October 2025 Digest
My shameless October shilling
Welcome to the first edition of my monthly roundup. This is where I’ll keep everything in one place: a quick synopsis of what I wrote this month, links to radio and TV conversations, and a few standout pieces I read elsewhere that I believe is worth your time.
MY WRITING THIS MONTH
Clean audits do actually point to pro-poor governance - BusinessDay
The Real Divide in South African Politics Is Between Builders and Breakers - My
Articles from late September (because this is the first newsletter and once again, shameless shilling):
When the kids burn down the house - The Daily Friend
You can’t have a Christian West without Christians - The Critic
And for my Afrikaans readers, my October articles:
“#NotAllAfrikaners” - OntLaer
Verkiesing 2026: Bouparty of Breekparty? - OntLaer
DinkWeer Donderdag | Die Vredesverdrag - OntLaer
SOME RADIO AND TV
KykNet In Gesprek of Monday 27 October to discuss whether ideological labels still matter in current South African politics. Only available on DSTV unfortunately.
RSG interview about the privatisation of public institutions
READ ELSEWHERE
Five reads that stood out in October:
“In a World Obsessed With Innovation, What If Most of It Isn’t Real?” by Sarah Majdov at Persuasion
“I miss the great philosophers” by Kathleen Stock at UnHerd
“Rage of the Falling Elite” by Rob Henderson
“Populism fast and slow” by Joseph Heath
“The progressive mindset has won” by Ben Cobley at UnHerd
WHAT I’M CURRENTLY READING
I’m hopping between fiction and non-fiction at the moment. On Kindle I’ve just started End Game, the latest in Jeffrey Archer’s William Warwick series. Archer remains my all-time favourite storyteller. When I switch back to non-fiction, I’ve been working through Chelsea Follett’s Centers of Progress: 40 Cities that Changed the World, a fascinating tour from ancient Athens to Song-era Hangzhou, showing how cities become engines of civilisation.
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