Oddities of Nature

By Dean McCleland in Animals 0 Comment

Evolution has the ability to mould creatures into an infinite array of shapes and configurations. What makes many of these animals unique is not so much because they are different – they undoubtedly are – but due to the fact that many of them combine features of disparate geneses and species.

The incomparable David Attenborough has introduced me to a few especially the star-nosed mole which has feelers protruding from where its nose should be positioned and the disgusting naked mole rat which even at birth has the body of a wrinkled superannuated rat on its death bed.

Main picture: The star-nosed mole which only its mother could love

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On the Horns of a Malema

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 0 Comment

The ANC has experienced breakaways and splits before. Historically the most significant was by the PAC in 1959. Of the most recent, Bantu Holimisa’s UDM was never going to be a threat to the ANC whereas Cope was potentially never a life threatening hazard but rather a less venal and self-serving version of the ANC itself. More ominously the EFF with its self-proclaimed populist radical policies are more lethal and hazardous not only to the ANC in particular but to SA in general. The dilemma for the ANC is whether to politically engage with them or totally ignore them. What is my prognosis for the EFF?

Main Picture: Julius Malema sings after addressing a group of soldiers in civilian dress at the Lenasia Recreation Centre Continue reading

The Politics of History: A South African Curse

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 0 Comment

Many organisations abuse History to buttress their credentials or to make political statements. It can also be used as a weapon in political disputes. The fluidity of the interpretation of events creates the ability to distort it for one’s own advantage. Currently it bedevils South African politics mostly as a weapon to silence the ANC’s critics by labelling even their own missteps as being the fault of Apartheid. Let us consider its past and its possible future.

Main picture: An unwitting victim of the war on the statues: The Horse Memorial in Port Elizabeth

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Rev Francis McCleland: From Passage West to the Cape – 1820

By Dean McCleland in Family Histories, McClelands 4 Comments

This is the third episode in the life and times of the Reverend Francis McCleland [1793-1853]. It chronicles the period from his arrival in Passage West in early 1820 aboard the East Indian from London. Francis had visited the British capital in order to expedite his acceptance as a Settler. Furthermore, William Parker had assigned him the task of escorting the English settlers in his party to Ireland. On his arrival in Passage West, Francis’ spontaneous disposition takes precedence. He engages in a whirlwind romance and marriage to a native of Passage West by the name of Elizabeth Clark. A week later, the couple sailed off into the blue yonder – the Cape of Good Hope.

Main picture:  View of current day Passage West

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The Sublime Transition from Summer to Autumn

By Dean McCleland in Landscapes 0 Comment

Autumn is the time when summer packs away its spritely greenery and instead dresses up in its autumn colours before it finally adopts its drab winter’s hues. During the transition, the fashion stakes predominate with the reddish tones and tints with not even a tincture of green protruding.

The vibrancy of summer evanesces into a more sedate insouciant mellow undertone with indolent trysts amongst cavorting leaves slothfully cartwheeling across the ground.

Such are the emotions that autumn evokes in me.

Main picture: KILCHURN CASTLE, SCOTLAND IN AUTUMN

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Review of the DVD documentary entitled “Churchill”

By Dean McCleland in Movies & DVDs, Reviews 0 Comment

This DVD provides one with the reasons why this man is held is such high regard by the British public & why he is rightly regarded as the epitome of dogged determination & a pillar of strength in Britain’s hour of need.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Unlike most politicians who, if one strips away their political deeds usually conceived in smoke filled rooms, are nothing more than empty shells. Churchill instead was the epitome of the courageous & audacious soldier whose acts of bravery drew people to themselves.

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