I wrote this article recently for the Mail & Guardian. I have since had some interesting responses to it, so I thought I’d put it up on my blog.
I have been asked to write a piece on why I believe that you as a student should stay in South Africa in the face of […]
It is with frustration that I read yet another article containing misleading superlatives that are clearly used for effect and not accuracy. In this particular case I am reading “Extra funds needed to maintain city road network” (Cape Times, 26 February). The article describes the difficulty of sourcing funding to repair “the city’s […]
I listened with interest to the budget speech and was mostly
impressed by what was said, especially around tax incentives for investment in
sustainable energies such as wind, wave and solar. The Cape region is better
positioned to lead in the use of renewable energies than just about anywhere
else in the world; what with our abundance of wind, […]
I have just come back from two weeks of blissful holiday in idyllic Mozambique. A recommended trip for anyone needing a break.
What struck me, though, was the work that is going on to fix and upgrade the infrastructure, which took such a battering during the civil war. Of the 600 or […]
I’ve just come back from speaking at a conference in Dubai, where I was completely awestruck by the enormous scale of the visions that are being made into reality. There are mindblowing projects like the Palms and the World (man-made islands in the sea), Dubailand (280 million square metres of development, almost equivalent to […]
I am currently in Barcelona, attending a conference on Place Branding. Today is the Grand Prix, so the place is teeming with people from everywhere. It’s an amazing city that has built its international reputation largely on the back of huge events, starting with the Olympics in 1992. Before 1992 the city […]
I’ve recently finished reading Freakonomics (see the blog here) and have been inspired by the authors’ commitment to smashing conventional wisdom by showing the real numbers. Conventional wisdom is rampant in discussions about South Africa, and I thought I’d share one of my own attempts to smash the conventional wisdom surrounding the number of […]
I have recently been appointed the CEO of a new organisation called Accelerate Cape Town (ACT). Accelerate Cape Town is an organisation started by leaders of key businesses in the Cape, who are concerned that complacency and lack of cohesive thinking make it increasingly difficult to attract and retain businesses and top talent in […]
Crime is one of those topics in South Africa that get emotions to the point where they override any rational discussion, so I was happy to receive a very unemotional view on crime, written by JP Landman. JP is a fellow analyst, writer and professional speaker. You can see his website at www.jplandman.co.za. […]
The speech I gave in 2001 called “I pledge allegiance” is doing the rounds on email and the internet again. Unfortunately the original version has been hijacked along the way, so I thought I should post the “official” version here:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic […]