Author: Sipu

War and Gin

Had my father been alive, this month would have seen him celebrate his 100th birthday. Of course 1914 is better remembered for being the year that The Great War commenced.

It was an earlier great war, what Southern States call, ‘The War of Northern Agression’ aka the American Civil War, that saw the birth of my grandfather, in November 1862; exactly one year before President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

The Napoleonic Wars had not yet commenced when my great grandfather was born 220 years ago, in February 1794. However, they were well under way when, at the age of 16 he went off to fight with Wellington against the Corsican upstart. Much to his chagrin, my ancestor was wounded at the battle of Quatre Bras, which took place two days before Waterloo and thus was unable to take part in that more famous battle. Continue reading “War and Gin”

Boycott Halal

Burger King Arrives in South Africa

The above article made me spit. Increasingly halal foods are being forced upon us without our knowledge and certainly without our having requested them. By us, I mean non Muslims. I can understand that it makes sense economically for halal options to be offered to Muslim diners, but there should be a choice. Certainly many supermarkets in South Africa have kosher sections. But to ban pork products entirely from restaurants, supermarkets and even airlines, is taking things too far. Leaving aside the methods used to slaughter animals to satisfy halal standards, foisting the regime on the rest of society sends the wrong message to Muslims who will believe that they only have to complain loudly and aggressively enough and they will have their way in all things. Soon it  will be Sharia Law. It really has to stop now. Continue reading “Boycott Halal”

Politicisation of Crime

There is an article in today’s Business Day informing us that South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority plans to investigate historical allegations of mass rape by members of ZANU-PF during the build up tp Zimbabwe’s 2008 elections. Although Zimbabwe has not done so, South Africa has ratified the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court. As such, the NPA has been ordered by a high court here in SA to investigate what amounts to ‘crimes against humanity’. Continue reading “Politicisation of Crime”

Winners, non-winners and losers

I am an epicurean. Or at least that is how I think of myself, based on a quick perusal of the Wikipedia page that deals with epicureanism (not the Freedictionary definition). (It’s a topic I would be happy to pursue if anybody is interested. But that is not what I want to write about just now.) My lifestyle affords me the freedom to visit bookshops and browse a range of publications covering a variety of topics. One such book that I came across today and subsequently purchased, is titled, somewhat confusingly, ’50 Ideas you really need to know the future’.

One of the ideas discussed is that of ‘Gamification’. I confess that when I saw the title I envisaged a discussion on the merits of the hanging of pheasants: 1 day or 7. Of course it was nothing of the sort.   Continue reading “Winners, non-winners and losers”

I am no lawyer but….

I have just been sent a copy of Zimbabwe’s new constitution which is due to go before a referendum sometime next month. I have not read more than a small part of it, but one element caught my eye, that which relates to ‘War Veterans’ and the ‘Liberation Struggle’. It seems that anybody who fought in the Liberation Struggle must be honoured and protected and receive some sort of pension. (The fact that it was the awarding of vast ad-hoc pensions in 1999 which precipitated the collapse of the local currency and brought about the country’s economic ruin, seems to have been overlooked.) What my quick perusal has not uncovered, though it may be there, is that there does not seem to be any distinction with regards to the opposing factions of the war. I fought in the Liberation Struggle, albeit on the losing side, and am therefore a War Veteran. Is there any reason why I should not be awarded the same benefits that those against whom I fought? Would a constitutional lawyer be able to make a case?

It does seem to me to be very ill-thought out document. I note that women must be afforded equal rights and that all government commissions etc. must comprise at least 50% women. Thus technically, there can be more women than men on a commission, though not the other way round. Not exactly equal. Of course, I don’t suppose any of that really matters. The purpose of this, as with so many African constitutions, is to determine the powers of the President and the number of terms he can serve and the protection from prosecution he can expect.

Here is a site from which the Constitution can be downloaded.

http://www.copac.org.zw/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&id=10&Itemid=157

Speaking of Nerds…

Further to FEEG’s post, there is a company here called Dial-a-Nerd that provides computer hardware and software support. In their latest newsletter, they sent this poser.

In this series of numbers, what is the next number in the sequence?
1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
13112221

You can probably find the answer if you google it, but it is so much more fun if you work it out for yourself.

Beyond contempt!

Regardless of one’s opinion of Jimmy Savile, the idea that he should be stripped of his knighthood must surely strike all but the most vindictive and petty minded as being being beyond contempt. The man is dead. David Cameron might just as well force the posthumous abdication of King Henry VIII, responsible for the executions of between 60-70,000 English citizens, or of Queen Mary, also responsible for a large number of gruesome deaths though considerably fewer than her father. Certainly Oliver Cromwell’s statue should be removed from outside the House of Commons. Apart from being a regicide, he was responsible for the death and deportation of 10’s of thousands of Irish Catholics. (Cromwell was of course ‘executed posthumously’, but the favour with which he has been perceived since then is surely misplaced given the current laws affecting religious tolerance and ethnic cleansing.) And then there were those responsible for prolonging the slave trade and Lord Kitchener who introduced the world to concentration camps during the Boer War causing the deaths of “27,927 Boer civilians in concentration camps , plus an unknown number of black Africans (107,000 were interned).” . In fact the list of honoured people who have behaved dishonourably is very long indeed. Continue reading “Beyond contempt!”