Lynley Donnelly
Lynley is a senior business reporter at the Mail & Guardian. But she has covered everything from social justice to general news to parliament - with the occasional segue into fashion and arts. She keeps coming to work because she loves stories, especially the kind that help people make sense of their world.
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/ 5 November 2007

Merit in demerits

Short-term insurers have a gleam in their eye. The department of transport’s proposed driver’s licence demerit points system could mean big gains for the industry, should it prove successful. Heavy hitters like Outsurance, Santam and Mutual & Federal would eagerly welcome a new system that would allow them to profile their customers’ portfolio and adjust individual insurance premiums according to the demerits a client racks up.

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/ 25 October 2007

A helping hand for hospices

HIV/Aids has forced all sectors of society to respond to the ravages of the epidemic — from businesses and health insurers to educational institutions. It has forced those who care for the terminally ill, our caregivers and health workers, to re-invent how they treat those living with the virus.

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/ 17 October 2007

Mentoring the future

Science is supposed to be about proof, numbers, evidence, data. Not heart — unless you’re a cardiologist. But Phil Campbell, editor-in-chief of the peerless peer-review journal, Nature, recently got soft and sentimental at the Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town as he honoured two leading South Africans for quietly doing something emotional and inspirational: nurturing the next generation of scientists.

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/ 15 October 2007

Flick a switch and make a difference

International research has shown that households can save as much as 10% of their annual electricity bill by reducing their ”phantom” power or standby power consumption. But South Africa has no research examining this energy- sucking phenomenon and shows little interest in the international community’s moves to curb standby power waste.

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/ 15 October 2007

‘The good times are back’

Nothing illustrates South Africa’s love of tata ma chance more than the reported 20 seconds it took for the first lottery ticket to be snapped up when the lotto relaunched last Friday. After the acrimonious and fraught months since the national lottery’s suspension in March its re-awarding to preferred bidder Gidani has been met with relief, especially on the part of Gidani chairperson and chief executive Dr Bongani Khumalo.

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/ 25 September 2007

Casting a net for SA skills

International countries are angling for South Africa’s skilled workers — with the country’s financial services sector one of the first waters where global recruitment companies are casting their nets. Jocelyn Rowe, a British-based recruitment company for the financial services sector, said 19 800 new financial services jobs opened up in the City of London in August.

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/ 14 September 2007

Baby R goes to Concourt

The Constitutional Court will this week hear argument that could dramatically change the system for foreigners to adopt South African children. The case for the adoption of baby R by an American couple will be argued on Tuesday in Braamfontein after the Johannesburg High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed attempts by the couple to obtain a custody and guardianship order.