Posted by Tony on Oct 21, 2007 in
Thought Leader blogs
I’m tired of hearing how I need to play a role in fighting crime. In the wake of Lucky Dube’s shooting last week, President Mbeki said we should “act together as a people to confront this terrible scourge of crime”. The Ministry of Arts and Culture said in a statement that “crime is a South African problem and every one of us in this country must play our role in fighting it”.
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Tags: crime, spin, thabo mbeki
Posted by Tony on Oct 13, 2007 in
Thought Leader blogs
Pardon me if this blog is interrupted by the sound of gunshots; intermittent power failures or typhoons, but I’m in Johannesburg at the moment.
I lived here for seven happy years before venturing through the curtain of pallid stares from eyes-too-close-together in the dusty Karoo and settling in the Cape. Returning — as I do nearly weekly — is always illuminating.
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Tags: 702, crime, johannesburg, melville
Posted by Tony on Sep 18, 2007 in
Thought Leader blogs
If you haven’t ever heard of Chris Langham, you’re missing out. He was the comic genius behind the toe-curlingly-delicious spoof documentaries People Like Us. In that series he took the role of investigative journalist Roy Mallard, and made “documentaries” about seemingly normal people and situations. It was understated, nuanced British comedy at its best. He was also the awkward sidekick psychologist in Kiss Me Kate which gave rise to what was arguably one of the funniest moments in television — the scene at the end of the series that saw Langham on stage alone in front of an audience attempting a song and dance routine before disappearing down a hole in the stage. You had to be there, I guess. He was also in Monty Python’s Life of Brian, The Return of the Pink Panther, and multiple episodes of The Muppet Show.
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Tags: child porn, chris langham, comedy, crime
Posted by Tony on Sep 10, 2007 in
Thought Leader blogs
I came across this report that tells how police in the United Kingdom have borrowed from their Australian counterparts an ingenious method of managing loitering youths. To fight the growing problem of pimply teenagers gathering in public places with their trousers around their knees, iPods embedded in their waxy ears, composing badly spelled SMSs and thinking of ways to annoy the adult population, they have begun funding something known as the “Manilow method”.
It is inspired. Find the places where kids hang out. Put up a couple of loudspeakers. Play Barry Manilow’s Greatest Hits Gold Collection on repeat and, before you can say “Her name is Lola, she was a showgirl,” the kids will have sulked off to the next corner.
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Tags: barry manilow, crime
