Meating some weighty matters . . .
27 June 2012
There's an old Jewish saying of encouragement when things are going wrong: "You still have your health!"
Aakash Bramdeo is a former colleague from e.tv news who moved on to the SABC before being offered the editorship of Post in Durban — which was the newspaper which published my first story back in 1980. Before accepting the job, Aakash picked my brain as to what he could do to make the paper relevant to a wider readership. "Get a columnist who reflects the audience you're trying to attract," I said.
Shortly after accepting the position of editor, Aakash called me and asked, "when can you start?"
"View from the Top" ran in Post every week from 1 May 2011 to 9 April 2014 (which coincided with Aakash's departure from Post to edit the Sunday Tribune).
It’s the structure that screws us
4 July 2012
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.
Rotarians beat Lady Gaga hands down
11 July 2012
I’ve always been fascinated by what exactly it is that makes anyone want to act to help anyone else.
It’s ages since I last licked a stamp!
18 July 2012
Apartheid made some things easier for those of us who were disenfranchised, and one of those things was the choice of careers.
To be a player in the intellectual economy, one either became a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher.
If you cheat or steal, you’re outa here!
25 July 2012
Last week, one of my employees was found guilty in a disciplinary hearing and dismissed by the hearing chairman. The employee appealed the decision which means it falls upon my shoulders to decide whether he stays or goes.
Yes, a week is a long time in politics
1 August 2012
Citizens of the United States of America go to the polls on Tuesday, 6 November 2012. For those of us who live in the real world, it's not necessarily obvious how that simple fact can impact on events in far-flung corners of the globe.
Brought to our knees by an ugly beast
8 August 2012
Did you ever stop to think about the right to work? Did you ever stop to think about the right to have a job? Did you ever stop to think about the fact that those are two entirely different things? Did you ever stop to think about the fact that you cannot have one without destroying the other?
The season of musth is upon us
15 August 2012
Over the past days, at least nine people have died in clashes at Lonmin's Marikana mine in the North West province — two police officers, two security guards, three protesters and two other men. Two of them were hacked to death with pangas.
Stories like this fascinate me.
Lies, damned lies, and journalism
21 August 2012
As a nation, our ability to make informed decisions is only as good as the information we are given.
For example, if our grandparents knew that long term exposure to asbestos would lead to malignant mesothelioma, we would not have used the stuff in building our houses.
How warp speed cuts you short ...
29 August 2012
Time, someone once said, is mortality. It struck a chord with me because I had not until then considered that time has no meaning to an immortal.
Think about it: if you were going to live forever, you would be under no pressure to want to accomplish anything.
Neil Armstrong's death this week resurrected that thought process.