Trump’s G20: Back to Basics
As a crisis response entity, the Group of 20 was superb. In 2009 at the nadir of the global financial crisis, leaders from lands accounting for 85% of global output agreed to flood their stumbling economies with cash—demonstrating to a
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Getting into a frothy over rugby
“Well, how did you enjoy the rugby?” Noah asks. Noah and I are standing our Irish friends to breakfast at a local restaurant. This is a sensible way to entertain them, as even they are civilised enough not to drink
75 parties on the Joburg ballot
In today’s Daily Friend Show, Nicholas Lorimer and Anlu Keeve react to the latest developments in the wild and wacky land of South Africa, from local government elections to crime and the rural economy. https://youtube.com/live/yp-sMVq7_wI?feature=share
Creepy commonalities: the revival of nostalgia for evil pasts
In the bestselling satirical novel by Timur Vermes, Look Who’s Back, a scruffy character in a dusty and petrol-soaked trenchcoat with a trademark sweep of dark forelock and a toothbrush moustache awakes on a patch of open ground in central
The most endearing feature of the high-trust society is the honesty box
In many English villages, eggs or vegetables are left outside homes on tables. You take half a dozen of the former, then you slip cash into a box, ordinarily a few pounds. Nobody is guarding the table, nobody is monitoring
Scrap race laws for SA’s sake, not Washington’s, IRR urges government
Whatever Washington’s concerns are, South Africa should ditch race laws and threats to property because they directly harm South Africans in every government-defined race group. So says the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) in response to the new US visa
Striking down of Public Procurement Act “major victory for South Africans” – IRR Legal
The Constitutional Court’s striking down the Public Procurement Act (PPA) due to Parliament’s failure to facilitate public participation “is a major victory for South Africans, service delivery recipients, voters, municipalities and other organs of state”. So says IRR Legal, noting
Crude errors: the government’s flawed strategic fuel reserve plan
Two key events in the past week put Gulf oil supplies at increased risk and helped push the price of Brent crude back above $100 a barrel. The first was Saudi Arabia’s decision to shut down its East-West crude pipeline
Marco Rubio takes on the South African elite on Constitution Day
Hello from the District of Columbia swamp! This column goes live on 17 September, Constitution Day in the United States, and I had the privilege of writing it during a long stay in the American capital. Two days earlier, 15 September, was National Voter