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The Opinion Pieces are an eclectic bunch on current affairs & history often with a human interest aspect. The Movie/DVDs reviews are mainly on documentaries with a smattering of movie reviews.

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The Fleming Family of Port Elizabeth 9 October 2026
A Quick SMAC #25: Reality Sucks 5 October 2026
A Quick SMAC #24: Iqbal, the Master of All He Surveys 2 October 2026
Port Elizabeth of Yore: PE in 1915 16 September 2026
A SMAC in the Face #123: The Great Mistakes 9 September 2026
A Quick SMAC #23: Oh my Giddy, Giddy, GLOAT! 2 September 2026
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Family Tree of Willliam Kennedy from Rev McCleland to today 30 August 2026
Port Elizabeth of Yore: A Missing Chapter in the History of Hotel Minhetti at Seaview 27 August 2026
A Quick SMAC #22: Trump’s Early Morning Glory 15 August 2026
A Quick SMAC #21: Bumps that Jar 13 August 2026
Port Elizabeth of Yore: How the Reed family survived in their new homeland 8 August 2026
Qqeberha of Today – Stanley Berman makes his Mark 28 July 2026
A Quick SMAC #20: Golden Shower Award 21 July 2026
Port Elizabeth of Yore: How Far is an Hour? 15 July 2026
A Quick SMAC #19: Reading for Meaning 5 July 2026
A Quick SMAC #18: Size Matters 21 June 2026
A Quick SMAC #17: Fatal Attraction 21 June 2026
A Quick SMAC #16: Removing the Trump Stamp 15 June 2026
A SMAC in the Face #122: Peace Be Up to You 11 June 2026
A Quick SMAC #15: Total Humiliation of Trump by Chairman Xi 19 May 2026
A SMAC in the Face #121: The Alphabet According to Trump 5 May 2026
A SMAC in the Face #120: The Unholy Trinity 22 April 2026
A Quick SMAC #14: The Fog of Peace 14 April 2026
A Quick SMAC #13: The Straitjacket of Hormuz 11 April 2026
A Quick SMAC #12: Did I Say That? 9 April 2026
A SMAC in the Face #119: Be Careful What You Wish For 9 April 2026
A SMAC in the Face #118: The Tactical Retreat of TACO 5 April 2026
A Quick SMAC #10: The Five Stages of Brief War (Trump Style) 26 March 2026
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Pioneering Naval Ambitions 25 March 2026
A SMAC in the Face #117: Operation Epic Fail 17 March 2026
Port Elizabeth of Yore: David Doit-The Legendary Malay Whaler 13 March 2026
A Quick SMAC #8: The Baldy Man 12 March 2026
Port Elizabeth of Yore: James Searle and the Union Boating Company 6 March 2026
A SMAC in the Face #116: The Eight Seasons Pizza Prize 4 March 2026
Rosemary Wood’s Hike on the Berg in 1953 3 March 2026
A Quick SMAC #115: Trump’s Golden Era 28 February 2026
Military Record of my Uncle – Redvers Percival Dix-Peek 9 February 2026
A Quick SMAC #7: A Modern View of Mount Fuji 2 February 2026
A Quick SMAC #5: Trump Survives 3rd Assassination Attempt 2 February 2026
A Quick SMAC #6: Melania, Twenty Days to His Story 31 January 2026
Port Elizabeth of Yore: How the Chinese made a Living 3 January 2026
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Birth and Demise of Beach Segregation 31 December 2025
A SMAC in the Face #113: Voetsek 2025 30 December 2025
A Quick SMAC: Braggadocio 22 December 2025
A Quick SMAC: The Walk of Shame (or The Three Stages of Shame) 21 December 2025
Books in the Port Elizabeth of Yore Series 20 December 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Quintessential Chinese Vices 18 December 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Derelict building near Cow’s Corner 9 December 2025
A SMAC in the Face #112: Trump’s Earworm 27 November 2025
A SMAC in the Face #111: Whitewash(ington) 18 November 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Main Street in 1881 14 November 2025
A SMAC in the Face #110: All the President’s Mayhem 13 November 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Sir Lewis Michell’s Years in Port Elizabeth 10 November 2025
A SMAC in the Face #109: Patriot Gamesmanship 10 November 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Replenishment of a Ship’s Water 4 November 2025
A SMAC in the Face #108: Arab Chic 2 November 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Biographies of William Fleming Senior and Junior 31 October 2025
A SMAC in the Face #107: Putin’s Pet 26 October 2025
A SMAC in the Face #106: The White Guy’s House 26 October 2025
A SMAC in the Face #105: No (F@%)Kings 23 October 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Saga of the Le Necessaire 17 October 2025
A SMAC in the Face #104: MAHA … HA, HA 12 October 2025
A SMAC in the Face #103: American Gothic – A Modern Reprise 23 September 2025
