Gary Cummiskey OF WOMEN AND SOME MEN by Don Maclennan (Firfield Poetry Press) Faced with the cartoonish illustration on the cover of this poetry collection, one may think the poems are lighthearted and whimsical. But Of Women and Some Men is not a collection of outdated witticisms on the battle of the sexes. It is […]
David Beresford: A SECOND LOOK In the week of the launch of a new television channel, which no doubt heralds another garbage-load of American schlock being dumped on the local market, a debate on SAfm brought it home that the true “voice of the nation” is radio. The programme was Talk at Will, the subject […]
Howard Barrell: OVER A BARREL I was not alone in thinking it must be April 1. As I stared at the early morning sun – or was it my egg yoke? – my radio was telling me that Louis Luyt had formed a political party and expected us to support him in next year’s election. […]
Andrew Worsdale Movie of the week The French have long fetishised the American detective genre in their films. Perhaps the greatest exponent of this was Jean-Pierre Melville who, in films like Bob le Flambeur and Le Deuxime Souffl, perfectly captured the trademarks of American gangster movies – wet night streets, raincoats with bulging pockets, gunmen […]
Food: Alex Dodd Having grown up in Durban, I’ve often found Indian restaurants in other places a sorry attempt at living up to the cumulative memory I have of superbly subtle curries served by mustachioed waiters in cummerbunds. I remember the extra-hot prawn curry we’d eat on Saturday afternoons in the slightly shabby dining room […]
The battle for Kindu is crucial to the course of the Congo war, writes Ann Eveleth and Howard Barrell This week’s battle for the mid-eastern town of Kindu in the Democratic Republic of Congo marks a turning point for the two-month-old civil war. A victory for the rebels would open the way for them to […]
The men gain, while the rest of us take the pain – financially speaking, of course. Belinda Beresford wonders who’s going to pay for Viagra With fanfare and press coverage greater even than the latest Leonardo di Caprio appearance, Viagra is on its way to South Africa. Some say the latest star in the pharmaceutical […]
A loud-sounding nothing. That’s what the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings threatened to become as the chiefs of the global economy wound up their deliberations in Washington this week. Many developing countries and emerging economies are reeling from a world economic system gone wrong: unemployment, daily company closures and crashing currencies. […]
airwaves Ferial Haffajee Allister Sparks is an unlikely Ted Turner. Other than the grey hair, the local journalist has until now had little in common with the American media magnate. Now Sparks is the driving force behind SABC-Africa, a 24-hour news channel going head-to-head with Turner’s CNN for supremacy of the African airwaves at least. […]
Wally Mbhele A major clash looms between the ruling African National Congress and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission over the commission’s final report to be made public at the end of this month. Behind the scenes, a volcanic war of words has already erupted between the two organisations. The truth commission accuses the ANC of […]