Gareth Cliff on... — Gareth Cliff
Gareth Cliff is known for his well-articulated and strong opinions about politics and current affairs. Hear them in his own voice here.
27
JUL
Gareth's Blog: Power to Podcasting
Podcasting is flourishing, not just globally, but in South Africa. There is no other audio medium that can reach an audience as highly engaged as podcast listeners. Loyalty and influence come with a highly engaged podcast audience and as a result, the people who make up this audience are an attractive target for brands. In CliffCentral’s six-year pioneering journey, these are just three of the lessons we have learned...
06
JUL
Gareth's Blog: Civil disobedience
America celebrated their Independence Day over the weekend, a day that marked their split from the kingdom of the oppressor of the day, King George III of Great Britain. Since we’re revising history left, right and centre (but mostly left), I thought it might be useful to remind ourselves of what was going on back then, and why it matters as much today...
29
MAY
Gareth's Blog: Dear Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma...
I write to you in my private capacity as a citizen of South Africa, just in case the media read it wrong, again. I watched your NCCC briefing today. I decided at the outset to give you the respect due to you - as an elder. Without the usual judgement that we’re all prone to, I listened not to get angry or find fault, but with an open mind...
21
MAY
Gareth's Blog: What now?
How are you doing in this madness? ‘Vasbyt', as the Afrikaans people say. I write one of these blogs every week and normally they’re not as controversial as the last two, but they might interest you if you’re thinking about what happens next. Just like any other mammal, I don’t have any special powers to predict the future, but I think it’s becoming clear that the lockdown will have far-reaching ramifications...
12
MAY
Gareth's Blog: 'The Big Debacle'
We live, we learn.
It has been almost three weeks since we heard from the President, and two weeks where I have found myself trending on Twitter. Neither of those things is optimal.
I’d really like to hear from the President - because we’re in crisis and it would be in everyone’s interest to know what the endgame is...
It has been almost three weeks since we heard from the President, and two weeks where I have found myself trending on Twitter. Neither of those things is optimal.
I’d really like to hear from the President - because we’re in crisis and it would be in everyone’s interest to know what the endgame is...
30
APR
Gareth's Blog: Dear Mr President...
We’ve all been ready to support you and your administration in your efforts to save lives from this pandemic. Even people like me, who have questioned the idea of a lockdown as the best response have decided to comply and do whatever we could to help. We set aside our concerns over the heavy-handedness of the police and army; we swallowed and accepted that poor people in informal housing would be crammed into their one-room dwellings for a month; we limited our trips to the shops and even accepted not being able to buy hot food (for whatever inexplicable reason)...
23
APR
Gareth's Blog: Unlocking the Lockdown
OK, so we’re all coming to the end of our lockdown sentence - and you’ve probably been angry, depressed, anxious, frustrated, scared and numb - at least a few times each. I am not one to gild the lily and if you’ve ever read any of my stuff you know I’m not here to give you platitudes or the kind of “inspirational” but meaningless nonsense most people put on social media. We also haven’t made some simpering CliffCentral.com ad with piano music and quotes from spiritual leaders to pretend we care. We do care, and that’s why we haven’t stopped during lockdown - whether it’s my daily show or our award-winning podcast series. To those who have joined the podcast family because of lockdown, welcome! We hope you’ll stay, no matter what happens next.
08
APR
Gareth's Blog: Lockdown Lowdown
Time to level with each other, ok?
You don’t have to prove you’re exercising at home during lockdown - we’ll know at the end when you roll out of your house if you did or not.
I believe you’re working from home. Thanks to all the holidays, April was a write-off anyway, so we were only expecting 50% from you. Don’t feel bad if you’re not the most productive person on Earth - you’re not.
You don’t need to post a screenshot of your Zoom calls to friends - I’m sure you have some. After this you’ll still be chatting on Zoom because there will be no restaurants, clubs, bars or events left to meet up at. Get some practice while it’s still en vogue.
You don’t have to prove you’re exercising at home during lockdown - we’ll know at the end when you roll out of your house if you did or not.
I believe you’re working from home. Thanks to all the holidays, April was a write-off anyway, so we were only expecting 50% from you. Don’t feel bad if you’re not the most productive person on Earth - you’re not.
You don’t need to post a screenshot of your Zoom calls to friends - I’m sure you have some. After this you’ll still be chatting on Zoom because there will be no restaurants, clubs, bars or events left to meet up at. Get some practice while it’s still en vogue.
18
MAR
Gareth's Blog: We’ll get through this together
Can you believe what this coronavirus outbreak is doing to us? It has everyone jumping, and in the midst of mass-hysteria toilet paper stockpiling and stock markets crashing, we should take stock of ourselves. Let’s take a sober, rational look at the madness that has taken hold in the last few days, all over the world...
28
FEB
Gareth's Blog: An apology for Tito
Imagine being the responsible parent in a family where the other parent has spent every cent, saved nothing, borrowed against the house, taken on mountains of credit card debt and siphoned off whatever cash could be found to their lover and their children. That’s what Tito Mboweni has to manage...
21
JAN
Gareth's Blog: 2020 Vision
Are you ready for the best decade in humanity’s history? No matter how much the news media, politicians, celebrities and climate change activists tell you we’re about to enter the gates of hell, we’re not. Things are pretty fantastic for humans...
13
DEC
2019
Gareth's Blog: The End is Nigh
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been called an optimist. I think the people who called me that didn’t mean it as a compliment. Throughout human history, the cynics, stoics and mystics had more respect than the optimists - but it turns out that history is on the side of those who have a generally positive view of their existence and the overall trend for humanity. 2019 has been the year of Greta Thunberg, Hong Kong, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Jussie Smollett, Venezuela, Christchurch, Notre Dame and Jeffrey Epstein - so you’d be forgiven for thinking things aren’t great. But you’d be wrong… completely wrong.
