Steven Boykey Sidley
Steven Boykey Sidley is a professor of practice at University of Johannesburg, columnist-at-large for Daily Maverick and a partner at Bridge Capital. His new book "It's Mine: How the Crypto Industry is Redefining Ownership" is published by Maverick451 in SA and Legend Times Group in UK/EU, available now. His columns can be found at https://substack.com/@stevenboykeysidley
Articles By This Author
Disruptor University – the sad tale of a great idea that failed
In May 2021, a quartet of intellectual dissidents gathered in Austin, Texas, united by a conviction that American higher education had lost its way. Venture
Elon’s next big, hairy, audacious gamble
In 2024, a minor grid disturbance in Fairfax County, Virginia caused 60 data centres to simultaneously switch to backup generators, shedding 1,500 megawatts in an
What’s with electricity prices? Politics and the blame game
Electricity prices are going up alarmingly, especially in the US and UK. Again, I have found myself embroiled in an argument about the price of
Trump and the Art of Not Starting Wars
We’ll get to Venezuela. But first… On Christmas Day 2025, as families exchanged gifts and tried to ignore global nastiness, President Donald Trump delivered a
Bondi Beach and the clash of civilizations
As this confusing year draws to a close, painfully punctuated by the excrescence of the attack on Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, I was
Technology billionaires and puppet politicians
Last week, the erstwhile fire-breathing, MAGA-roaring, Trump-praising Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG) appeared on 60 Minutes with host Lesley Stahl. MTG recently fell afoul of Trump
Why is Trump so obsessed with Venezuela?
Let’s start with the obvious question: why is the President of the United States spending this much time and hardware on a mid-sized, broke country
Is there any point to democracy anymore?
This is not a fatuously provocative question. I am not talking here about alternatives like those political systems which are proudly autocratic and do not
What if politicians risked jail time for reneging on promises?
I watched Zohran Mamdani’s election to be mayor of New York with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was pleased to see a counterpoint
The other immigration battlefield – who is entitled to be called British?
On Sunday morning I awoke to the disturbing news that two knife-wielding men had stabbed ten passengers on a train near a town called Huntingdon,