iran and World War III
Geopolitics is generally a complex issue to tackle, mainly because it is highly speculative, with a lot of determinations resting on what each country’s intelligence chooses to tell us. Even more tricky is the fact that each country has strategic interests that are, more often than not, the be-all and end-all of their foreign policy […]
Posted inGeneral
You have the right to fart silently but violently
Thought Leader’s Sarah Britten has requested us to kindly write a piece on why we love the South African Constitution and then ask you lot to do the same via Facebook, Twitter, SMSing 078 949 3735 or going to the website www.wethepeople.org.za. Apparently her group are trying to get 1 million South Africans to tell […]
Posted inGeneral
The dilemma of race
By Guy Chennells This article is in continuation of a debate that I must admit I’ve only partly followed. It’s about race and being South African. If you know what you’re going to say in response already, this is not for you. If you feel a gnawing hunger for an unsure offering, like it’s a […]
Posted inBusiness
How to use economic indicators
Last week’s post introduced the concept of economic indicators and why you should pay attention to them. This week’s post explains how to actually use them. As a general rule, with most indicators, you must look for four things: movement, magnitude, trends and context. Each of these tells you something interesting, but you only get […]
Posted inGeneral
Who am I?
I was born at Mamelodi Day Hospital in 1985. At a time when the apartheid government was getting anxious about the longevity of their antics, when the people were realising that perhaps they could really beat this thing, when everyone, white and black alike, could feel that the air was different. There were many of us […]
Posted inEquality
Why unequal gender relations are bad for everyone
Bathing in the warm, fuzzy glow of pay day, my boyfriend and I decided to head out for a drink this past Friday evening. We had set out later than planned, and it was a dark but warm night. The roads were busy, and we made our way from Illovo towards Melville via Parkhurst. The […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Can men lead the women’s movement?
As many of you have heard, there was further violence against women at the Noord Street Taxi rank earlier this month. Two young women were assaulted by a mob of violent men, justified by the premise that they shouldn’t have been wearing revealing clothing. We have been here before, and this violence is evidence that […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
How to occupy the world
The leading tagline of the Occupy Wall Street movement reads: “Protest for world revolution.” This is an ambitious claim. In most respects it seems to ring quite true: the movement has successfully taken root not only in cities and towns throughout the United States but also in major urban centres around the world. On October […]