John Matshikiza With The Lid Off Far be it from me to be critical of the way other newspapers operate, but, speaking as a simple citizen for a moment, I have to say I get frustrated at the lack of proper background and follow-up in many of the stories we are fed. If you don’t […]
Robert McCrum There’s nothing like a new poet laureate to confirm the choleric longevity of British philistinism. Tony Blair’s “traditionalist” appointment of Andrew Motion has provoked a reaction which shows that, if John Bull is no longer eating beef on the bone, he hasn’t forgotten how to sneer at a poet. The stampede by press, […]
Andy Capostagno Rugby In case anyone is still depressed about the showing of the young guns in Cardiff, there is further bad news: the golden oldies ain’t what they used to be, either. Naas Botha took a team of former greats to the fourth Tusker Safari Sevens in Nairobi last week. Included were such luminaries […]
Because the Congo peace talks failed to deliver the much-promised ceasefire agreement last weekend does not mean they have failed or that Thabo Mbeki is mistakenly staking his reputation on a lost cause. The president is to be commended for his evident hard work in attempting to settle a dispute which lurks menacingly on the […]
Young Internet companies have found a niche conducting online auctions in ”virtual minute markets”. Karlin Lillington reports With names like Band-X, Min-X and InterXion, the array of young Internet companies looking for business in Dublin last month sounded like they might be selling online sex, or perhaps downloadable music. But the truth is much odder. […]
Another corruption row has erupted at the cash-strapped University of the North. Evidence wa ka Ngobeni reports.
Shaun de Waal Live-action movie of the week In the Seventies John Waters made himself the Tsar of Trash with movies such as Mondo Trasho, Female Trouble and Pink Flamingos, in which laughably outrageous characters did risibly odd and sometimes disgusting things. Waters created an inverted aesthetic in which kitsch triumphs and bad taste is […]
John Matshikiza explains why the Japanese are heading for the hills Thank goodness we South Africans only believe in crime and witchcraft. While older countries have been going mad over the coming of the new millennium for several years, we have hardly even started bothering. Local councils around the country have already surrendered to the […]
A structural shift has occurred in the productive base of the South African economy over the past 25 years. The share of agriculture in the gross domestic product (GDP) fell by about 4% since 1970, while mining’s contribution declined by 3%. The decline of these two primary sectors, though, has been matched by a significant […]
Schoolkids have a tendency to turn the magazine section of the CNA store in Melville into a library. The other day two black boys of about eight were sprawled on the floor in front of the magazine shelf. Next to them was a stack of different gun magazines from South Africa, the United States and […]