From The Editor

So, this is the year the prophets of doom are telling us that it all ends. Yes, 2012 is the last year recorded on the ancient Mayan Calendar, Nostradamus apparently agrees with them and there are a host of theories doing the rounds about how the end will come. Massive volcanic eruptions, solar flares, returning aliens, gigantic tsunamis, economic chaos, mass starvation and a whole shopping list of other doomsday prophecies have been proposed. It’s all rather gloomy if you set any store by these things.

Locally, there are signs aplenty signalling the beginning of the end - a sudden cessation of work on the Ballito interchange on the N2 Highway, taps running dry, power failures and extraordinary rates increases...and there were definitely some alien life forms on the beaches over the Festive Season.

But it’s not all bad news, after all, if this is the end, you can soon stop paying your bills, taxes, overdrafts, bonds, credit cards, and other irritating nuisances and concentrate on having a really good time… while it lasts, of course. Out with the lettuce leaves and in with the ice cream and chocolates. Forget about the treadmill – pull up a sofa and hit the TV soaps with a vengeance. Forget about the crooked politicians…it’s every man for himself now, as the saying goes. You might want to start stockpiling the freeze-dried food and a few crates of wine or beer and maybe even a water– purifying pump because the stores will probably be empty and nothing will be working before the last waltz is over. It’s interesting to note that people across the globe have begun to do just that according to a recent report in the British Daily Mail.

But if the world doesn’t end and, this time next year, we find ourselves still here, seriously in debt, morbidly obese and medically compromised, we can join the club and follow in the footsteps of the celebs who have led the way before us.

Take Aurora chairman, Khulubuse Zuma, for example. When he was called to testify in the Pamodzi Gold mine insolvency hearing last year, his lawyer reportedly told the High Court that his client could not testify as he had one kidney and was suffering from obesity. The case was then postponed. Why? Are they expecting him to grow another kidney and lose a few pounds?

Another interesting medical get out of jail free card, is currently being played by our former National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi who will be considered for medical parole by Correctional Services this week. According to a Mail & Guardian Online report, department spokesperson Zacharia Modise said that the department would respond to the request soon. Modise said Selebi was still very ill and being treated at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital. It’s interesting that before handing down his sentence for corruption in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, the judge described Selebi as "an embarrassment" and a "stranger to the truth". Selebi appeared to be in good health back then. Now this stranger to the truth is claiming to be a basket case who should be released on medical grounds. A group calling itself ‘Friends of Jackie Selebi’ recently lodged an application with the office of the Minister of Correctional Services and the National Commissioner of Correctional Services for his release on medical parole.

Looking at who was listed among his friends during his trial, I would imagine that it won’t be long before he’s spotted on the golf course with fellow high profile stranger to the truth and medical parolee, Schabir Shaik. – that’s just how they roll, finish an klaar!

But despite all of this, I am optimistic that 2012 will be a good year for us all, and we have a super edition of Life & Style for you to get things off to a fine start. Welcome to our first issue of 2012 as we enter our ninth year bringing you the best of everything on the North Coast and beyond.