Alec Hogg

An amazing helicopter-like bird hovering in the air. In the background the St Mawes Castle, one of Henry VIII’s fortresses although you wonder what they were defending against. The bird fascinated me. Never seen anything like it.

Fascinating place Cornwall - the birthplace of King Arthur and inventors of the pasty. Even has its own flag (black with a white cross). Here is a pic of Mevagissey Harbour, source of great fish and chips

Exploring Cornwall - today I’m Mevagissey, once the centre of the UK’s smuggling trade and per capita one of the wealthiest part of England.

Just love Christmas in England - everyone in our neighbourhood gets into the spirit with lights on every house - the view from our front door. Blessed time of the year. Who feels the cold when the heart is warmed?

This lady’s not for turning. British PM Theresa May faces a no confidence vote from her own party in three hours. Watching this unfold, you cannot help admire her grit. Might we be witnessing that most rare of the political species - one who sincerely puts the public interest above her own? Word among the voting public is after all the effort she has put in to make the best of the cards she inherited, if her fellow Tories depose Mrs May today, the party can wave goodbye to power in the next election. The Brits live a resilient fighter, the underdog who remains doggedly determines despite all the odds. On the other hand Jeremy Corbin may be sending a whole lot of new Xmas cards this year.

Spent an amazing evening with our partners from the Wall Street Journal at Berry Brothers in St James last week but that night even though the food and refreshments were amazing, they never made their own snow! Must be hosting royalty tonight (as they have done since 1690)

Piccadilly at Christmas time is seriously gorgeous - and the South African connection as ever on the left hand side of the pic.......hopefully some of the tourists are still saying they’re only here for De Beer’s......

In this fascinating interview, South Africa’s ace crime fighter Paul O’Sullivan tells the story of how a call to the Forensics for Justice tip-off line resulted in the termination of a corrupt R4bn contract at Transnet, the country’s rail and port utility. It also explains O’Sullivan’s confidence that his country will overcome its challenges, helped by a SA equivalent of Brazil’s Operation Car Wash. He explains how the corrupt network used a now well-exposed template, which in this case involved a major Italian construction group and with beneficiaries including the husband of one of South Africa’s 11 Constitutional Court judges – the highest law making body in the land.

Democracy is the best defence society has against the worst excesses of populism, including mob rule. It instils checks and balances to delay emotionally-charged decisions, relying on time to allow cooler heads to prevail. South Africa’s much admired Constitution entrenches this cornerstone of the democratic process. But as the IRR’s Anthea Jeffrey argues so eloquently here, the manner in which Parliamentarians rushed through a proposal to amend the Constitution’s section on ...Expropriation Without Compensation attacks this very core of the democratic process. The rights of those opposed to the amendment were deliberately shouted down or ignored to promote political ends. Whatever one thinks of EWC, there can be little doubt that the manner in which it has been handled by Parliament establishes a dangerous precedent that those who promoted it could well live to regret. https://www.biznews.com/…/anthea-jeffer y-mps-rushing-throug…
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Even the super rich live #Nando’s - check our this Kuwait registered dream machine parked outside the SA-born chicken palace in Stamford St, London this morning. Clearly the driver has seriously good taste - a McLaren and a peri peri half chicken and chips.....

Another brilliant weekly column from the cultured pen of Simon Lincoln Reader who kicks off with the suddenly famous island in the Bay of Bengal (with a murder worthy of Agatha’s attention, bless her) and keeps rolling from there. His elegant writing has notched up a few gears since he started this superb missive from the centre of the financial world. Savour each sentence. I do.

We've just launched two new closed user groups for Biznews Premium subscribers - On Whatsapp and Twitter. Continuously adding value to those who are securing the future of independent media. If you're in the club and want to join into those groups, email me at alec@biznews.com. If not, why not sign up for the 30 day free trial to see what you have been missing: https://www.biznews.com/premium-signup

In this episode of our popular podcast From The Editor's Desk, Felicity Duncan and I look back on a chaotic week that was all about Brexit. UK Prime Minister Theresa May secured a draft agreement with Brussels, but defections from her own party have put the deal's success in doubt. With some calling for a hard Brexit, it's anyone's guess what the future holds - but I also brought back some Brexit-related investment insights from two days with Schroders. We also discuss Bitcoi...n, which had almost as difficult a week as Mrs May. Down over 60% on the year (and more than that from its December 2017 high), Bitcoin has broken free from months-long period of relative stability and is now under $5 000. Why this has happened was the subject of another fascinating discussion I witnessed this week between the criminal investigation heads of the IRS and HMRC. For the first time for me, the Bitcoin price plunge makes sense. Click below to listen.
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Life is full of paradoxes. Among them, that the greatest of those who walk among us are rarely the ones most widely celebrated. At least two would make my top ten of thousands of newsworthy people I’ve met and interviewed in almost 40 years of journalism. A modest German nun, Sister Elisabeth Schiller, is one of them. Another is Tich Smith, a former sportsman who hit the gutter before a spectacular rebound in a different guise. The woman on whom we focus in the latest episode of the Rational Perspective podcast falls into the same rarified category…. Meet Ursel Barnes, co-founder with Ufa Robertson of the inspirational HIV-related project called Yabonga, which in the past 20 years has quietly transformed thousands of young lives. An uplifting tale of selfless service.

With all those opinions flying around about SAA, here's a voice of reason. Almost three years ago after resigning his directorship in disgust, former JSE CEO Russell Loubser went public about the mess the Zuptoids were making of the national airline - and how SAA could be saved. It makes fascinating listening. Invest some time to understand why no babies should be thrown out with the bathwater - BTW, when are Loubser, chairman of the time Cheryl Carolus and the other directors who did the right thing by walking out going to be re-instated? SAA (and South Africa) could sure use these wise heads right now.

For three years during the watershed period of apartheid, Dr Denis Worrall was the hardline Nationalist leader PW Botha's top diplomat serving as South Africa's ambassador in London. Now 83, Worrall has produced an autobiography called The Independent Factor. The book takes a while to get going, but once into its stride exposes many apartheid era secrets, including the role played by businessmen Harry Oppenheimer and Anton Rupert through to PW's accurate call that London fina...nce kingpin Sir Evelyn Rothschild was the ony person who could get SA out of a self-inflicted financial quagmire. In this podcast, drawn from Worrall's talk at the book's launch inside his old stomping ground of South Africa House on Trafalgar Square, Worrall shares the back story of the final attempt by Margaret Thatcher to force through a settlement via the Commonwealth's Eminent Person's Group - only for its work to be destroyed at the 11th hour by the SA Defence Force bombing ANC sites in neighbouring countries. Unique insights of the most troubled of times for the now young democracy. And a tale any student of South Africa will find fascinating.
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Been a while since I've read such a stinging rebuke by insiders of their industry body. Read this full-blooded attack on Chartered Accounting umbrella body SAICA by Erik Venter CEO of Comair and Simon Mantell, CEO of Mantelli's Biscuits. Both CAs, they're furious at the body's timidity and say fellow members should cancel their subscriptions or at the very least refuse to pay the annual R7 000 fee. Read it by clicking below.

Technical challenges got the better of us in this morning's investment webinar, but I've put together my contribution in a podcast. It's a critical time for the Biznews Global Share portfolio - so the focus of the podcast is what we should be doing with the biggest holding (Amazon) after a 22% fall in the share price in the past month; and what strategy to adopt towards Chinese stocks Tencent and Alibaba after a very poor year got even worse last month. Those views have been shaped into the latest Rational Perspective podcast, now available at https://simplecast.com/s/2d121ea7