A few weeks ago I was having a quiet evening with friends, drinking some coffee and talking politics. I was asked what I thought of the toilet saga. Besides the horrible situation for the people on the ground which is beyond question – I thought from a political angle the Democratic Alliance through Dan Plato, […]
Filed under: Commentary, Democratic Alliance, Government, Ideas, Politics, Society, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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It seems we, the people of South Africa, lack an emotion. We lack it to such a degree that the absence of it in our hearts is distilled and purified in the halls of our nations power, the Union Buildings, the Parliament, the party National Committee and the halls of academia. We lack shame. We […]
Filed under: Africa, Commentary, Corruption, Crime, Decision Theory, Diplomacy, Government, Ideas, Obama, Politics, Zimbabwe, Zuma, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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Last night I was telling a friend why I thought, on balance, Israel was justified in its actions in the Gaza strip, and that comparatively the death of 555 in 11 days of full on modern warfare, including several days of house to house street battles is a testament to the low casualties that the […]
Filed under: Commentary, Government, Ideas, Society, War, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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Reading a letter to The Times today, reader Jeff Mpondozenyathi makes a balanced expression that Cheeky Watson and his son Luke are right in their vehement criticism of the Springbok emblem, and the complicity that many in the rugby had with Apartheid.
I don’t agree with Mpondozenyathi, but I understand his frustration and his feelings […]
Filed under: Commentary, Ideas, Language, Politics, Reconciliation, Society, Sport, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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Luke Watson, and his father, are controversial figures in South African rugby, a sport which is plagued with racist and intra white (i.e. English Vs. Afrikaans) destructive attitudes. But it is also a great bridge builder, as the Great reconciler, Nelson Mandela showed brilliantly in 1995.
South Africans, of all races, are proud of South […]
Filed under: Africa, Commentary, Ideas, Language, Politics, Rant, Society, Sport, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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Gordon Brown sent the message yesterday that he knew how to handle an economic crisis - despite having an economy that is dwarfed by the U.S. economy, the UK government put together a bailout worth over 500 billion pounds. All over a take out curry - now that is impressive stuff!
Couple that with an […]
Filed under: Business, Commentary, Corruption, Decision Theory, Economy, Government, Ideas, Law, Politics, Society, ethics, work by Andrew la Grange
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No doubt everyone is dropping a coil over the failure of the ‘bailout’ from the U.S. congress to calm world markets. Incredibly people are learning the downside of a globalised economy - big brother in the form of the United States can’t bail out the entire world due to structural shortcomings.
Of course this is all […]
Filed under: Business, Commentary, Decision Theory, Economy, Government, Law, Rant, Society, ethics, work by Andrew la Grange
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When we are young, our parents tell us to take responsibility for our actions. To not blame others for our missteps and failures if they are the product of our own limitations and mistakes. You need to learn from your mistakes. Or at least parents should tell their children that. Its character building, and leads […]
Filed under: Commentary, Decision Theory, Economy, Government, Ideas, Politics, Rant, Society, U.S. Elections, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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I’m a huge believer in nuclear power. I think all the tree huggers and hash smoking Greenpeace hippies should look at the simple fact that the solution to our destructive addition to fossil fuel has been staring us in the face since the 40s, namely nuclear power. It is infinitely cleaner, safer for the […]
Filed under: Business, Commentary, Decision Theory, Environment, Government, Ideas, Society, U.S. Elections, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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Friday was a blow to anyone who wants South Africa to be a powerful and healthy democracy. Not because the courts found on Zuma’s behalf on a technicality, but that so many of his sycophants seem to think that Justice Nicholson’s ruling was a vindication of their man.
The fact is that the man who was […]
Filed under: Africa, Corruption, Crime, Ideas, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Rant, Society, Zuma, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20080911141538545C746132
I should choose my words wisely. Because Sbu Ngobeni is quoted today by Independent Newspapers, as saying he will “shoot and kill” Jonathan Shapiro, who Mr. Ngobeni says “deserved to rot in hell” for Sunday’s cartoon indicating Jacob Zuma was being assisted by the Alliance to rape the justice system.
Do we now live in […]
Filed under: Commentary, Corruption, Economy, Ideas, Language, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Rant, Society, War, Zuma, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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In a democracy, all figures are equal before the law. But some of a citizens rights are removed because of their actions. Most notable of course are the rights of criminals. We all agree, as a society, that sometimes the the rights of the individual are balanced against the rights of society and are […]
Filed under: Comedy, Commentary, Corruption, Language, Law, Politics, Rant, Society, Zuma, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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South Africa’s children need to have better educations. They need the resources and good teaching that can forge young people into contributors to society, and those who can excel on the world stage.
What should not happen is using children as fodder for political protest and gain. Whilst some might cite 1976 as an example […]
Filed under: Corruption, Education, Ideas, Language, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Rant, Society, Zuma, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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YeboYethu, Vodacom’s payoff (well only 3.44%: bribes come cheap these days) to BEE, shows just how cheap it has become to pay off white guilt in South Africa (even for a company that likes to give all its employees kids Lego, and take everyone out to the Velodrome for a command performance from Westlife, as […]
Filed under: Africa, BEE, Commentary, Corruption, Economy, Ideas, Media, Politics, Rant, Society, Zuma, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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I’m an African youth. I might be white. I might not support the ANC (or the DA or the rest of the incompetent left overs from all divides of Apartheid politics). And I suppose in the world of a struggle ‘veteran’ (yeah: like the 18 year old ‘veterans’ of the Zimbabwean civil war that happened […]
Filed under: Commentary, Corruption, Crime, Ideas, Language, Politics, Rant, Society, Zuma, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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