Janet Smith Down the tube Robert Powell’s haunted face is our most abiding cinematic image of Jesus, thanks to Franco Zeffirelli, the same director who said all those disgustingly true things about the public response to Princess Diana’s death last year. Zeffirelli would never perform a vulgar deed, which is why the spare, exquisite features […]

Before you invest offshore, ensure that your tax records are in order or the taxman could come knocking at your door, warns Belinda Beresford You’re considering emigrating, you want to diversify your investment portfolio, or perhaps you just want to bet on the continual fall of the rand. But the time has come to invest […]

More quietly than the cricketers ever could, a West Indian diplomatic and trade delegation recently came and went. Anti- apartheid South Africans and West Indians have longstanding cultural, political and – – through Cuba — military links. In Trinidad, when rebel cricketer Bernard Julien returned from a sanctions-busting tour, ordinary folks literally spat on him […]

Neil Manthorpe : Cricket He was desperately keen to tour England again, to finish his remarkable career in the land where the game of cricket began and where he would have time to ease an understudy into the job. But now Dave Richardson has gone, just like that. No fuss, no fanfare, no tears. None […]

an angel of death When American doctor Michael Swango successfully sued his bosses at a rural Zimbabwean hospital for wrongful dismissal, he was aided by one of the country’s most eminent human-rights lawyers and a host of Christians who believed he was a victim of malicious rumours and professional jealousy. They little suspected that the […]

Lynda Gledhill Compassion, caring and commitment has kept a non-governmental organisation in Pietermaritzburg alive despite a severe shortage of donor funds. While other organisations close down when the funding tap is switched off or fail to report properly to funders when extraneous spending occurs, Winnie Kubayi has kept her project alive and manages to report […]

More needs to be done to help local governments overcome their financial crises, writes Caroline Kihato The financial crisis that afflicts local government needs to be resolved. Local government is regarded as pivotal to development in South Africa as the majority of the population depend on it for the delivery of much-needed social services. By […]

Andrew Worsdale Domestic war film of the week In 1973 director Ang Lee (The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman and Sense and Sensibility) hadn’t set foot in the United States and couldn’t speak English. So it’s deeply paradoxical that he has directed a perceptive, poignant and sharp movie about the US during the era […]

Feminist hero or sex-fantasy figure? An icon for our times or archetypal goddess? Richard Kelly Heft discusses Barbie’s appeal She’s disparaged by feminists, studied by academics and is a subject of artists. Two Barbie dolls are sold every second of every day and now she is a cultural icon of our times. Barbie can inspire […]

Moi Lucy Hannan in Nairobi Dismay at recent political killings overshadowed the opening session of the Kenyan Parliament this week. Both sides of the house stamped, shouted and jeered, and opposition MPs waved placards protesting at “genocide” and “a legacy of killing”. More than 100 people have been killed in Rift Valley province since January […]