GO AWAY AND PLAY
By Duncan McLeod
With the silly season upon us, Microsoft will be hoping for a bumper sales season for its Xbox 360 gaming console. If you have children, you probably already know more about the Xbox 360 - thanks to their persistent nagging - t...

WHEN JOZI GETS DOZY
By Nicky Smith
Staying home for the December holidays is sometimes an economic decision, or one that is informed by last year's family fiasco. But staying in Johannesburg for the break may just demonstrate common sense and good taste. In the day...

BEE CODES
By Sibonelo Radebe
What are the codes? The broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) codes of good practice form part of the post-1994 legislative framework designed to redress apartheid-inherited economic imbalances. How do they work? <...

JUPITER'S A STAR THIS CHRISTMAS
By Jeremy Maggs
The opening lines to Frank Sinatra's song "Fly me to the moon" talk about playing in the stars and finding out what life is like on Jupiter and Mars. Well, this Christmas the stars are shining at the Jupiter Drawing Room advertising a...

HAPPY RETURNS
By Nicky Smith
Jonathan Leslie, who was practically frog-marched out of Sappi's chief executive offices in March this year, has popped up again and appears to be in excellent spirits. Leslie (56) laughs when asked whether he misses Sappi, preferri...

DYING TO BE RICH
By Stephen Cranston
Allegations that slain mining tycoon Brett Kebble planned his own death, so that his dependants would receive about R30m worth of insurance policies might seem outlandish. But according to Elise Burns-Hoffman, who consults to the...

WINNERS & LOSERS

LOSER Phindile Nzimande As CEO of EDI Holdings, she was central in setting up Red 1, SA's first regional electricity distributor, as a model for restructuring. But Red 1 has failed, and the planned restructuring is now a sha...

THE GIFT OF GOOD TIMES
By Alita Byrd
Experience This, a gift-giving company started two years ago in Durban by entrepreneurs Jacqui Cockerill and her cousin Brad Porter, taps into the need to find gifts for the person who has everything. This year's hot gifts have been scra...

RELIGION IN NUMBERS
By Alita Byrd
80% of black South Africans and 87% of white South Africans are Christians. 7,1% of South Africans are Catholics.

GAS SHORTAGE SMELLS BAD
By Chris Gilmour
SA's national CO˛ shortage has meant red faces for gas supplier Afrox as well as SA's soft-drink manufacturers, which have left shelves bare during their busiest period. But, the FM has discovered, the blame for the shortage lie...

BAD NEWS FOR AFRICA
By Sven Lünsche
An estimated 1bn of the world's 6bn people live in urban slums. And, according to projections by UN-Habitat, the UN's human settlement programme, another 400m will be added by 2020. Africa will be the worst affected. Between 1990 and 2001, a...

QUOTES OF THE YEAR

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only...