A SMAC in the Face #102: Sex Fast in America and Other Stories 22 September 2025
A SMAC in the Face #101: Ai Brave New World 8 August 2025
A SMAC in the Face #100: Cry Hoax 30 July 2025
A SMAC in the Face #99: The Voting Line 24 July 2025
A SMAC in the Face #98: Does Size Matter or How You Hold It? 21 July 2025
A SMAC in the Face #97: Big Bad Don 7 July 2025
A SMAC in the Face #96: The Sharpie is Biglier than the Sword 24 June 2025
A SMAC in the Face #95: Angry Bird v. Looney Tunes 14 June 2025
A SMAC in the Face #94: American Heroes 11 June 2025
A SMAC in the Face #93: His Master’s Voice 8 June 2025
A SMAC in the Face #92: Hair Force One 4 June 2025
A SMAC in the Face #91: Donocchio, the GLOAT 3 June 2025
A SMAC in the Face #90: The Rhymes of the Ancient Martinet 31 May 2025
A SMAC in the Face #89: The Steal of the President of the US 29 May 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: A Visitor’s View of the Town 27 May 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Duo of Serpentine Specialist and Snake Showman 22 May 2025
A Cautionary Tale – Going off at a Tangent 21 May 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Cowboy Mills of Wide Horizons 20 May 2025
1967 – Mr Davies and an Explosive Confrontation 18 May 2025
A SMAC in the Face #88: A Conclave of Crassness 10 May 2025
A SMAC in the Face #87: The Creation of MAGA 4 May 2025
A SMAC in the Face #86 – The Little Big Man 14 April 2025
SMAC in the Face #85 – To Be or not to BBBEE 7 April 2025
A SMAC in the Face #84: The Almighty Cod 13 March 2025
A SMAC in the Face #83: In the Belly of the Beast 25 February 2025
No 7 Through my Eyes – The last years of No 7 as a home 16 February 2025
A SMAC in the Face #82: DINOsaurus Rex 14 February 2025
A SMAC in the Face #81 – The ANC & the Black Gini 13 February 2025
Running Repairs 11 February 2025
A SMAC in the Face #80: SONA Time 10 February 2025
Takeover 29 January 2025
International Relationships 29 January 2025
Wartime Memories 29 January 2025
Jellicoe 28 January 2025
The Forgotten Sketch 28 January 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Age of the Backyard Mechanic 28 January 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: George William Smith -Architect and Surveyor 27 January 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: When Mill Park was in the Country 24 January 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: HB Smith of No. 22 Bird Street 22 January 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: No. 7 Castle Hill through the Ages 20 January 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Frederick Korsten – the Shipping Magnet 7 January 2025
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Amsterdam-A close-run thing 27 December 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Frederick Korsten-Sealing their Fate 20 December 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Delalande – the Naturalist versus Hudson, the Diarist 12 December 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Cradock Place – A golden past obliterated 4 December 2024
A SMAC in The Face #79: Thanksgiving, 2024 26 November 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Samuel Hudson – Diarist exposes Cape Society 25 November 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Early irrigation schemes on the Gamtoos River 16 November 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Pre-1820 Traders and Merchants 13 November 2024
A SMAC in the Face #78: Trump – Demagogue or Demigod 13 November 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Business acumen of Frederick Korsten assessed 12 November 2024
A SMAC in the Face #: The Ozempic Games 11 November 2024
A SMAC in the Face #76: Going, Going, AGOA! 7 November 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Military Record of John Gilfillan Bunton in WW2 1 November 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Military Record & Life of Henry Bunton 28 October 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Chronology of the Herald’s Ownership and Location 17 October 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Visit by H.A.L. Hammelberg in 1861 15 October 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Visit by John Campbell in 1862 12 October 2024
Dating the Oldest Photograph of Port Elizabeth 11 October 2024
