Archive for the 'Global View' Category

President Obama - a surprise?

At our company, TomorrowToday, we track trends and try and make informed predictions about the future of work.  Recently, my colleague, Keith Coats, was traveling through the USA and was asked what “the world” thought about the elections.  His answer was that most international observers were surprised and concerned that Senator Obama was not predicted to win by a landslide.  That there was even a thought that another Republican, especially a war-mongering one who was trying to win by appealing to very conservative parts of “middle America”, even had a chance was a scary thought.

Of course, one of the issues is that America has not yet dealt with its racial history.  Even this morning, as Barack Obama’s landslide is now a reality, it is clear that he won less votes in the Southern States than any of the previous five Democractic candidates for President have done.  But that is another thought for another day.

This post is just to say: well done President-elect Obama!  Bring on the change.

Its also to say: we told you so.  I hope this doesn’t sound like many of the TV “political analysts” currently flooding the 24-hour news channels and sounding as if the results were assured.  But, its not easy being a futurist.  By the time you need your invoice paid, the future is not yet assured.  By the time your predictions come true, people have forgotten you made them.  So, unfortunately, we do have to sometimes say, “we told you so” just to remind people that we did actually spot the trends and call it correctly.

Those who know our work will know that even before Obama beat Clinton for the Democratic nomination, I was predicting a landslide win for Barack Obama.  Part of this prediction relied on the desire for change evidenced in all major democracies in recent months.  Part of the prediction relied on the fact that we have predicting some form of economic correction for some time (I wish we had been able to predict the timing and severity of the current downturn), part of it was that if and when the debate turned from international issues (America’s euphemism for foreign military interventions) to national issues (euphemism for America’s economy and self-interested self-interests), and another part was the impact of the generations (age) of each of the candidates on the voters, and a final piece of the puzzle was the new “Generation Y” voters who came out to campaign and vote in record numbers.

Obama by a landslide.  Not a surprise to us.  But certainly a relief that it is now reality.  America - the ever changing, ever adapting nation - is once again forever changed.

Discover how Generations predicted the financial crisis

The past few weeks in the financial markets have indeed been a rollercoaster of a ride! The ensuing fall out and chaos is well documented so I’m not going to comment about the crisis, but rather what I’ve found it intriguing, and something that perhaps has been missed is how accurately the crisis was predicted by Generational theorists.

Two key developers of generational theory, Harvard Professors Howe and Strauss predicted the current crisis using their generational research findings back in the early 1990’s. They mapped Anglo-American history as far back as 500 years to the war of the roses and identified a 80 year repeating cycle. These cycles, which they purported, create the generations and run on a two stroke beat of crisis’s and awakenings, each 40 years apart from the other, as illustrated in the graphic below.

The last “awakening” was the hippie revolution and the events that rocked the world in and around 1968. Frighteningly forty years… 2008 is the year their research identified as the next crisis… Many commentators argued that the events of 9/11 and 7/7 were the crisis, and for some time it was thought that Howe and Strauss had got it wrong. The key though is in their definition of a crisis, which is defined as - an event which changes the views held by society to the extent that society’s views and institutions are fundamentally different following the crisis. Using this definition 9/11 as traumatic as it was, was more of a speed bump in society than a crisis. After 9/11 society continued on as before, albeit with a ”little” war “somewhere” in the middle east. The current crisis though does have the potential to radically alter our world. Trust in the financial markets has been shaken, governments have nationalised banks and emerging economies are taking centre stage… The world is indeed changing.

As someone who is passionate about researching societal changes and the implications for businesses, I find all of this fascinating. We are currently developing a new presentation and research study on how the crisis will impact each generation at a point in time when they are all entering major lifestage changes. For example how will the crisis influence the values, attitudes and purchasing behaviours of Baby Boomers in or at retirement? We will soon be in a position to share our insights on the implications of the crisis for each generations. In the meantime if you are interested in learning more or would like to contribute to this discussion on Generations and the impact of the financial crisis please contact me at dean@tomorrowtoday.uk.com or leave a comment on this blog.

Navigating Through the Financial Crisis, by Booz CEO

TomorrowToday has done some work with Booz Allen Hamilton over the years, so I was really interested to be send an email containing a letter sent to all Booz staff by their CEO, Shumeet Banerji. Here is what I was sent (a quick Internet search shows this has been duplicated a lot of times, but the original is here, I think).

