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Monetising the blue ticks on Twitter

1 November 2022

Self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur and angel investor”, Jason Calacanis, is running a poll on Twitter. The question: “How much would you pay to be verified & get a blue check mark on Twitter?”... …more

Latest Articles

Time to buy oil from Russia?

10 August 2022 — Over the past week, Trade and Industry minister Ebrahim Patel dropped “dumping” duties on imported chicken. It’s a good decision, reversing a disastrous policy put in place by Patel’s predecessor Rob Davies in 2013. I said at the time that lower-income groups would pay...

Today is a good day to talk about nuclear war

6 August 2022 — On this day in 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. Between 70,000–80,000 people were killed by the blast and resultant firestorm.

Remembering Dr Aadil Moerat

2 August 2022 — ...on the evening of 21 January 1998 at around 6 pm, three armed men walked into the packed waiting room of Dr Aadil Moerat’s surgery in the township of Gugulethu, Cape Town. Minutes later, Dr Moerat was dead.

Measuring the cost of justice

1 July 2022 — Laura Kövesi is the European Union’s head of Public Prosecution.

How can 190 000 Russians win against 700 000 Ukrainians?

25 June 2022 — Established military wisdom has it that an invading army needs to outnumber defenders by a 3:1 ratio.

Happy birthday President Mbeki. Now get your A into G…

18 June 2022 — I have said it before and I will say it again – Thabo Mbeki was the best president in the world at the time of his sacking.
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Latest video

Kanthan Pillay on the future of news media | Solutions With David Ansara Podcast #47

 
10 April 2022

The news media in South Africa is under considerable financial and operational pressure. This is mostly due to the wave of digital disruption, which has shaken the very foundations of the industry. How do we access credible and trustworthy sources of information in this environment? In this episode of the 'Solutions With David Ansara' podcast, I speak with journalist and commentator, Kanthan Pillay, about the future of news media.

What I wrote on this day...

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My favourite writings

Angels in desolation

'In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty,' Phil Ochs once said ...

DAWN was breaking over the magnificent desolation of the Karoo landscape as cats eyes flung themselves...

The butterfly that stamped

This is the 9th month of the year 1999. There are 99 days to go to the last year of this century. Do you feel a sense of destiny?

A BUTTERFLY flapped his wings in East Timor, setting up...

Death of a friend

Living in South Africa has a numbing effect on a human being. One soon becomes almost unaware of the daily cycle of violence, destruction, and death. Reports of children being...

Jo'burg, the place of miracles

How we deal with death is as important as how we deal with life...

Picture a modern-day Rip van Winkle, rising from slumber in the area north of Pretoria. He walks down the...

Happy birthday Mr Morris

"It was the worst of times, it was the best of times; it was the age of foolishness, it was the age of wisdom; it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the epoch of belief; it was the...

Lamenting the loss of innocence

If you knew that a rose would scream, would you still pluck it?

CHILD ABUSE is one of my psychological buttons. I suppose my reaction to someone who is accused of doing any...