To be woke or not to be woke, that is the question

By Angus Shaw | March 18, 2023 |

Thinking about things “woke.” It certainly has nothing to do with rising from a good night’s sleep. Definitions of the word are, at best, unclear. Wikipedia says it derives from African-American English meaning “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.”  More loosely, it means someone who is open-minded and goes with the flow of political correctness.…

The Oscars and me

By Angus Shaw | March 15, 2023 |

Jamie Lee Curtis just won an Oscar. I knew her old man. It’s probably fairer to say Tony Curtis knew me. To cut a long story short, I had been hitchhiking around Europe, the Grand Tour, as we called it then, and to earn a shilling I got a job as a reporter in London.…

Never too old

By Angus Shaw | March 6, 2023 |

Tough times

By Angus Shaw | February 28, 2023 |

Times are getting tougher. It means we’ve got to squeeze the most out of everything.  Not just the toothpaste, but out of all else. At the supermarket I asked a fellow shopper if she was a doctor. No, but why are you asking?  Prices! I am about to have a heart attack. The government says…

Got to get a word in edgeways on Harry and Megs

By Angus Shaw | February 23, 2023 |

The brouhaha over Harry and Meghan ever continues.  I just love the ‘vomiting man’ emojis I got when I last mentioned Harry’s book. Now I’ve got to get a word in edgeways because everyone else has so much to say. To me in southern Africa, this is one of his many gems: Anyone who calls…

Let’s count our blessings

By Angus Shaw | February 19, 2023 |

Don’t be obliged to read me. My pieces are too long, too wordy and not snippets for glances at on smart phones that you only have the time and patience for.  So be it. It’s okay Hollywood action star Bruce Willis has a severe form of dementia, his cognitive skills (speaking, reading, writing and remembering)…

The frightening Fox

By Angus Shaw | February 14, 2023 |

In one of our tropical rainstorms the other day I was twiddling on the net for news from the outside world and had the misfortune of happening upon Fox News Radio. Oh my!  Its reputation precedes it in Zimbabwe, largely through seepage. Not only had we seen the excellent movie with Russell Crowe depicting the…

Extra, extra, in case you missed it …

By Angus Shaw | February 2, 2023 |

Here we go again. Lots of thoughts going on outside this usual space.      

Paths to despair

By Angus Shaw | January 24, 2023 |

One local paper reported it like this, gun powder was found alongside weed and drug smoking paraphernalia during a police bust in our second city of Bulawayo. Gun powder? That would surely blow your mind.  From a generation once well schooled in the use of recreational drugs, it is difficult to imagine what gun powder…

What’s in a name?

By Angus Shaw | January 8, 2023 |

Down here in the last country in the alphabet, we have some wonderful first names. Gift is an unplanned child or just a beautiful one gifted by God. Among many, many more are Admire, Precious and Beauty. The name Tendai can be used for both boys and girls, literally meaning in the Shona language “give…