Navigating Through the Financial Crisis
A note from Shumeet Banerji to Booz & Company clients

I have been asked many times over the past few weeks what we think of the economic crisis—and how Booz & Company and our clients might be affected. My observations are backed with a particular form of data—the recent views of business leaders in some of the most important places in the world. For I am writing this on a flight back to London from Beijing, having just attended the World Economic Forum’s Tianjin summer conference—and having spent the previous two weeks visiting Booz & Company clients in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

So. Is this the end of Capitalism? What caused this? When will it end?

Continue reading ‘Navigating Through the Financial Crisis, by Booz CEO’

Lucy Kellaway

If you’ve picked up a Financial Times, from time to time, you may have been introduced to Lucy Kellaway. I discovered her while wondering around iTunes looking for interesting PodCasts. And interesting is just one tiny word to describe my journey with Lucy Kellaway.

I know I’m opening myself to plenty by suggesting that she’s my modern equivalent to business that Luther was to the Catholic Church. She’s been a wonderful breath of fresh air, forcing me to be honest about business today. Forcing me to be honest as a consultant working with people who are ‘in there’ each and every day trying their best to make it all work.

Apart from finding the courage to find a way to invite her to South Africa, I’ve also spent a fair amount of energy and headspace wondering plenty about her philosophies around how business works?

Continue reading ‘Lucy Kellaway’

Leadership matters: Africa’s new leaders herald a new dawn

My friends at South Africa: The Good News are writing a new book. A more ambitious project it is “Africa: the Good News”. It will be out in November 2008, and you can order advanced copies at a discount by contacting Leanne Nimmo at leanne@sagoodnews.co.za.

Here is an extract from one of the chapters on leadership. It comes from their latest e-zine.

History has shown time and again that societies are made or broken by the few individuals who lead them.

It is difficult to imagine where the USA would be today without the efforts of one man, Martin Luther King, Jr., who brought about racial equality in that nation. It is also hard to imagine where India would be today without Mahatma Ghandi’s efforts to free his country from colonial rule, or where South Africa would be today without the collective efforts of three people: Nelson Mandela, FW De Klerk & Desmond Tutu.

In the arena of science and technology, it is hard to imagine our world today without the efforts of exceptional individuals like Bill Gates of Microsoft, Steve Jobs of Apple, or Larry Page & Sergei Brin of Google. The same holds true in the fields of education, healthcare, music, drama, journalism and sport. A few individuals change the world. These individuals - the leaders of society - determine the path of history.

Continue reading ‘Leadership matters: Africa’s new leaders herald a new dawn’

The Accounting Profession: Power, Pressure, Perfection and People

Return to TomorrowToday UK website | Download pdf version | Email this website link to a friend

The Accounting Profession: Power, Pressure, Perfection and People

Since 2002, the accounting profession has been rocked by sensational corporate scandals and subsequent strict regulations.  The four largest global accounting firms (the ‘Big Four’) still have more challenges on the horizon.  All of them see their talented staff as the best tool to embrace these challenges and add the value demanded by clients.  Each of the Big Four believes their people are the source of their future competitive advantage.

But, most graduates who are recruited by these firms write the same exams, are affiliated to the same professional bodies and are overseen by the same external regulators.  The structure of an audit, the deadlines, the type of people who are recruited, the pressure and the opportunities are similar at each of the four accounting giants.

If talented people are the key to differentiation for each of the firms, why and how should they change and structure themselves in order to capitalize on this critical resource?  How can they each use their people to differentiate from each other?

In spite of the new networked, knowledge economy, increased regulations and changes to the profession, the organisational design and way audits are staffed and performed has generally remained the same.

Is it time for the Big Four to change? Continue reading ‘The Accounting Profession: Power, Pressure, Perfection and People’

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

I was sent this short email about Russian writer and Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn who died on Sunday, aged 89. I thought I’d share it.

His outspoken criticism of communist totalitarianism earned him many years of imprisonment in Stalin’s infamous Gulags and many more years in exile. His rare courage was underpinned by an unshakable commitment to truth and a deep sense of life purpose.

He was, however, also no advocate of the Western model, believing that Western society was eroding due to its whimsical pursuit of material well-being, its valuing of rights over obligations, and its misguided granting of destructive & irresponsible freedoms. Here are the closing words of his famous address “A World Split Apart” at Harvard University, 30 years ago. His questions are hardly less relevant to us today:

“Our lives will have to change if we want to save life from self-destruction. … Is it true that man is above everything? Is there no Superior Spirit above him? Is it right that man’s life and society’s activities have to be determined by material expansion in the first place? Is it permissible to promote such expansion to the detriment of our spiritual integrity? … We shall have to rise to a new height of vision … No-one on earth has any other way left but upward.”

