William Fotheringham CYCLING Lance Armstrong was pushed into a small, but interesting Freudian slip. He was asked whether a second Tour de France victory would be harder to achieve than his first: “It’s hard to win the first because you don’t have the experience, it’s hard to win the second because you don’t have that […]
Philippa Garson class struggle It would appear that the battle for the soul of the country’s curriculum is far from over. When Minister of Education Kader Asmal took the decision to subject the African National Congress’s flagship education policy, Curriculum 2005, to independent scrutiny in February this year by appointing a review committee to look […]
Tracy McVeigh Body Language One of the world’s most revered scientists has developed a theory that fat people are happier than thin ones. James Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning geneticist who was jointly responsible for discovering the structure of DNA, believes that plumper women are also likely to enjoy a better sex life than their thin […]
Graeme Bloch crossfire When a commentator and participant of John Saul’s authority expresses his critical views in the Mail & Guardian, June 23 to 29, it is important to sit up and take notice. When these hinge on a pessimistic appraisal of the outlook for the poor and working class in South Africa, the issues […]
THE UN Security Council has approved a resolution banning trade in diamonds mined from rebel-held areas of Sierra Leone. Diamonds are the main source of revenue for the Revolutionary United Front, which had taken 500 UN peacekeepers hostage in May. Resolution 1306, proposed by Britain, passed with 14 votes and one abstention from Mali. Exempted […]
The economic modelling unit is the brains behind the Reserve Bank’s inflation targeting policy David Le Page To each age, its anathema. Idolatry, witchcraft and the plague have been succeeded by inflation and so, deep within the glass monolith of the Reserve Bank and many floors up, we have an economic modelling unit. Theirs is […]
Up to 25-million people are infected with Aids in Africa, according to the United Nations Aids Programme Khadija Magardie The continent with the highest number of people with Aids was chosen to host the 13th International Aids Conference. Altogether, there are now 16 countries in Africa in which more than one-tenth of the adult population […]
Gavin Foster MOTORCYCLING Five-time world motorcycle champion Joey Dunlop was killed during an international race at Tallinn in Estonia last week. The 48-year-old Dunlop died instantly when he slid off the rain-drenched track and hit a tree while leading during the second lap of the 125cc race on his works Honda. Dunlop was untouchable on […]
The National Arts Festival faces loss of sponsorship, while several productions on show this year investigate what it means to be male Matthew Krouse Grahamstown could do with a big cracker up its bum. One that’ll send its complacent residents scampering for answers to some pressing questions. The fact that the National Arts Festival appears […]
David Macfarlane Chronic internal conflicts, and destructive and dictatorial management styles, in the national Department of Education could seriously hinder delivery on core features of education provision at school level. The Ministry of Education has been receiving flak on policy grounds, in particular its ditching of Curriculum 2005 following the recommendations of a ministerially appointed […]