Trevor Manuel wouldn't need a parachute if he wasn't being pushed...

Financial pundits have generally been dismissive of the ANC government's attempts to bring our currency under control as it continues its rollercoaster ride.

This week was more of the same.

There have been storm clouds gathering in our household following the government's plan to take ownership of all our water...

KATE was stomping about the kitchen and muttering. "Six inches of water in the back garden.

What does the rest of the world know that our opposition parties don't?

MADIBA'S announcement this week that we would be ending diplomatic relations with Taiwan and embracing the People's Republic of China took me by surprise.

Pleasantly surprised, I must add.

Friendship cannot be bought.

LUKE, our Rottweiller, was so exuberant he kept leaping with excitement. His 40kg frame was a bit much for Aura, who at less than half his size was nearly always bowled over.

Reluctantly, we decided Luke had to go.

Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the solstice, call it what you like. 'Tis the season to be schmaltzy...

I'M HAVING a Dickens of a festive season. It's that time of year when mental stocktaking rears its troublesome head. Another year, another job, another city.

That ultimate symbol of domesticity and parenthood, the gift-wrapped bottle of Brut 33, found its way under our Christmas tree...

I briefly considered slitting my wrists. Can the lawnmower, the weed-whacker, and the Mickey Mouse tie be far behind?

WANTED: Women with balls, men without. Is this the slogan for 1997?

John Greenway, in The American Tradition, said about feminist Elizabeth Gould Davis, "She hates testicles, thus limiting the men she can admire to Democratic candidates for president."

Rayguns don't kill Zorks. Zorks kill Zorks...

AN INTERESTING letter to The Star arrived from Chris Crozier of Sandton.

Here they are — the wholly unofficial top 10 signs that you are in a banana republic...

A RATHER large Afrikaner of our acquaintance — known affectionately to those of us who like him as "The Big Boer" — has very definite ideas about our continent.

"Look at Africa from the sky