John Mauldin on South Africa

John Mauldin, one of the US’s top investment advisors - recently voted second only to Warren Buffet as an investment guru - was in South Africa last week. On his return to the US, he wrote this remarkable article on his visit…

I start this week’s letter somewhere over the Atlantic, halfway through an 11-hour flight from Frankfurt to Dallas. It has been an altogether marvellous 11 days in South Africa, speaking to over 1,000 people at 12 venues, giving a half dozen media interviews, and meeting with many individuals.

This week, I want to give you some impressions of not only South Africa, but talk a little about emerging markets in general.

Finding Value in South Africa

I realized about halfway through my recent trip that it had been some time since I was in an emerging-market country. I have been to over 50 countries over the past 20 years, but recently most of my travels have been to Europe and Canada, with the occasional vacation trip to Mexico.

Continue reading ‘John Mauldin on South Africa’

Reflections on Africa

I suppose Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday is as good a time as any to briefly reflect on Africa. As an African by both birth and choice, I must admit that my heart is often broken by this continent. Albeit that Africans are resilient, remarkably adaptable and generally hospitable and friendly (among the black languages of South Africa, for example, there is no indigenous word for “stranger”), there never seems to be a week without some tragic tale emerging from the 52 nations of this mighty continent. I am not saying that everything is as bad as the global news headlines often make it out to be. But, Africa nevertheless seems to have massive problems when compared to the issues facing other regions of the world. Why is this?

One thing that has helped me recently is reading Jeffrey Sach’s “The End of Poverty” in which he lists the major causes of extreme poverty (and most of Africa is in this category), showing that many of the factors that cause African poverty are beyond the control of people. Africa’s mosquitoes carry malaria, whereas India’s do not, for example. Africa has no major navigable rivers (OK, there is one, but that is all within the DRC). Africa has the worst top soil of any continent (except, I suppose, Antarctica). And Africa’s tribes are more divided by culture and language than any other continent (in South Africa, for example, there are eleven official languages. In Nigeria, there are over 100 unique, indigenous languages). So, Africa is partly as it is due simply to the lottery of geography.

But, in the 21st century, that does not explain the whole story. It does not explain Sudan, for example. And, it most certainly does not explain Zimbabwe.

Continue reading ‘Reflections on Africa’

Free games

At TomorrowToday, we are great fans of games, and especially of the learnings we can get from games. We are also keen observers of the gaming industry, which often picks up on shifting values and economic models before other industries do (compare them, for example, to the music industry - especially on the issue of pricing I’m about to talk about!).

Here is a small feature from the latest Economist magazine on a new financial model for games. Give them away for free!

FOR millions of East Asians, online gaming is not so much a hobby as a way of life. “Massively multiplayer” online games such as “Legend of Mir 3” and “MapleStory” have legions of devoted fans who spend an alarming proportion of their waking hours sitting in front of their PCs, at home or in internet cafés, doing battle with elves, wizards and mythological beasts. Some players take their parallel gaming lives very seriously: one man murdered a friend in a dispute over a stolen virtual sword (GC: this happened a few years ago, and is the only known extreme incident - but it is still much quoted).

Many of these games rely on a business model that is different from the way the video-games industry works in the West. Rather than selling games as shrink-wrapped retail products which can then be played on a PC or games console, the Asian industry often gives away the software as a free download and lets users play for nothing. Revenue comes instead from small payments made by more avid players to buy extras for their in-game characters, from weapons to haircuts. In this way, a minority of paying customers subsidise the game for everyone else.

Continue reading ‘Free games’

Cement Usage

Here’s a link worth following. It contains a few images of cement usage around the world by the big users. China’s usage for the past 4 years is staggering.

We all know this, but seeing it in this particular format leaves you with your mouth hanging wide open. It certainly did for me.

I’ve not been to China. I can’t imagine what must be going on to be using this kind of volume?

TomorrowToday.biz Building Capacity in London and Europe

A JOURNEY TO A NEW WOLRD

Graeme Codrington moves to our UK branch in August this year. While not a permanent relocation, it’s expected that Graeme and his family will remain abroad for three to five-years. Already an internationally recognised expert on talent and the future of work, Graeme will continue to help organisations to understand global societal changes, and how these changes affect their staff, leaders and customers. While abroad, Graeme will periodically return to South Africa to honour requests from clients who wish to engage with him directly.

