Earlier this year doctors made history, using their knowledge of the genome to treat a child with a congenital condition James Meek Last February an air of euphoria seeped into the corridors of the Necker hospital for sick children in the Montparnasse district of Paris. Wondrous cures, great courage and the heart-hollowing grief of parents […]
Zanu-PF militiamen were very active during Zimbabwe’s voting days. Mercedes Sayagues reports Mashimba Jeremani gasped as he walked into the polling station at Mataga. His torturer was seated at the table, a Zanu- PF polling agent badge pinned on his chequered flannel shirt. When their eyes met, Musiwa Mapiye lowered his head. Jeremani (22) and […]
Robert Kirby CHANNELVISION At what stage, I wonder, will SABC upper management, let alone its board, decide to exercise some authority and bring the crude excesses of its television news department under some sort of control? The department quite clearly believes itself to be immune to any sort of restraint, nor does it deem necessary […]
Shaun de Waal NOT QUITE THE THRILLER OFTHEWEEK Tom Cruise has big plans for his Mission: Impossible franchise. The role of superspy Ethan Hunt offers him a well- paying action-movie base from which to venture in more challenging directions – Eyes Wide Shut, for instance, or his brilliant turn in Magnolia. Moreover, being co-producer as […]
Chris Buchanan The liberation of our gambling laws, allowing a manifestation of mega casino resorts in metropolitan areas, has done very little for the architectural integrity of our new nation. Long have we strived for that identity that would render our commercial, retail and hospitality developments reminiscent of an African ethos, rather than a post-modern […]
It would take decades and cost billions to map the human genome, they said. Tim Radford tells how it was done Scientists have just finished deciphering the genome – the book of human life. Their DNAblueprint will change everything. The once undreamed-of knowledge has already begun to alter agriculture, forensic science, archaeology, biology and medicine. […]
Peter Eaton NOT THE ART MOVIE OFTHEWEEK ‘It’s an epic. It’s a big, big movie,” claims writer and director Tim Robbins of his Cradle Will Rock. Actually, it’s so huge that it hurts and just doesn’t to know what to do with itself for a its 132-minute length. Purporting to be “a (mostly) true story”, […]
Riaan Wolmarans CD OFTHEWEEK ‘You know I’m not dead,” sings Billy Corgan confidently on Everlasting Gaze, the hit opening track of The Smashing Pumpkins’ latest CD, Machina:The Machines of God (Virgin). But on the track Heavy Metal Machine, he wonders:”If I were dead, would my records sell?” And the Pumpkins are dead, for all purposes, […]
INNOVATIONS Got a gold card burning a hole in your wallet? Shame. Head on over to www.eluxury.com, which is filled with the outrageously expensive commodities peddled by LVMH: Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton. If you’re not intimidated by names like Dior, Salvatore Ferragamo, Celine, Bottega Veneta, or you just don’t know why they could be intimidating, […]
The illness is closely linked to the explosion of the Nigerian drug trade in South Africa Paul Kirk The Lonsdale hotel has seen better days. The air conditioners rarely function, the lights do not work, the swimming pool is empty and full of garbage, and rooms can be rented by the hour. Visitors are greeted […]