On the first day of Christmas the taxman sent to me an exhaustive tax inquiry. On the second day of Christmas my lawyer sent to me, two final demands and an exhaustive tax inquiry. On the third day of Christmas Woolworths sent to me, three maxed accounts, two final demands and an exhaustive tax inquiry. […]

Ann Eveleth The Hartebeespoort local council agreed this week to consider an innovative land reform plan hatched by local farmers, but Broederstroom smallholder Roger Roman vowed to continue his hunger strike “until the process becomes unstoppable”. Roman launched his hunger strike on November 25 in a bid to force the conservative local council to kick- […]

It’s bonus time and the best place to put your cheque is in the bank. However, there are some romantic alternatives, writes Belinda Beresford Christmas is coming, and the credit card companies are getting fat, so please put your bonus into the bank. The sensible thing to do with your Christmas bonus is pay off […]

A blind photographer. It sounds like a joke, or a novelty turn. But though Aids has robbed John Dugdale of his sight, he is still producing outstanding work, writes Ben Widdicombe John Dugdale lives in one of New York City’s prettiest streets, a curving brownstone avenue lined with lazy trees and 100-year-old town houses. The […]

Friday night: Shaun de Waal Last Friday the charming Brad Holmes opened his Melville jazz club, the Bassline, in the late afternoon for the Mail & Guardian’s annual Christmas staff party. This was an informal bash – the Mail had only pocket money left after the office-warming of our new building earlier in the year. […]

for that `good feeling’ Peter Makurube In her neighbourhood, even a child can lead you to Margaret Singana’s home. The singer once known as Lady Africa has not been on stage in a long while, but the people of Zola still treat her with the deference of old. When disaster struck, Margaret Singana was at […]

Tangeni Amupadhi Nearly four months after Anna Dorothy Marabane’s husband shot her in front of two police officers, her family remains in the dark about what happened in the last few hours of her life. Her husband, Mokete Marabane, will appear on a murder charge in the Krugersdorp court next week. Family members hope many […]

axe Mungo Soggot and David Shapshak Wits University axed Ron Clarke, the palaeoanthropologist responsible for last week’s sensational fossil find in Sterkfontein, despite receiving several written pleas from eminent international scientists to keep him on. Three top fossil academics based in the United States have confirmed they attempted to persuade the university to reconsider its […]

Maya Jaggi: FIRST PERSON Carmen Legge is 35 years old. She is a successful insurance broker, she has long red hair, she owns a BMW, she has her own flat. And she has a boyfriend who “wants it four times a day”. In short she has everything that Bridget Jones, protagonist in Helen Fielding’s book […]

Jim McClellan surfs his way to spirituality on the Web Looking to live up to the proclamations of business experts, who have declared that this Christmas online shopping will cross over to the mainstream (at least in the United States), Net retailers seem to be going all out to exploit the seasonal spirit. However, there […]