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/ 27 April 2002

Beware of patriotism

I have never been sure whether it is the first or the last refuge of a scoundrel but, in my experience, patriotism and its tunes attract scoundrels much as the sound of a flushing toilet draws a sewer rat from his hideaway

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/ 27 April 2002

Capitalism’s twilight world

Do my eyes and ears deceive me? Or is it indeed so? South African communists have been conducting a campaign over the past month to force local banks to give ordinary folk access to, yes, <i>capital</i> – to banking services, particularly loans and the like?

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/ 27 April 2002

Mbeki buys time and space

The north is, for now, off the president’s back. The e-mail was to the point: "What is your man playing at? Does your government really support this lunatic Mugabe or is this just politics?" This from an old friend in London who gambles other people’s money on the equities market.