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/ 20 November 2007

The Kleenex option a cardinal rule, Wilf

Hoping you’ll pardon the familiarity, taking liberties with your first name and all. But in my business, as you know, everyone is on a first name basis. You know, "Leonardo", "Angelina", "Paris". Though I haven’t yet been graced with the pleasure of having you on my couch, I feel like we really know each other. For one, we have more in common than you’d believe …

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/ 5 November 2007

The real black man’s new balls: egg-shaped

If there is one certainty in turbulent times in good old Mzansi, then it’s the black male’s fascination with white balls. For such an oft-studied species, one wonders why the social anthropologists don’t include this crucial racial marker in their monographs. Yet it’s been there all along — right up there with inyama (and bringing it home), writes Khadija Bradlow.

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/ 5 November 2007

‘Hookahs’, Hunters and holy days

‘It’s no use — the women are in eruption. And those who have until now been simmering quietly in the backseats of the sedans are now steaming furiously …" Though DH Lawrence surely wouldn’t mind adding that bit of a modern twist to his lines, the phalanx of muftis, <i>shayks</i> and religious personages of Mayfair and Fordsburg surely would.

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/ 5 September 2007

Out of the ‘Muslim ghetto’

Tariq Ramadan has an abundance of labels. And for the most part, he is reluctant to dismiss any of them outright. Because to the Swiss professor and self-styled Islamic reformer, they somehow always fit. In an interview with Khadija Bradlow, Ramadan stresses the need for Muslims to engage with broader society.