Deborah BosleyGAGLOW by Esther Freud (Penguin, R62,95) It is not always easy to find the novel that will draw one willingly into its narrative and engage us consistently to the final page. Rarer still is the book in which we taste every morsel of food, feel each chill wind and the reproach of a sideways […]

Angella Johnson There is much less of Louis Luyt these days – 18kg to be precise. The beleaguered rugby boss was in defiant, if slightly subdued mood, as he confessed to a room of Johannesburg businessmen that the pressures facing him had led to rapid weight loss. Just hours before he was expected to face […]

Kader Asmal and Mike Muller The content and the cloak-and-dagger presentation of the article “Damn dams, look in your own backyard” (Monitor, April 30 to May 7), alleging powerful opposition to the Lesotho Highlands Project by unnamed Alexandra individuals, need to be tested and placed in context. Much of what is said in the name […]

Efforts to ensure fair play in sports have not proved an outstanding success, says John Duncan It is one of the biggest contests in world sport: the prize for winning, and the cost of taking part, are measured in millions of dollars. But it takes place not on a track or in a swimming pool […]

Nina Allchurch Telecentres, or common-use public access terminals, are the innovative means government has come up with to get the information society to the vast majority of people who live in remote rural parts of South Africa. These kiosks are part of a pilot project initiated by Minister of Post, Telecommunications and Broadcasting Jay Naidoo […]

Mike Jensen With the increasing recognition of the importance of the Internet in accelerating development, a number of recent initiatives have improved the prospects for wider access to information and communication networks in Africa. One event which has helped to accelerate connectivity in Africa was the Addis Symposium on Telematics for Development in April 1995. […]

So what if the illusionist does trick us? Isn’t that what we want? Martyn Bedford says we must let magic keep its mystique So you’re on your way out of the concert hall, the music of one of the world’s great pianists still reverberating in your ears when someone sidles up alongside you like a […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer Today is D-day for the Bafana Bafana World Cup hopefuls as national coach Philippe Troussier trims his squad to 26 footballers with four more to drop out before the tournament begins. The squad faces friendlies against Zambia at FNB Stadium on May 20 and twice world champions Argentina in Buenos Aires five […]

David Bennun Foreign CD of the week `It is,” observed one visitor to my flat, “a bit bloody gloomy, isn’t it?” My visitor was referring to Massive Attack’s new CD, Mezzanine (Virgin), an album so dark that it seems to soak up the light in the room like a miniature black hole. It was playing […]

Greg Bowes Dance music tour In what promises to be one of the dance events of the year, a veritable who’s who of commercial and underground dance musicians and DJs have been assembled for this year’s Camel Experience. The series of parties – this year subtitled, for reasons unknown, Quadropheria – begins in Cape Town […]