Continue reading ‘TomorrowToday.biz Building Capacity in London and Europe’

Accenture’s Multi-Polar World

Accenture released an excellent report last year entitled “The Multi-Polar World”. In it, they argue that right now we live in a world going through major transitions, caught between different “poles” of focus, interest and power. I think they are spot on the money.

You can read the full report online for free. Just go here.

I have reproduced their summary below if you don’t have the time for a 2Mb PDF download and 36 pages of reading.

Continue reading ‘Accenture’s Multi-Polar World’

Dwindling global electricity supply

Coal electricity supplyI live and work between Johannesburg and London. For the past few months, South Africa has been plagued by the short supply of electricity. This is due to lack of planning for the sustained economic boom we have experienced over the past decade. As early as 1998, forecasters were warning that South Africa would run out of electricity in about 2007. Well, to be clear - that we would reach the point where demand and supply were so closely aligned that any blip in the system would result in blackouts. That is precisely what happened.

The problem should soon be resolved by the opening of new power stations (they take some time to build!) and the recommissioning of old power stations that had been mothballed. In this respect, South Africa is not unlike other countries that have experienced electricity shortages due to economic growth and bad planning. Recent examples include Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and California.

I am planning to spend the next 3-4 years in my London base, but it seems I will not escape the power problem. According to The Economist, England faces the same dark future. The expected date of blackouts - 2012. Just in time for the Olympics in London.

Read the article here (subscription may be required), or an excerpt below.

Green and black
A looming supply crunch causes problems for a government with green ambitions

Apr 3rd 2008
From The Economist print edition

RHETORIC is a sad fact of political life, and most voters are smart enough to know that grand promises made in the heat of a parliamentary debate or an election battle should be taken with a pinch of salt. But on energy policy the gap between claim and reality is now wide enough to be embarrassing. Grandiose pronouncements about climate change (“our greatest obligation to future generations”, according to Alistair Darling, the chancellor of the exchequer) stand incongruously next to Britain’s anaemic record on cutting its greenhouse-gas emissions, which have stayed stubbornly unchanged for years.

That has led to much rancour, with greens accusing the government of “betrayal”. And in the midst of all this acrimony another problem looms: Britain is beginning to run short of electricity. Reversing this trend seems likely to turn up the heat even more.

Continue reading ‘Dwindling global electricity supply’

The Next Empire/s

The latest edition of Strategy+Business has a great article on a new book looking at USA, Europe and China. Here is an extract:

What can the U.S. do to maintain its competitive position against the E.U. and China? Foreign policy scholar Parag Khanna believes the answer lies right under our noses.

Only 30 years old, Parag Khanna has spent more than two years traveling to more than 100 countries, hoping to see firsthand the flash points of geopolitics and globalization. From his observations emerged a book, the recently published The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order ???????? ????? ????????(Random House, 2008), a thought-provoking look at the future of global competition. Khanna posits that the struggle for global economic and diplomatic influence over the coming decades will pit three empires — the United States, the European Union, and China — against one another on a battleground that he calls the “Second World.” This group comprises countries in five critical regions — Asia outside China, Central Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Latin America — that hope to achieve full industrial development through economic and strategic alliances with one or more of the three major blocs.

Indiana McCain and the Election of Doom

I must give The Economist website the credit for this awesome headline. And I must agree with them that John McCain is in trouble. If elected as President later this year, he will be the oldest person ever elected American President. While this should be no factor, since life expectancy has been steadily increasing over the past half century, and McCain is sprightly, healthy and the very model of what today’s elderly can be, there is a problem.

McCain is not a Boomer. The Boomers (born after World War II and into the 1960s) are old and aging (although they will hate to read that bald fact stated so bluntly). They’re now in their mid 40s to mid 60s. But, they feel 25. Or, at least 35! Any decent marketing efforts aimed at them cannot treat them (or show visual images of them) as they are - i.e. over 50, ageing individuals. Marketing efforts aimed at Boomers should think of 35-39 year olds, and use similar images, too.

Americans are not ready for an old President. (There is a website devoted to things that are younger than Mr McCain - including the Golden Gate Bridge, plutonium, Coke-in-a-can, Velcro, 91% of Americans…). Or more specifically stated, Americans are not ready for an old President who is not a Boomer. In 20 years time, they’ll be ready for 70 something President, but not yet.

