Shaun de Waal Altman movie of the week Robert Altman is the quintessential American maverick, a director with a filmmaking career long, prolific and tempestuous enough to make John Huston envious. The combination of his freewheeling style and often nihilist -or at least very pessimistic -take on humanity has made for many unforgettable films. Altman, […]
Gavin Evans English Premier League Ho-hum. Last week I was banging on about the growing class divisions within the Premiership and what happens? Lowly Watford beats lofty Liverpool at Anfield and, even more embarrassing, a back-alley Sunderland holds Arsenal. So what does that prove? Absolutely nothing, actually. Forget the early season niggles; the general rule […]
Judith Mason’s painting portrays the animal state of the human subconscious. Alex Dodd talks to her about Calvinism, sexuality and Bernard Shaw Judith Mason is the kind of artist who brings out the purist in you. That voice that says: yes, great art does require sweat and toil. It’s not just about clever, hypey tricks […]
Loose cannon Robert Kirby On a recent flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town I was honoured to share the same aircraft with what could only have been a cabinet member. You know you’re about to enjoy this exalted measure of travelling companion when, as a fare-paying pleb, you see that long sleek car parked at […]
Moving mouth first eating their feet fart hot taking a run before the gun it’s the plight of spit in the fairy tale mouth of hell with lots of stories to scream shout yell nothing intelligent to tell i’m rap-ranting Rap Ranting from The Bavino Sermons Lesego Rampolokeng says that the day he starts making […]
guns Chris McGreal in Freetown Just days before the demobilisation of Sierra Leone’s rebel armies is scheduled to begin under a peace deal to end the civil war, there is little sign that the guns are about to be surrendered. Neither is it certain when the leader of the main rebel group, the Revolutionary United […]
Darran Morgan and Jason Venter The people of Nyanyadu have become accustomed, in a perverse way, to shocking violence advocated and carried out by some farmers. There is no quick fix for rural poverty, but there are signs that the balance of justice in this northern KwaZulu-Natal community may be shifting with the recent imprisonment […]
eye-in-the-sky bug Sarah Hall Millions of sailors, hikers and light aircraft pilots have been warned to prepare for a computer glitch which could see their navigation equipment collapse at midnight this Saturday. The problem could mean equipment using the global positioning satellite system (GPS) will fail to pick up signals and give false directions. There […]
Barry Streek The African National Congress has quietly abandoned the last Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) structure – the RDP portfolio committee in the National Assembly. Although the RDP remains official government and ANC policy, the programme launched with great fanfare in April 1994 with a minister, a department and a parliamentary monitoring committee has […]
Sean Dodson netwatch One of the more bizarre websites to emerge in recent weeks has to be the one at www.generosity.org. The Generosity Game attempts to set up a system that promotes “random acts of kindness” both online, through a mailing list, and in the flesh via a catalogue on downloadable cards. Once you have […]