The Casual Observer

While Paris Weeps

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 18 November 2015 0 Comment

In the aftermath of the barbaric and inconceivable atrocity in Paris, I am still benumbed at how an organisation, especially one supposedly with strong religious and moral credentials, could commit such an egregious act. No simplistic remedies will suffice. No strident rhetoric should serve as a pretext for intemperate action. Rather divine the essence of what drives supposedly intelligent youngsters to be radicalised to commit such heinous crimes and take appropriate action. But more importantly from a personal perspective what was the historical prelude to this shameful act.
Continue reading

The Hand Pump in Broad Street

By Dean McCleland in History, Opinion Pieces 15 November 2015 0 Comment

Advances in medical science are often made by the most unlikely people. Sometimes they are outsiders or more likely they are involved or trained in another discipline. The person making the breakthrough is usually mercilessly vilified by the gatekeepers of the status quo. Ultimately the discovery is adopted without so much as a muted apology from the previously virulent detractors. So it was with cholera.

Main picture: John Snow

How the USA is Changing: Part 1

By Dean McCleland in Miscellaneous Topics 11 November 2015 0 Comment

This series of graphs by Danielle Kurtzleben entitled 21 charts that explain
how the US is changing is exactly the type projections of the future which sparks my imagination. Some are already well known such as the changing demographics but others are totally new. All of them enhance our understanding of the future of the USA over the next 50 years.

Main picture: One possible future but not within the next century

Are RICA and FICA effective?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 10 November 2015 1 Comment

Who would not be in favour of these regulations? Nobody except of course the criminal element. The reality is much more mundane. If the measures were extremely effective with 97.5% compliance both in the accuracy of capture or the system not being bypassed, I would classify these measure as being ineffectual. The (purposely) incorrectly recorded or unrecorded instances would allow all manner of miscreants and nere-do-wells to flaunt the system with impunity. The only complaint individuals will be the law-abiding majority. This undermines the noble intention of the legislation. Why do I assert this and what can be done to make these measures effective?

Despite being introduced with great fanfare to curb corruption, in both instances I was churlishly cynical regarding their efficacy. Without both rigorous enforcement and incorruptible systems, only the non-criminal element would endure the burden of compliance. At the margin, it would allow the apprehension of the in-astute criminal to be trapped but a seasoned criminal such as Radovan Krejcir would never comply.

Report back on the Giant’s Cup Hike – October 2015

By Dean McCleland in Hiking, Personal 3 November 2015 0 Comment

The die has been cast. Age and lack of ability cannot be reversed. We will have to accept that Quo Vadis is an ex-hiking club; it is no more. This does not imply that the Club is extinct like the Dodo but rather that its modus operandi will have to accord with the new realities.

Thinking back on the days when Mike Brown, Kurt Radzom, Mick Crabtree and I were hiking together 25 years ago, it is unbelievable that the Quo Vadis Hiking Club would ultimately be transmogrified into the genteel Quo Vadis Slack Packing Club. Continue reading

Varsity Unrest: Chickens Coming Home to Roost?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 24 October 2015 2 Comments

South Africa has experienced unrest since 1994 but never on a co-ordinated national scale like it has been now. Why is there a sudden explosion of emotion and what are the portents for the future?

Firstly an admission. I embrace the students’ mission but never violence nor the destruction of property. Fortunately these protests have been largely peaceful. From a global perspective they might look intimidating but they have been no more violent that comparable student demonstrations as in Paris or London. South Africans, especially whites need to reframe their understanding of the dynamic of protest action. It is inevitably disruptive to some element of society – be they motorists, commuters or businessmen on their way to work or home.

Main picture: Dark smoke billows from the crowd where thousands of students have gathered at the Union Buildings, calling on President Jacob Zuma to come out to address them Source: EWN

Is it Worthwhile Counting Calories?

By Dean McCleland in Health, Other Opinion Pieces 21 October 2015 0 Comment

Maybe it’s a “female thing”, but I can positively confirm that none of my male friends would ever count calories whilst on diet. Partly this female fixation with calorie counting is a consequence of their doing the Weight Watchers diet whereas males would rather adopt a less stringent “wing it” approach. Normally that is the well-known Starvation Method. Which approach is preferable or is it neither?

Imagine measuring and weighing every morsel of food that passes one’s lips. I could not imagine Nigella Lawson measuring anything as she takes cooking to the other extreme: a dab of this, a glob of that. No two meals can possibly be the same.

Main picture: Why are the verboten foods so tempting while the good foods are so bland

Bob and I

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces, Personal, Running 18 October 2015 2 Comments

Of course I am not referring to the President for Life north of South Africa. Somebody less well-known but for me as a youngster he was “famous.” On three occasions he was runner-up to Bruce Fordyce on the South African version of the rite of passage, the purgatory of the Comrades Marathon. His name is Bob de la Motte. For people of my generation, the Comrades Marathon held a fascination unlike any other sport as South Africa was besotted and enthralled in equal measure by this long distance odyssey. For one day a year, all South Africans would be glued to their TV sets as the runners battled it out over 90 kilometres of the most arduous road race in the world.

Having never met Bob de la Motte how can my Opinion Piece be entitled Bob and I? Having recently read his autobiography – The Runaway Comrade – which is partly biographical and partly a social commentary of the milieu in which South Africa existed at the time, I was struck by so many similarities in our upbringing and life experiences.

Main picture: Bob de la Motte being congratulated by Bruce Fordyce, his nemesis. In any other era, Bob de la Motte’s finishing times would have accorded him a win. What Bob did was to force the indominitable Fordyce to greater feats.

You take two sugars, don’t you?

By Dean McCleland in History, Opinion Pieces 13 October 2015 1 Comment

What status in the social, political and even the religious pecking order did a female hold prior to WW1? Apart from having no outlet for advancement, their station in life was limited to the nurturing and servile occupations such as teaching, house work and nursing. Even though the suffragette movement had commenced its campaign as far back as the 1860s to obtain voting rights for females, this array of radical reformers antagonised rather than aided the feminist agenda. Did WW1 accelerate woman’s advancement and if so how and what was the quantum thereof? Or was the change ephemeral and only for the duration of the war?

This is the odyssey of a number of females who took advantage of the situation and spread their wings. Without the condescending guffaws of males to cajole them not to be foolish, they each in their own way proved that females could achieve their dreams with ingenuity, perseverance and hard work.

Main picture:

A woman at work in an armaments factory, during the first world war.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Not the Orthodox Run-of-the-Mill Signs

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 12 October 2015 0 Comment

At least some people have a sense of humour. Instead of the hum-drum boring signs, these people ensure that passersby react with more than a smile. They will in probability also adhere to its instruction – all except the inveterate miscreant.