Khadija Magardie BODY LANGUAGE One of the funniest “girlie” scenes in a modern movie was in the 1992 hit comedy My Cousin Vinny. The movie revolves around mechanic-turned-lawyer who has to defend a relative accused of murder. In the now legendary scene, Marisa Tomei’s character, Mona Lisa Vito, is complaining to her boyfriend, Vinny (Joe […]

Much of government is hidden, with many officials inaccessible and unknown except to people within their own ministries and departments. Particularly because of the recent large turnover in the director generals of most departments, it has become even more difficult to establish which officials are influential. Many of these advisers have only been appointed since […]

Howard Barrell OVER A BARREL Are the South African working classes about to get the kind of leadership they need? Yes, if we are not being misled. For the signs are there that the leadership of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) may be giving up on bombast in favour of intelligent engagement […]

The Mail & Guardian apologises to its readers in the Northern Province who did not receive a copy of the November 5 to 11 edition of the newspaper. Unfortunately, the guide and driver of Allied Distibutors were involved in motor vehicle accident en route to Pietersburg, from where the M&G was to be distributed. The […]

Adrian Searle Aaargh! Tracey’s menstrual knickers. Not that I’ve got a problem with Tracey Emin’s undies as such, but it’s such a Tracey thing to put them on show at the Tate Gallery in London. Emin’s Bed is the first thing you see, right there in the centre of the gallery in her Turner prize […]

Andy Capostagno Rugby World Cup A week has come and gone and the assessments of the fourth Rugby World Cup are still at wide variance. There are the familiar voices of the traditionalists maintaining that all the games (bar England versus Tonga when the bus was late) started on time, a total of 1,75- million […]

A group of Swedish artists are set to tour the country from November 20, reports Riaan Wolmarans The Swedes are coming, and no, this is not another illegal alien story. From November 20 to 28, the Sweden South Africa Partnership will take place throughout South Africa. This initiative, endorsed by the governments of the two […]

Cameron Duodu LETTER FROM THE NORTH In India, they called him “Marshall Law”. And with good reason. In a Test match at Kanpur in 1983, he took four wickets in each innings. And made 92 with the bat in an innings. An Indian cricket fan vividly remembers the two newspaper headlines that described the event […]

Howard Barrell The Commonwealth Summit in Durban is being dominated by a confidential internal report saying the organisation should increase its powers to act against member states for human rights abuses. The document would pave the way for action against the governments of countries like Cameroon, Kenya and Zimbabwe if they did not improve their […]

Barry Streek Despite pending gun control legislation, more than one million applications for firearm licences have been approved in the democratic South Africa, “but the rate of stolen” firearms is lower this year than the previous two years. This was revealed by Minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete when he replied to a question […]