By Nicholas Lorimer of Daily Friend – 3 February 2022 When we look back on the lead-up to the Second World War it seems obvious to us, with the benefit of hindsight, that the leaders of France, the UK, and Belgium did not act as well as they should have done. But what we, as observers […]
Mangosuthu Buthelezi was a man of immense political talent and contradictions
Gerhard Maré, Emeritus Professor of Political Sociology, University of KwaZulu-Natal 9 September 2023 Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, who has died, was a history maker. He was born on 27 August 1928 into a tumultuous global century, and into the local conditions of racist rule. A man of singular political talent, Buthelezi was among the country’s most […]
Who lived at Machu Picchu? DNA analysis shows surprising diversity at the ancient Inca palace
Roberta Davidson, PhD candidate in Genetic Anthropology, University of Adelaide 26 July 2023 Standing atop the mountains in the southern highlands of Peru is the 15th-century marvel of the Inca empire, Machu Picchu. Today, the citadel is a global tourist attraction and an icon of precolonial Latin American history – but it was once the […]
Sun Tzu and the ‘Art of War’
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting During a period in China known as the Age of Warring States, rose a wise and successful general from the state of Qi. To hand down the wisdom he gained from years of battle Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War, a complete philosophy on how […]
Beware the Ides of March – WHY?
Ides referred to the first full moon of a given month, which usually fell between the 13th and 15th of March. The Ides Of March refers to how the Romans kept track of the days in a month, which is quite different from how we do it. While we count the days sequentially from the […]
St James, looking back
CLICK on the photograph above to view the SLIDESHOW This prestigious little stretch of 1.2 kilometres along the coastline of False Bay, where the mountains meet the sea, is known as St. James. Small though it may be, the church, the school, the hotels, the old aquarium, the beach, the homes and the people all […]
Fish Hoek ~ A Photo Journey Through Time
CLICK on any photograph to view the different slideshows
Muizenberg, looking back
Muizenberg was established by the Dutch in 1743 as a military post on the road between Cape Town and Simon’s Town. The village was named after Wynand Willem Muijs, sergeant in charge of the post in 1844, and later commander of the Cape. The railway line from Wynberg reached Muizenberg on 15 December 1882. Muizenberg […]
Neanderthals: the oldest art in the world wasn’t made by Homo sapiens
Paul Pettitt, Professor in the Department of Archaeology, Durham University 17 January 2023 One of the most hotly debated questions in the history of Neanderthal research has been whether they created art. In the past few years, the consensus has become that they did, sometimes. But, like their relations at either end of the hominoid […]
Kalk Bay, looking back
CLICK on the photographs above to view different slideshows There are few easy ways of earning a living and fishing is certainly not one of them. Nature in the raw is seldom mild and the fisherman confronts nature in all its moods. Their work is hard, dangerous and success dependent on many unpredictable influences […]