whipping boy Who would have bet that cricket would supplant horse racing as the sleaze-pit of sport? But there it is. Come Saturday, though, fans of the sport of kings could wistfully remember one of the kings of sport if 40-1 shot Bunter Barlow rises to the occasion like his legendary cricketing namesake did so […]

Potential buyers and sellers of homes are turning to spiritual consultants to help them make the right choices Natalie Sutton Estate agents say the property market is about “location, location, location”. Business people may be concerned with the commuting distance between work and home. Young families consider schools. But for some people, ethereal influences and […]

Rehana Rossouw CROSSFIRE In a radio interview last week the African National Congress’s Smuts Ngonyama spoke gravely on SAfm about a “threat to the stability of the country”. He was not discussing allegations of impropriety in the government’s arms deal, but a CD of racist songs with limited distribution. How the music threatens the stability […]

Uneven putting surfaces and a back- to-front layout add a bit of spice to the Pilanesberg courses Andy Capostagno If you put half a dozen professional golfers in a room together they will come out in agreement on only one issue. If a golf course is too hard it destroys the game as a spectacle […]

Henk Rossouw With the Lid Off: South African Insights from Home and Abroad 1959-2000 by Todd Matshikiza and John Matshikiza (M&GBooks) In With the Lid Off, his column in the legendary Drum magazine, composer and razor-blade salesman Todd Matshikiza struts the unique language of late-1950s Sophiatown, one that blurs the distinction between jazz and writing. […]

Dingaan Thobela’s chances of another shot at the WBC title rest on the outcome of a Canadian trial Deon Potgieter There has been increasing interest in the trial of Dave Hilton, which started last Tuesday in Quebec. Hilton, who was awarded a controversial points decision over Dingaan Thobela for the World Boxing Council super-middleweight world […]

Shirley Kossick new fiction Periodically a debut novel bursts onto the scene with loud fanfares one recalls The Secret History (1993), The God of Small Things (1997) and White Teeth (1999). Now it is the turn of The Last Samurai (Chatto & Windus) by Helen De Witt, already sold in 13 countries. Completely original, this […]

An inexperienced safety inspector had been sent to investigate a complaint against Esschem factory in Lenasia a month before it burnt down Glenda Daniels The Lenasia factory fire that killed 11 people two months ago could have been prevented. National Department of Labour inspectors say an inexperienced and unqualified occupational and health safety inspector was […]

Khadija Magardie Body Language If shocking political incorrectness, coupled with sheer bad taste, were a virtue, a prominent local weekend rag would turn up trumps. In the face of abysmal schooling conditions, and equally dire prospects for school leavers in the job market, it is heartening to note that the Sunday Times has given matriculating […]

Jaspreet Kindra Democratic Alliance members want to assassinate KwaZulu-Natal’s ministers, MEC for Transport S’bu Ndebele told an amazed legislature in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday. Ndebele was explaining why no answers could be provided to questions asked in the House about the costs of ministers’ security, transport and accommodation. He claimed the DA’s co-leaders, Marthinus van Schalkwyk […]