John Crace It goes without saying that your choice of holiday destination is a statement of your aesthetics. After all, there’s precious little point in going to Ibiza if it’s peace and quiet and a few old masters you’re after. And an eco-tour to the Amazonian rain forest immediately identifies you as the caring, thoughtful […]

Kate Herbert Imagine a room with two views: one a dusty, arid moonscape; the other lush, green and wet. This is the luxury “home from home” set- up at the Savuti Elephant Camp and Xaxaba in the Chobe Game Reserve in Botswana. The room at Savuti is too opulent for its “tent camp” status. It […]

Tangeni Amupadhi The death of kwaito star Makhendlas brings into sharp focus the culture of violence and unrelenting proliferation of guns in South Africa. Behind the facade of success kwaito musicians are just as vulnerable to crime as the ordinary South African. Many can list incidents of criminal activities directed at them, particularly at performances. […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 9.00am. SACKED West Indian cricket skipper Brian Lara said in London on Thursday that he is confident the crisis-hit tour of South Africa will go ahead, but added that he is not sure whether he will play. Lara, who flew to London with eight other players because of a pay […]

Jonathan Romney on Velvet Goldmine, the film about a time when men were men – who borrowed their sisters’ mascara They’re so swishy in their satin and tat … Somewhere in the crowd there may even be the odd frock coat or bippety-boppety hat that David Bowie referred to. Boys and girls stand around looking […]

the racing world An often dogged and sometimes disheartening slog from the ranks of the Formula One has paid off for 1998 world champion Mika Hakkinen. Alan Henry reports Mika Hakkinen of Finland clinched the 1998 Formula One world championship with a flawless flag-to-flag victory in the Japanese Grand Prix, a success which also gave […]

Friday night :Xoli Norman There is something unrelentingly inviting about the Newtown art and entertainment scene, especially on Fridays. The sparsely peopled district brings on a dense nostalgia evocative of the good old days of a vibrant Market Theatre precinct. Today the place retains an edgy vibe, but for different reasons. What people fight for […]

Not CDs of the week: Shaun de Waal It was reported a while ago that David Bowie had declined to be involved in Todd Haynes’s new glam rock movie, Velvet Goldmine. The reason given was Bowie’s desire to hang on to his seminal Seventies creation, Ziggy Stardust, for future exploitation by himself. I suspect, however, […]

Maureen Barnes Down the tube One of the advantages of being a TV critic is being able to watch television at odd times and since Oprah left SABC3, I’ve been tuning in at 5pm. I rather liked the Canadian series, Side Effects, set in an urban clinic, but that ended after a couple of weeks […]

Giulio Biccari started out in the movie business tearing tickets. These days he captures some of the most startling images in South African film. Andrew Worsdale reports You saw Zola Maseko’s The Life and Times of Sara Baartman on TV a couple of weeks ago, but do you know who gave you its luscious images? […]