CDs of the week: Sam Taylor Bruce Springsteen is the second-most bootlegged artist in rock, after Bob Dylan, and Tracks (Columbia), a four- CD, 66-track compilation of unreleased material has been long anticipated. Inevitably, it is not wholly satisfying. There are too many unremarkable outtakes from his weakest albums, Born in the USA and Human […]

Hilary Freeman Come over here a second. If I tell you a secret, do you promise not to tell anyone? Good. We’d better keep our voices down because you’ll never believe what I’m about to tell you … Gossip makes the world go round – and keeps your office ticking over. I know it’s true […]

Chiara Carter Two of the New National Party’s most senior Western Cape leaders, Patrick McKenzie and Peter Marais, are preparing to jump ship or challenge the moribund leadership of their disintegrating party. The African National Congress will this weekend discuss accommodating McKenzie, the veteran Cape Flats politician and former welfare deputy minister, into its ranks. […]

The latest spin on the trend of international DJs like John Digweed, Sasha, Paul Okenfold and Carl Cox gracing local clubland with their zeitgeist sounds is a kicking new deal between Virgin Records, 206 live, Pickle and the UK’s leading Big Beat label Wall of Sound Recordings. As two of South Africa’s largest supporters of […]

Donna Block:SHARE WORLD Have you got nerves of steel, a cast- iron stomach and access to a computer with a connection to the global network? If so, then you can become part of a small but growing group of independent investors known as “day traders”. Unlike traditional or online investing, where investors hang on to […]

Checking your credit record regularly can save you money. Belinda Beresford explains how They know your name and where to find you. They know where you shop, how much you’ve spent and how high your cellphone bill is. They are the credit bureaux: collectors and vendors of information, about you, me, the person next door […]

Shaw contract Mungo Soggot The Serious Economic Offences branch of the national prosecuting authority is to interview directors of the Central Energy Fund (CEF) about the award of a R3-million contract to a company run by Liberian politician Emanuel Shaw II. The head of the Investigating Directorate (Serious Economic Offences), Jan Swanepoel, confirmed his office […]

Mark James DOG HEART by Breyten Breytenbach (Human & Rousseau) If there is one point where politics, art and religion intersect in the current cultural life of this country, it is in the rage for confession. With differing degrees of enthusiasm, the whole country is at it, mesmerised by it, implicated in it. After the […]

David Atkinson Think Hong Kong. Think towering skyscrapers to rival Manhattan. Think scoffing noodles at 2am under the glare of flashing neon. Think rubbing shoulders with Filipino hookers and Triad gangland crime bosses in seedy late night drinking dens straight out of Blade Runner. Think again. Ask any Chinese-bred Hong Kong resident what image symbolises […]

MILO the six-month-old Jack Russell terrier is in critical condition after surviving seven hours of open heart surgery for a severe congenital heart defect on Thursday. The dog is recovering in the University of Cape Town’s animal laboratory, where it is expected to remain on the critical list for at least 24 hours. Medical team […]