Mail & Guardian reporter Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the European Environmental Bureau released a joint media statement last week urging European Union governments and the European Commission to safeguard European agriculture and biodiversity by preventing any genetically modified (GM) crops of beet and oilseed rape being grown in the EU. The statement is […]
Nawaal Deane Nearly a quarter of South African voters would stay away from the polls if they were dissatisfied with the performance of their preferred party. That is one of the findings in a study conducted into voter behaviour released this week by the Independent Electoral Commission. Another is that 46% of those who did […]
Drew Forrest Two Markinor surveys point to a steady downward trend in voter approval of the government and its leaders, with waning support on economic policy, HIV/Aids and governance issues such as corruption. The latest survey shows that only 42% of subjects drawn from metropolitan areas “trust” President Thabo Mbeki as a political leader. African […]
I recommend that Thabo Mbeki read The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959) by Karl Popper and The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes (1978) by Imre Lakatos. It is logically impossible to verify or “prove” a scientific hypothesis. This is why Popper proposed “falsifiability” as a criterion for good science: a hypothesis is scientific if it […]
BODY LANGUAGE Kim Majid It’s nothing new that women keep “their” men on sex rations. It’s so common, in fact, that together with having to go to the pharmacy at 11pm to look for Tampax, some men come to expect it’s just one of those things that comes with being in a relationship. But while […]
After losing a marathon battle over nevirapine the government can no longer use the courts to delay its roll-out of anti-retrovirals Belinda Beresford The nevirapine genie was let out of the bottle this week by the Constitutional Court, which effectively forced the government to provide the antiretroviral drug to save unborn children from HIV infection. […]
David Macfarlane The University of Natal is ignoring its own legal advice and pressing ahead to appoint a new vice-chancellor before its merger with the University of Durban-Westville (UDW). Senior academics at the university are dismayed that the council is persisting with the selection process and express concern at the damage this could cause to […]
Thebe Mabanga and Mail & Guardian reporters The Myburgh Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate the collapse of South Africa’s currency last year is increasingly being viewed as the product of a struggle between “old guard” bureaucrats in the Reserve Bank and the liberalising regime of Governor Tito Mboweni. Speculation is mounting in government […]
SOCCER Ntuthuko Maphumulo The Cape-based “People’s Team” Santos did not win the premier soccer league (PSL) championship with a 1-0 victory over Orlando Pirates on Wednesday but the Bucaneers definitely lost it. An ill-disciplined display by Pirates finally scuppered any hope they might have had of retaining the title they won last year. Santos coach […]
While I concur that males who impregnate girls should be held accountable for their actions, it seems Dot Cleminshaw (Letters, March 8) thinks that the authorities should let the young woman who aborted her baby alone. After all, that is what the morning-after pill achieves DIY abortion. Why worry about the death of a baby […]