http://www.NewsTime.co.za en-gb Fri, 10 Sep 2010 05:02:00 GMT Copyright: (C) NewsTime 20 .......and read his past columns and then you'll understand why he is one of our most popular columnists. http://www.NewsTime.co.za/rs_articles_contributors.asp?conid=5&recid=2192 Paul Whelan Thu, 9 Sep 2010 22:00:00 GMT Last week this column reflected on simple questions that politicians never seem to get asked and therefore never seem to answer. Who are the ‘ordinary people' they always claim to speak for? If they mean all of us actual people trying to earn a living out here and just getting on with our lives, why do we suddenly need politicians to protect us ... http://www.NewsTime.co.za/rs_articles_contributors.asp?conid=5&recid=2152 Paul Whelan Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:59:00 GMT If there is such a thing as the truth, it must come from working it out ourselves from the facts, not from swallowing a line from either the press or politicians. Hence this short quiz. The questions are simple, to try to find some simple answers. Is a bus driver an ordinary person? Is the woman on the checkout at your supermarket an ordinary person? ... http://www.NewsTime.co.za/rs_articles_contributors.asp?conid=5&recid=2100 Paul Whelan Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:00:00 GMT The exercise of power calls for the exercise of opposition to it; wherever power goes unchecked, it will be abused. This is the case in the family and home; in schools and universities; in the social and sports club; it is true in the market place and workplace; in religion, in international society and under all forms of government - monarchical, ... http://www.NewsTime.co.za/rs_articles_contributors.asp?conid=5&recid=2060 Paul Whelan Thu, 12 Aug 2010 22:00:00 GMT It is always hard to know what the ANC is up to and nowadays quite impossible to say what it stands for. Is it - in the broadest terms - centre left or centre right? Social democratic or just democratic? What is the difference anyway, in practice? With these and many other questions unresolved, a firm policy course cannot be set. Government appears ... http://www.NewsTime.co.za/rs_articles_contributors.asp?conid=5&recid=2018 Paul Whelan Thu, 5 Aug 2010 22:00:00 GMT When a well-known and, it can fairly be added, distinguished journalist such as Allister Sparks voluntarily walks into the trackless swamps of the Palestine question, it is worth pondering the whys and wherefores of it. Mr Sparks recently pointed out that an Israeli military investigation has vindicated various findings in Judge Richard Goldstone's ... http://www.NewsTime.co.za/rs_articles_contributors.asp?conid=5&recid=1991 Paul Whelan Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:09:00 GMT Nothing is more destructive of a government's standing than the abuse of public monies by unaccountable party politicians and officials. The cheat or crook in private business runs a risk of being caught and fired or locked up. The way things are, public servants barely risk either - except the smaller fry, who are always at the mercy of political ... http://www.NewsTime.co.za/rs_articles_contributors.asp?conid=5&recid=1958 Paul Whelan Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:09:00 GMT Can you make a work of art appear more beautiful, or broaden its appeal, by explaining what it ‘means'? A wit once quipped about the composer Richard Wagner, whose music seemed to many at the time just an awful noise: ‘Wagner's music is better than it sounds.' Technical skill or a clever ‘message' does not make people love something they cannot love. ... http://www.NewsTime.co.za/rs_articles_contributors.asp?conid=5&recid=1923 Paul Whelan Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:01:00 GMT Despite forecasts of a bonanza for the sex trade, the World Cup has reportedly seen no specially great numbers rise to the occasion. (By the way, these regrettable double entendres will not continue. The letdown for all concerned will be considered tastefully. Some find the subject embarrassing. English Puritans, for instance, totally disapproved of ... http://www.NewsTime.co.za/rs_articles_contributors.asp?conid=5&recid=1860 Paul Whelan Thu, 1 Jul 2010 12:21:00 GMT You may have spotted that ‘Another Point of View' does not make a habit of taking up political and moral standpoints - at least not from any firm prior commitment, or just to provoke. Even when you feel you can occasionally detect a settled attitude, you should be aware that, like bank charges, it is subject to change without notification. There ... http://www.NewsTime.co.za/rs_articles_contributors.asp?conid=5&recid=1824 Paul Whelan Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:59:00 GMT