Gareth Cliff on...
Gareth Cliff is known for his well-articulated and strong opinions about politics and current affairs. Hear them in his own voice here.
Gareth's Blog: What's Right and What's Wrong?
2022 is almost over, and very few of us will be celebrating the last year - in fact, the last three years - of our very bizarre lives on planet Earth. I could take up your whole day by listing the ways some humans have made the planet much worse…
Gareth's Blog: Does your Brand tell Stories?
Does your brand tell stories? Absolutely! And podcasting is the most modern medium of the ancient form of storytelling. Welcome to the era of on-demand listening where people listen when they want to - and listen to what they want to. In 2021, branded podcasts have become an important tool…
Gareth's Blog: Podcasting update - August 2021
So what’s happening in podcasting? The short answer is a lot. Podcasting went up by 50% in 2018 (according to Nielsen) and then doubled from 2019 to 2020. For CliffCentral.com, our audience doubled again since the start of the pandemic and lockdowns, and this is probably true for other South…
Gareth's Blog: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Thabo Mbeki was right: There really are two South Africas. Most people jump to the conclusion that we’re a nation divided along racial lines. Others think it’s about the haves and the have-nots. The events of the past few days have made it abundantly clear that the real divide is…
Gareth's Blog: #FreeSpeech
If you google 'Gareth Cliff’, one of the first links that comes up is an article from November 2020 about an interview I did with David Icke, the well-known conspiracy theorist on my eNCA TV show, So What Now? The show was specifically created to "highlight diversity of thought and…
Gareth's Blog: Third Wave
If you’ve ever heard a song and found that it resonates with you, you might start to question what that actually means. If you’ve ever heard someone sing out of tune or strike a horrible chord on a guitar, then you equally know what dissonance is. When people use the…
Gareth's Blog: CliffCentral Covid
Well, this is more of a blog than anything I’ve written for a while... Covid has come to CliffCentral. We like coming up with clever alliterative phrases for new ideas and divisions in the business - like CliffCentral Communications, CliffCentral Campus, CliffCentral Creative and CliffCentral Collaborations. Now we have CliffCentral…
Gareth's Blog: How to Argue
Not a week goes by where you don’t see two neanderthals abusing each other because they have a different point of view online. Do you wonder, like I do, if their anger and stupidity could be channeled into great arguments that might change minds and move us all forward, instead…
Gareth's Blog: #CliffCentralTurns7
Sometimes you need to stop and take a breath. Perhaps last year’s pandemic and the resulting drastic lockdown measures gave many of us that opportunity. Armed with an excuse, some of us have used this time to appreciate the extraordinary changes in our lives. The most valuable businesses - like…
Gareth's Blog: "Get On With It!"
His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh died on Friday the 9th of April 2021, at the age of 99. I had the pleasure of meeting him when I was in my final year of high school. The headmasters, head boy and head girl of each of the…
Gareth's Blog: Little Things
Maybe I’m getting old - or wise (I'll leave it to you to decide) - but I’m taking more and more pleasure in small rituals. Perhaps the relative monotony of lockdown is to blame, but I have discovered magic in unexpected places. If you’re about to give up on me,…
Gareth's Blog: Farewell to a very weird year
2020 will soon be behind us, and with the possible exceptions of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, nobody will be sad to see the back of it. But if, like me, you absolutely cannot spend another minute talking about vaccines, masks or curfews, then what I’m about to tell you…
Gareth's Blog: Meaning, Purpose and the New Year
Every year I write something hopeful, something that I wish would help just one person who reads it to have something to reach for in the new year. This has been such a tumultuous year that it almost feels like I need to reconsider everything, even my parting shot for…
Gareth's Blog: The 12 Online Commandments
The Internet isn’t real life. Look, I’m, sure you know this already, but let’s all take a minute in what has been a very difficult year, to take stock of our lives. Thanks to Covid, for many people the Internet is the only kind of social activity they’ve had. It’s…
Gareth's Blog: Desiderata 2020
Not sure why, or for whom, but I felt it necessary to say this: If you’re going through hell at the moment - If your life isn’t anything like what you always hoped it would be- If people are disappointing you or hurting you - If you’re hopeless, disconnected, lonely…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…