current affairs

My Super Tuesday prediction

Tuesday, 3 March 2020

Today is Super Tuesday in the US.

This is the day when the greatest number of states within that country hold primary elections to determine who is going to be the presidential candidate later this year.

More than a third of the voting delegates to that presidential nominating convention are determined today.

The Republicans are holding their primaries too, but President Donald Trump has no competition to speak of, so today is all bout the Democratic nominee.

Reading into India's GDP growth

Wednesday, 19 February 2020

Quite a bit of buzz today around the fact that India has overtaken the UK as the world's fifth largest economy.

India's GDP has clocked $2,94 trillion. The UK sits at $2,83 trillion followed by France at $2,71 trillion.

There's been a lot of grumbling from India's opposition Congress party who've pointed out that manufacturing has declined in its overall contribution to GDP (in spite of Prime Minister Modi's much-hyped "Make in India" campaign).

Up in my air balloon, air balloon...

Sunday, 16 February 2020

Whenever I watch "Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade", I'm filled with longing for the majestic beauty of airships.

Three times longer and twice as tall as a 747 – to put that in perspective, the Hindenburg class machine was as long as the Empire State Building is tall – these magnificent machines had 25 cabins (yes, cabins) holding two passengers each, a dining room, a passenger lounge with a piano, a writing room, a smoking room.

So Ramaphosa delivered, sort of...

Friday, 14 February 2020

Yesterday, I said there are three very simple things President Ramaphosa can do today that will immediately give an uptick to our economy:

  1. Let SAA fail
  2. Take the money that would be spent on SAA and use it to upgrade Metrorail rolling stock and stations
  3. Hand over control of Metrorail to the municipalities of Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban

Here's what he said in the State of the Nation address:

My wishes for the State of the Nation Address tonight

Thursday, 13 February 2020

There are three very simple things President Ramaphosa can do today that will immediately give an uptick to our economy:

  1. Let SAA fail
  2. Take the money that would be spent on SAA and use it to upgrade Metrorail rolling stock and stations
  3. Hand over control of Metrorail to the municipalities of Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban

That's it.

I could ask for an end to EWC, NHI, cadre deployment, PIC stealing workers' pensions, but I've learned to lower my expectations. 

The virus and the pangolin

Saturday, 8 February 2020

When you see one strutting along on its hind legs, you might be forgiven for thinking this is a baby tyrannosaurus. 

When it rolls up into a ball, it looks like a projectile from a medieval version of pelota designed for the Spanish Inquisition. 

And then it puts forward something that looks like an earthworm the length of a domestic cat, which you realize is its tongue.

Pangolins are amazing creatures. They're mammals with scales, and they can swing from trees by their tails. In the wild, they are pretty much invincible.