knowledgeable you really are How clued up are you on the highs and lows, ins and outs of 1998? Test your skills with this brain-teaser 1 President Nelson Mandela made a special concession to pay the lawyers of an infamous politician more than double the going rate to prepare for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission […]

David Sharrock This is where Christendom began, and where it is ending, for Bethlehem at least, and, perhaps, for the Holy Land also. In a gloomy cave beneath the basilica of the Church of the Nativity is the spot where the Virgin Mary is supposed to have given birth to Jesus. If it wasn’t for […]

Patricia Whitelock Perhaps it’s because we have 10 fingers and work on a decimal system that numbers and intervals of time like 10 and decade, 100 and century or 1 000 and millennium seem to have such significance. This probably explains the interest in the beginning of the new millennium, but not the controversy associated […]

the game Australian cricket is in turmoil. (Yes, Australian cricket.) But were Waugh and Warne merely following a global trend? Matthew Engel on how batting and bowling became betting One day during the recent Adelaide Test between England and Australia, my taxi- driver was a migrant from Malaysia. His English was indifferent, and conversation difficult. […]

Urban legends, made in the US of A, have a uniquely South African flavour, writes Arthur Goldstuck After the 1994 elections, South Africa began to resemble most other countries in the world of urban legends. In other words, people stopped believing everything they heard. Of course, that meant they could still believe half of everything […]

Free State Matthew Krouse Some feelings cannot be explained, they just have to be absorbed. For a Jew, like me, to meander through a small town in quest of the Christmas spirit on a sweltering Sunday feels quite odd. Even if the town is called Bethlehem, and the Sunday happens to be five days before […]

shepherds than the other Bethlehem’ Jon Ronson Gwylym Richards says that, in some ways, Bethlehem, Wales, is better than Bethlehem, the West Bank. “We’re a lovely place to pray and meditate,” he says. “The other Bethlehem is all about hustle and bustle, but we’re all about peace and quiet. Also, we’ve got more sheep and […]

Peace and goodwill to all – it is the message of Christmas that inspires people of every religion. But there has been fighting this month in Bethlehem on the West Bank, the cradle of Christianity. Mail & Guardian correspondents fanned out from Namibia to Jamaica, from Wales to the Free State, to discover the spirit […]

MICHAEL METELITS, Johannesburg | Wednesday 4.30pm. SLIGHT gains on most JSE indices were offset by massive losses on the all gold composite, while the rand and bonds were steady or up on Wednesday. The day was marked by light trading and overshadowed by International Monetary Fund’s declining fears of global recession. The international lender indicated […]

Do anthems wear out their appeal and need replacing to suit new conditions? James Ambrose Brown examines South Africa’s three anthems that tell the tale of the century For the English it was God Save the Queen, and Land of Hope and Glory. For the Afrikaners it was Die Stem van Suid Afrika. For the […]