That's showbiz, folks
IT'S THE OK Corral all over again. The party is gripped by feuding and tension. There are determined manoeuvrings to unseat the Top Man, all kinds of cloak and dagger stirrings.
In spite of open disunity, the need for firm and decisive intervention to quell the growing cacophony demanding action, the Big Shot slips out of the country on yet another international junket.
Yet Tex Collins has survived as DA caucus leader in the Ethekwini Council. He's seen off the backshootin' varmints. The DA Young Guns slink back to their smoke-filled rooms to plot anew.
All right, it's not quite up to the ANC Spectacular. It will most certainly be eclipsed by Mangaung (which will be a box office hit of Cecil B de Mille proportions), but let nobody accuse the DA of not doing its bit in the realm of public entertainment.
Meltdown all round
INVESTMENT analyst Dr James Greener predicts in his latest grumpy newsletter that the Euro will not survive. He also detects a parallel between the demise of the Euro and our own government's attitude towards the mining industry.
"It is now clear that the Euro will not survive. The experiment is drawing to a close, derailed by impurities in the ingredients that were shaken up together in the test tube …
"The most vocal supporters of the Euro now are probably only those whose careers, pensions and reputation are embedded in the founding principles and institutions of the countryless currency, and anyone who has recently converted their dollars, pounds, yen or even rands into Euros ... In due course the Euro will be no more than a deep pile of data to be mined by graduate students of the dismal science in search of a doctorate.
"Similarly the story of how a determinedly ideological and wilfully vindictive government regime managed to destroy a national minerals industry will also one day be read with astonishment …There is very little evidence to suggest that the leadership is able to accept that the mining business is about extracting, processing and marketing their products in a way that simultaneously maximises both client demand and their own profits. In the process they create jobs and pay taxes and royalties. Sadly our leaders can't accept that almost any intervention in such a system developed over centuries is very likely to break it."
Birdman
READER Mike Morgan recounts an astonishing yet charming little story about – not the Birdman of Alcatraz but the Birdman of George. He got it from a girl called Val Jensen, who used to work for him and is married to an airline pilot.
An aviationist called Jim Davis ran an outfit called Cape Flying Services when the new airport at George opened many years ago.
Swallows built a mud nest above the crew room door and Jim installed a small wooden shelf just below to catch the droppings.
On arrival at the office one morning, a baby swallow was on the ground outside the crew room door. Jim carefully picked it up and placed it on the shelf. Mother swallow was circling, voicing her concerns.
Next morning Jim decided he'd better teach the little swallow to fly. He would perch it on his finger and move it up and down so it had to flap. Little by little it gained confidence, and Jim got to the stage where he would suddenly pull his finger away and it would flap to the ground. Each day the flights got longer.
The bird's parents would help by getting upwind of Jim and dangling tasty insect offerings while calling encouragement. After about a week the bird flew from Jim's hand, did a circuit and landed back on his hand.
At the beginning of winter the swallow family flew off to Europe. They returned in spring, and every year Jim was able to reconnect with the bird - but only if he was wearing the red jacket he had on during its flying training.
Not many instructors can claim they taught a swallow the art of aviation.
Tailpiece
Last word
The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
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