Thought Leader

I just knew somehow it was going to be a very special day. I was all smartly dressed in a khaki uniform, cap and sandals, and a shiny leather satchel was slung over my back. Decades later, I remember looking at the photo, recalling the scents of leather, well-scrubbed teeth and a hint of peanut…

When white South African Brandon Huntley was granted asylum in Canada after he claimed he was the victim of racist violence, many of us — Richmark Sentinel included — went pear-shaped and labelled the board who had approved it a bunch of morons who never took the time or trouble to investigate the reality of…

Around where we live there used to be a real “China Town”. That is to say, wonderful bric-a-brac of small shops selling everything from toilet seats to services such as getting new keys cut, shoe repairs and tailors, from the Chinese version of take-away omelettes wrapped around a stick of dough for breakfast to tiny…

It took a very special kind of mind to conjure up the idea of introducing a scatological theme into the nativity scene. Somewhere, sometime in the distant past, an anonymous Spaniard said to his mates, “I know how to brighten up our display. Let’s put the queen around the side of the stable.” Somebody else…

Nic Dawes fabulous article in the Mail & Guardian entitled Schabir’s gambit got me thinking that perhaps many of our readers don’t understand the chess terms being referred to in the discussions regarding President Jacob Zuma and Schabir Shaik. What many of you don’t know is that just hours after paying tribute to former health…

I was lying on a bed in a physiotherapist’s ward in Randburg with an ankle injury and listened to an elderly female voice querying another woman: ‘So what are you doing for Easter?’ I had seen the two slowly hobbling into the ward and they were definitely old hands at being “senior citizens”. “Oh… I…

I know, I know. I’m on about film again. It’s sort of inevitable, if one happens to be sharing some of one’s film treasures on DVD with one’s friends in an intimate holiday atmosphere, and in a place as beautiful as the little village of Greyton into the bargain. Here, exploring the indescribably majestic mountains…

My high school “piece job” entailed being an interpreter of maladies. It was my job was to find which tooth or teeth were loose, painful, rotten or all of the above at a dental surgery in Bree Street, Johannesburg. The resulting information would then be captured by yours truly on a piece of paper according…

…and any other issue that may get you riled up. Because it is all irrelevant if we don’t have a planet to live on. Yup, that’s right, all our problems, all our high points, all our crimes, all our achievements will be for nothing if we don’t get an agreement on climate change. The summit…

Yesterday I went to see Invictus (good, not great, bring tissues) with my usually sufferable parents but was promptly reminded of why I have not seen been to the cinema with the pair of them since the disastrous Liar Liar (circa 97) incident — which saw an embarrassed younger brother and I seeking refuge in…