Marianne Merten Cape Town councillor Una Pick, under police investigation for her role in the Cape Town street-renaming fiasco, has been promoted. The Democratic Alliance councillor now heads one of the unicity’s 16 sub-councils at an annual package of R388829, including allowances. This is equivalent to the salary of an executive committee member and almost […]

1961 Founded on 450 by Richard Ingrams, Paul Foot, Willie Rushton and Christopher Booker with the intention of waging war on “cant and humbug”. 1964 Saved from bankruptcy by Lord Farringdon (believed to be the only homosexual Communist peer in the Lords). 1975 An article linking Sir James Goldsmith to the Lucan Affair kicked off […]

Peter Makarube A racist brawl between two women marred the success of the Aardklop Arts Festival in Potchefstroom last week. The organisers of Aardklop sought to change the town’s image from that of a conservative community to a model of the new South Africa. Instead, they were treated to an unusual racial incident involving two […]

The problem with a Palm handheld, I hear most often, is that it doesn’t have a keyboard. It’s pointless explaining to the uninitiated why Palms are the techno-wonder they are; why its operating system is crash proof while being only a few hundred kilobytes, why the device is light enough to be carried in my […]

Guy Willoughby When is a foul-mouthed bore with a taste for urinals more than a foul-mouthed bore with a taste for urinals? When s/he’s a fully paid-up comedian in the Danger Zone at the Smirnoff International Comedy Festival, that’s when. Now in its fifth year, this hugely successful funny-folk festival has made marvellous strides. Time […]

Mboniso Sigonyela The two listed companies that have on their boards South Africa’s former defence minister, Joe Modise, who is embroiled in the government’s arms procurement scandal, still stand by him. In so doing they risk damaging publicity, should he be arrested like his comrade, former African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni, for his […]

RUGBY Andy Capostagno It would be nice if we could concentrate on the final round of Currie Cup Super Eight matches due to be played this weekend, what with six teams still in the hunt for the semifinals and all. Unfortunately, however, as the domestic rugby season draws to a close, foot-shooting season is upon […]

GOLF Andy Capostagno The field for the 2001 Nedbank Golf Challenge was announced in Johannesburg this week. There are four new names for the 21st playing of the tournament that used to be and in most circles still is known as ”The Million Dollar”. Among the quartet are two of this year’s four major winners, […]

David Macfarlane Tensions are rising sharply over the new school curriculum as teacher unions and other educationists rush to submit their responses to the lengthy draft curriculum statement released for public comment at the end of July. The deadline for responses is today. One area of concern is that there are a number of new […]

Unsociable Giant breaks US all-time home-run record Rob Steen Being the son of a celebrated father has been a burden for many in sport, where memories are elephantine, the past aspic-coated. Think Richard Hutton, Gary Nicklaus, John Bradman. Yet Barry Bonds has overcome this disadvantage so serenely that recollections of his father, the record-breaking San […]