So, this should be a really fun election to watch. You will have either your first woman, or your first African-American. Or your first septuagint. Which of these is America more ready for. I’m not sure. But I am prepared to put my generational credentials on the line, and say that Boomers and Gen Xers would rather have a Boomer than someone from either the Silent or Veteran generations. So, for my money, on generational theory alone, McCain has no chance. But, then again, who would have thought that Indiana Jones would get another run at his age (actually, Harrison Ford is a Boomer in his 60’s - so maybe there is your answer!!)

Wired Politicians

A week or so ago, Dean noted that the Tories in the UK were trying to target (or needed to try and target) a younger generation of voters. In the same week, I read an article in The Economist about how British politics was using (or not using) digital communication technologies and Web-based tools. Read it online here, or a summary below.

The internet and politics

Semi-connected

Apr 17th 2008
From The Economist print edition

British politics is missing out on the potential of new media

EVEN the least fogeyish of politicians have been flummoxed by the internet. Tony Blair, champion of all things modern, paid no end of lip service to the potential of new media as prime minister but was comically technophobic himself. Still, the internet plays a role in huge areas of British public life: party politics, punditry and government itself. But web aficionados lament a yawning gap with America, and with the most go-ahead corners of Europe.

The official websites of the main political parties—Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats—get less web traffic than the most popular political blogs, and much less than even the far-right British National Party. No surprise, say cyber enthusiasts; they do a passable job as repositories of information but offer little scope for users to get involved beyond signing up for e-mail distribution lists.

Continue reading ‘Wired Politicians’

Olympics, controversy and you

The Olympic torch has left Athens, Greece on its traditional torch run around the world until it eventually arrives at the Beijing Olympic stadium during the opening ceremony. Right from the first day, it has been met with something that the Chinese officials did not anticipate: protestors. In an unprecendented move, the torch was actually extinguished in Paris so that it could be loaded onto a bus and rushed away from growing violence amongst the protestors. TV news scenes from London, Paris and San Francisco show police beating protestors, dragging them into prison vans and frog marching them away - none of these are scenes that add to the Olympic brand and mythos.

This is becoming a major news story - a BAD news story. It’s China Inc that’s on the receiving end. But it could be you and your company next. We have been saying for some time now that there is a new generation of young people and global citizens that are going to rise up and become activist customers and ethical consumers. This Olympics needs to be YOUR company’s wake up call that this can happen anytime, anywhere. You have been warned - get your act together, and ensure that all the skeletons in your closet are well sorted out!

To err is Terminal 5

Heathrow Terminal 5 chaosI write this entry as a South African. I say that because we’re extremely hard on ourselves on this end of the planet. We often compare ourselves to the resources, experience and might of the ‘developed world’ when we open our world class attractions. And when things don’t work the way they’ve been billed to, we simply blame our ‘African-ess’ on our inability to deliver to the standards and levels that were expected.

This week British Airways opened Terminal 5. Since the opening it’s been on the news, flighted as the greatest travel achievement the world has ever seen.

You can imagine my amusement at the e-mail I got from our travel agent this afternoon. Even with truck loads of cash, and wheelbarrows of experience, getting it right isn’t as easy as one imagines. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from : )

Continue reading ‘To err is Terminal 5′

Lessons in attitude for the talented (or Ricky Ponting gets his just desserts)

Regular readers of this blog will know that many of the contributors are passionate cricket fans. (For our American readers, that’s the mysterious game that, in its purest form lasts five days and can end in an exciting draw!) Our fanaticism for the game is shared by at least 1 billion Indians. The world’s largest democracy has just had an unprecedented auction for international cricket stars, for the newly formed Indian Professional League. In the league, a number of Indian provincial teams get to “buy” international super stars to play with them. Each team can only have a maximum of 4 of these stars on the field at any time. They must also have four players under the age of 22 from India in the teams. The rest of the team is Indian. The bids in the auction will be paid to the player as a salary (I think I saw correctly that the Indian players in each team will be paid the same as the top paid international super star in their team). The contract is for three years.

Nice idea. It’s for 20-20 cricket, so will be a great spectacle too. I can’t wait.

Continue reading ‘Lessons in attitude for the talented (or Ricky Ponting gets his just desserts)’

The Most Expensive Oil

Today the world wakes up to the most expensive oil ever. Those who believe in market dynamics of supply and demand will have an interesting time explaining this. The problem with oil is not that there isn’t enough oil around, but rather to do with where the available oil is to be found.

