All the ire at banks and multinational companies by dangerous communists and anti-globalisation hippies is misdirected. They should reserve their venom for the rustic rich-world farmer living the life of Henry David Thoreau. They are the new robber barons.

The 2011 budget presented by South African finance minister Pravin Gordhan includes a R450 million item to implement a national broadband strategy. This money is misdirected. I explain why, and offer a compromise alternative, over at ITWeb: Throwing good money after bad.

There’s been considerable debate about why certain popular uprisings grab the popular imagination, and others are largely ignored, even by the professional media. Having given the matter some thought, I wrote this column for The Daily Maverick: A classy revolution: Why we cared

Errol Braithwaite, the marketing executive at Bombela, accuses me of factual inaccuracy, sloppy journalism, and failing to meet minimum standards of professionalism. I politely demurred. I had quoted him in my Gautrain column last month, and spent a great deal of time answering each of his criticisms. Eventually, it seemed a better idea to let readers decide for themselves. A commenter suggested an even better headline might have been Gautrain Gauleiter, but I went with: Bombastic Bombela balks. Do click through to the full transcript for the full effect.

Needless to say, this week’s column in The Daily Maverick was about Egypt, North Africa and the Middle East: Liberty is more than mere democracy. Now complete with angry and/or incoherent comments.