About

I am the foreign editor for News24 in South Africa, where I write a weekly column about the world beyond South Africa that makes some people very angry.

I helped start Business Insider South Africa, I’m ex Mail & Guardian, I helped start Daily Maverick and its predecessor Maverick magazine, and wrote about technology for the entire short existence of ThisDay South Africa, after my first proper job at tech-specialist site ITWeb.

I have written about street politics, grand corruption, the racism of wine gums, and how Michelle Obama hugs.

I technically once wrote a book, in an experiment in monetising archive content through long-form journalism, but only technically.

Writing Risky is the result of jotting down notes for just about 16 years as I stumbled across interesting stuff in disinformation handbooks and railway safety manuals. Now that AI is making everyone sound slick – and exactly the same – it’s time to pubish that sucker.