Preface I wrote what follows in July 1990 immediately after returning from a two week trip to Moscow. I was part of a group with the now sadly departed Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa (Idasa). The original was published in Democracy In Action, the institute’s monthly newsletter. I had looked for a copy forContinue reading “Ten days that shook my world”
Category Archives: natural disasters
Mandela and Mangaung – the fearful symmetry
(A quick and lightweight aside on a Sunday morning … not part of the ‘deep blue’ series, but bleak enough – I wouldn’t want to disappoint anybody.) Mandela ailing in the last few days before Mangaung? Perhaps the universe does have a sense of humour; one that delights in casual cruelties, sneering irony and aContinue reading “Mandela and Mangaung – the fearful symmetry”
Weather – tis nobler in the mind to suffer
In a Woolworths queue in the Gardens Centre yesterday evening I idly picked up the Cape Argus. It’s the only time I actually read anything in that newspaper. I like to casually glance at its headlines during my journey from the beginning of the endless tunnel of sweats sweets (damn morning rush) and magazines. IContinue reading “Weather – tis nobler in the mind to suffer”
Where blame lies
The raging race debate forces me to think about how we become culpable. I came across an obscene argument the other day. Perhaps you have seen something similar? It went like this: the Japanese are reaping what they have sown; the earthquake, the tsunamis, the nuclear threat and the unseasonal blizzards in the north areContinue reading “Where blame lies”
Complex, unstable and unpredictable
We are the ape with the pattern recognition dial cranked up high and this has served us well over our evolutionary history. But when we assess risk in systems as complex as the global economy our instinctive wariness at the sudden silence in the Palaeolithic forest is not necessarily useful – and might be partContinue reading “Complex, unstable and unpredictable”
Nic Borain 