Port of Yore: Blogs on PE’s Port, Harbour, Breakwaters, Piers and Quays 3 October 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Blogs on photography and photographers 30 September 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Willows – An Alternative View 11 September 2024
A SMAC in the Face #75: Odius Maximus 10 September 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: HMS Good Hope: Royal Navy training base at Seaview 22 August 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Unusual Crane on North Jetty 31 July 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Location of Alcock’s Businesses 26 July 2024
A SMAC in the Face #74: Hapoor 25 July 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Early local photographers and Camera Club 24 July 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Buildings of Mosenthals 12 July 2024
The Story of Gilbert McBride’s WWII Service and Death 28 June 2024
A SMAC in the Face #73: Is Zuma Prepared to Bury the Hatchet? 8 June 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Land Ownership in the 1820s 5 June 2024
A SMAC in the Face #72: Trump Cut to Size by Occam’s Razor 2 June 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Closure of the Inner-City Locations 29 May 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Jonathan Board – Builder and Property Owner 25 May 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Algoa Flying Club 22 May 2024
A SMAC in the Face #71: What a Bunch of Puckers 18 May 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: James Edward Bruton-An early photographer 16 May 2024
A SMAC in the Face #70: Binary Logic – The Gender Agenda 14 May 2024
Our Presidents: Past, Present and Possibly Future, Compared 9 May 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Swimming at the Breakwater 2 May 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: James Brister 1 May 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Great expectations but uninviting facade 27 April 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Rivalries and Competing Visions 26 April 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Poor White Problem – 1920 to 1960 19 April 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Its Institutions, Trade and Population in 1877 17 April 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The creation of a Port without a Harbour. 11 April 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Was 1884 a Year of Penury or Opulence? 9 April 2024
A SMAC in the Face # 69: Election 2024 – Can You Kill a Cockroach? 8 April 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Korsten vs Vagrancy and Trespassing in the 1830s 8 April 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Baakens can be Deadly 5 April 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: A grisly discovery 3 April 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Advert for the Sale of Scorey’s Hotel 3 April 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The First Seawater Swimming Bath 2 April 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The first attempt at ship building 1 April 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: From Morbid Curiosity to Penitence 1 April 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Arnoldus Dietz and his Patron Frederick Korsten 29 March 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: 1835 – Under a Dark Cloud with several bright rays 22 March 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Fake Distress calls during mid 1830s 22 March 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Kemsley Family 1 March 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Mills – The First Automated Processes 25 February 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: An Avro Anson crash at Van Stadens 23 February 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Richard Attwell’s Pioneering Enterprise 21 February 2024
A SMAC in the Face #68: The NHS is in ICU 19 February 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Bureaucracy in Action in Algoa Bay 15 February 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Newpaper clippings on fires during 1903 and 1904 9 February 2024
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Accidents on the Apple Express Railway 7 February 2024

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Dean McCleland on Port Elizabeth of Yore: David Doit-The Legendary Malay Whaler
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Dean McCleland on Port Elizabeth of Yore: David Doit-The Legendary Malay Whaler
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