1. Mayoral mix-up
Two newspapers that campaigned against socialist Zohran Mamdani in the New York mayoral race quoted criticism of the Democratic candidate, supposedly by former mayor Bill de Blasio. Except they got the wrong Bill de Blasio. Instead, they spoke via e-mail to a Long Island wine merchant of the same name and failed to check his bona fides. In their grovelling apology the Times of London and New York Post blamed “an imposter”. The lesser-known De Blasio has hit back, saying he never pretended to be the ex-mayor. The ex-mayor insisted he fully supported Mamdani.
2. Losing a reputation
South Africa dropped two places, from 40th to 42nd, in the annual survey of 60 countries’ international reputations in 2025. Reputation Lab, which does the survey, evaluates a nation’s reputation by measuring the admiration, respect and trust it inspires internationally. The US had the biggest decline, from 30th spot in 2024 to 48th. Russia remains last on the list, while the country it is waging war on, Ukraine, climbed from 31st to 26th.
3. Stern still a star
South African artist Irma Stern (1894-1966) was celebrated in cash and encomium last week. Her 1946 portrait Malay (Black Headdress), which had been privately owned for about 50 years, was sold for R21.7m at a Strauss & Co auction in Cape Town. Sadly, the Irma Stern Museum in the city closed down. But in Berlin, her home in the early 1910s, she was the subject of a solo exhibition “to this important artist of global modernism”.
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