Of course, supply and demand does have something to do with the record price. High growth rates around the world, in places as far flung as China, India, the Middle East and Africa, have seen demand for oil grow as their economies fly. At the same time, oil firms, in particular Western oil firms, are struggling to increase production - mane still producing at the same levels as they did two or three years ago. That has left little spare production capacity and, in America and other countries, dwindling stocks. Whenever storms brew in the Gulf of Mexico or chaos erupts in the Middle East or Africa, or Russia talks nasty, jittery markets push prices higher. Part of this has to do with speculators, rather than customers.

But there are other reasons for the higher oil prices, and the lack of supply.

Continue reading ‘The Most Expensive Oil’

Emerging market art

The latest Economist has a short note on an interesting trend: the massive increase in selling prices of artworks. This has been a great investment trend over the past few years. But, now, the trend has hit emerging markets, so to speak. Russian and South African artists, in particular, were singled out in the article (read it here, or below).

Irma Stern was a white South African woman of Jewish heritage who was able to evoke wonderful images of Africa. Read more about her here. Over 40 years after her death, her art is internationally recognised, and due to fetch remarkable prices at upcoming auctions around the world.

Continue reading ‘Emerging market art’

A car for the people of the world

Tata NanoThis is how new markets are made, and how worlds are changed! Today, Tata released their latest car. It was a car that all of their rivals said could not be made. About 5 years ago, Tata announced that were going to build a car that would cost less than 100,000 rupees, or US$ 2,500 (the price of a DVD player in most luxury cars).

Today, they unveiled it in India. See the early news reports here and here.

It is the Tata Nano. And, besides being a 5 door sedan, seating four, with just less than 650CC power, it also has remarkable fuel efficiency (20km/l), top speeds at 100km/h, meets all emissions standards and all safety standards, too. The deluxe model will have aircon. See the Reuters “factbox” for details. At this price, it is bound to be attractive to those who have not been able to enter the car market in the past.

It is no surprise that a car for the people in the “bottom half of the pyramid” should come out of India (see previous post on selling profitably to the world’s poor). For some, it may be a sad truth, but it is true nonetheless: unless companies make money out of supplying goods and services to the world’s poor, they won’t. But Tata shows yet another example of how this can be a win-win for everyone.

With a car like this, Tata will create a new market of car drivers, and are poised to conquer the world. I wish them well!

1968 nostalgia

It’s 40 years later! Prepare yourself for a year (or at least a few weeks) of breathless nostalgia as the Baby Boomers put on their misty eyes and remember back to one of their most defining years as young people (and just when you think it’s over, the 30 year reunion of the “summer of ‘69″ will be upon us next year).

For the record, I wasn’t there. My parents weren’t married yet (although that was becoming less and less of an issue for childbearing in 1968). But, in my studies of generational defining moments, 1968/9 is one of those periods of a few months in which it can be said, “everything changed”. (Probably the most defining such period in recent history was April 1989 to February 1990 - Tiananmen Square, the Berlin Wall comes down, Perestroika and Mandela’s release all within 8 months!).

But back to 1968. Before you look at my list of highlights below, why not take the “do you remember 1968″ online quiz.

Now, here are the highlights:

Continue reading ‘1968 nostalgia’

Beware the Chicken Littles (SA, ANC, Zuma and more)

I received this by email from the great lads at SA The Good News. I don#8217;t go with everything they say below, but it#8217;s worth thinking about (especially for our South African readers):

Mbeki vs ZumaThe prospect of a Zuma ANC presidency is becoming more and more of a reality and with it a scenario so long feared by the chattering classes. The prospect of a Zuma ANC presidency is becoming more and more of a reality and with it a scenario so long feared by the chattering classes.

Normally sane, rational people have said things like “If Zuma becomes President, I#8217;m outta here!? and “You#8217;ll really battle to find any “good news”? if Zuma is elected. The country will be screwed.”?

It reminds me of the hysteria and popular opinions that swirled around the suburbs before the 1994 General Election (”You better stock up on water, canned food, guns and ammunition because there#8217;s going to be chaos”?). Similarly, the world wide angst over the Y2K computer bug in the lead up to January 1, 2000 (”Planes are going to drop out of the sky! Nuclear plants will melt down!”?).

Continue reading ‘Beware the Chicken Littles (SA, ANC, Zuma and more)’