Barbara Ludman SA 98-99: SOUTH AFRICA AT A GLANCE (Editors Inc) This slim little volume is a publishing success for its owners – former Star editors Harvey Tyson and Richard Steyn; Rex Gibson, last editor of the Rand Daily Mail; and George Trail, a former United States diplomat. This is its fourth edition; there are […]

Howard Barrell Over a Barrel You don’t have to be a fluent Afrikaans- speaker to know that an oorleg committee is not the same as an oorlog committee. The former seeks consultation; the latter war. A Cape Town English-language newspaper, however, got them mixed up recently. Some of us might even say the confusion was […]

Tamar Mason Right to Reply Visualise the following scenario: bored and out-of-scandal journalist sits at an airport and notices the only eye- catching tail design on the tarmac. He takes a closer look. Ah, an unusual sounding name. Further investigation reveals that the artist is none other than a San woman. Immediate conclusion: she’s been […]

Tangeni Amupadhi A Northern Cape doctor has called for the mandatory use of protective clothing after an outbreak of chemical poisoning affecting dozens of farmworkers. Many labourers in the Kakamas and surrounding areas have fallen ill during the past month after coming into contact with Dormex, which contains a highly toxic chemical called cyanamide. The […]

Who is . . . Graa Machel?

Angella Johnson VIEW FROM A BROAD Let me establish one fact from the outset: I am not an animal-loving person. I possess two beautiful mink coats, adore wearing ivory and my dietary maxim is: if it moves, kill it, cook it and eat it. So why, you might ask, have I opted to partake in […]

out of a tree? Books were a symbol of oppression in Peru from the days of the conquistadors. Not any more. Sarah Dunant joined the farmer- librarians who trek the sierra collecting and delivering books Whichever way you look at it, the Rural Libraries of the Cajamarca valley in northern Peru is one of the […]

Paul Martin in London Golf `Justin Rose is Bloomen Brilliant,” read the hand-written (and misspelled) banner unveiled by 10 English schoolgirls on the sixth tee at the British Open last Sunday. It’s testimony to the way Britain has taken this 17-year-old golfing phenomenon to their hearts. It wasn’t just the astounding closeness to glory achieved […]

David Shapshak South Africa’s strength in science gives it a prime position to help drive scientific development and research in Southern Africa, says one of the United Nations’s top science officials. Professor Maurizio Iaccarino, assistant director general for science of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), was in South Africa this week […]

Andy Capostagno Rugby It is something which the Americans realised early. If you’re going to play games regarded as little more than school-yard pastimes in other countries, best you instil a sense of tradition sooner rather than later. The Superbowl is all of 30 years old, yet it is spoken of with awe, to quote […]