Barbara Ludman POINT OF ORIGIN by Patricia Cornwell (Little, Brown) Patricia Cornwell’s life generally spills over into her books. In this one, it threatens to take the book over. She’s made a background theme of the FBI’s prurient interest in its agents’ affairs ever since she was named as co-respondent in a divorce suit lodged […]

Raymond Joseph Police say Mark Thatcher will be subpoenaed as a state witness in the fraud and theft trial of officers who acted as “bookrunners” for his failed money-lending business. Police say 11 of Thatcher’s runners have been identified. At least three runners will appear in court by the middle of next month, and others […]

Andy Capostagno Rugby Everybody said it wouldn’t work and they were right, but it is still sad to see Dawie Snyman being shown the door for not taking the Golden Lions to the semi-finals of the Currie Cup. When Snyman was appointed last June it was widely believed that he had been brought up from […]

Swapna Prabhakaran The managing director of Crawford Preparatory School in Benmore, Graham Crawford, has apologised for offending parents when he called the multiracial institution “the last bastion of European culture”. The remark was made at a parent/ teacher meeting at the elite private school, which caters specifically to “academically advanced” children. Crawford said this week […]

Ever been allowed into a movie for free and been allowed to drink beer and talk when you want to? Jean Barker visited Cape Town’s BioCafe Beers are R3, entrance is free, and everyone is at the BioCafe on Wednesday evenings long before the short film screening starts, chatting and drinking. The chatting and drinking […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Dakar | Friday 7.00pm. THE United States has airlifted former warlord and now fugitive Roosevelt Johnson out of Liberia on Friday to end a week-long standoff that began when he sought refuge inside the American Embassy in Monrovia. One helicopter swooped down on a small landing pad at the back of the sprawling […]

Is Camille Paglia duffing up the right-on `feminazis’ on behalf of bad girls everywhere? Or is she peddling outdated, simplistic views completely out of touch with the Nineties? Angela Phillips on the working-class motormouth who enrages as much as she engages This should have been Camille Paglia’s week. The woman who put the sex back […]

Robert Potts SIMPLICITY by Edward de Bono (Viking) Edward de Bono’s many, many books include Conflicts: A Better Way to Solve Them; Handbook for the Positive Revolution; How To Be More Interesting; and Teach Yourself to Think. These seem to have sold extremely well, both to human beings and also to (the apparent target audience) […]

tirades Howard Barrel’s Over a Barrel column (September 18 to 24) was a tirade, without an ounce of sober and investigative journalistic skill. According to Barrell, the workers who embark on strikes are mad and “stupid beyond belief”. According to him, the present international and domestic economic climate should deter those who “willy- nilly” down […]

Mail & Guardian reporter Apart from pornography, keeping up with the news, and monitoring the latest on Zippergate, the Internet can also provide a playground for a budding George Soros. Local and international financial service websites are rapidly expanding. Their offerings range from basic financial information to trading a portfolio on the Web. Internationally people […]