The Talking Sense Podcast

Markets have priced South African risk down to almost zero on the belief that the GNU holds after November. Frans Cronje and Bheki Mahlobo explain why the foundations are weaker than in 2024, what would reprice SA's bonds overnight, and how that reaches your bond and credit card rates. Also this week: Marius Roodt's research showing the DA is bigger than the ANC in the eight metros, more than 100...

Become a member of The Common Sense for R99 a month: https://thecommonsense.co.za/subscribe This week the Talking Sense panel talks about the Springboks' Baltimore experiment and the bid to buy the Boks, the United States' first sanctions against South Africa, the serial killer in Ekurhuleni, Reform's £72 million weekend in UK party donations, two good things out of Britain, Somaliland's pitch to...

Become a member of The Common Sense for just R99 a month: https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/subscribe This week on Talking Sense: the election maths problem that could throw November's local government results into chaos — how a party that loses the vote can still end up running the council — plus the fragmenting Black vote in our latest poll, the Falklands back in the news (and what Milei is playi...

Richard Tren reports from Buenos Aires on Milei's revolution, Frans Cronje explains what the US bond yield spike actually means, James Myburgh unpacks South Africa's mysterious murder decline and the party funding declarations, and Simon Lincoln-Reader tells the story of how Nike went woke and lost its way. Plus: the ANC misses its own candidate registration deadline, the impossible economics of b...

In the latest episode of Talking Sense, with James Myburgh, Richard Tren, and Simon Lincoln-Reader, and hosted by Gabriel Makin, the panel looks at new SRF polling showing that South Africans support closer alignment with the United States. Majorities back exemptions for American companies from BEE, guarantees against expropriation, and protecting America’s security interests. Black voters were al...

Black South Africans are more willing than white South Africans to move to the US as refugees, according to new polling discussed in this week’s episode of Talking Sense. The panel discusses South Africa's "useless men" problem and why young men are abandoning women to leave them to raise children alone. The panel also examines Duduzane Zuma’s appearance at the BizNews conference, wh...

Read the full analysis and more data-driven insights: https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/Become a Common Sense Member for R99/pm https://bit.ly/3QJWRIdThis week the panel discusses the Social Research Foundation and The Common Sense new national and Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria polling. The ANC sits at 34% nationally and under 20% in Johannesburg. Frans Cronje explains why Phala Phala and the i...

Read the full analysis and more data-driven insights: https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/Become a Common Sense Member for R99/pm https://bit.ly/3QJWRIdSouth Africa's new anti-corruption body, IDAC, was supposed to clean up the state. Instead it appears to have run interference against the people investigating one of the country's most murderous criminal syndicates. The panel works through ID...

Read the full analysis and more data-driven insights: https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/Become a Common Sense Member for R99/pm https://bit.ly/3QJWRIdThis episode opens with the Financial Mail controversy then examines the Ann Widdecombe murder and political violence. Next it covers UK think tanks, the new prime minister and the policy rebuild. The discussion to the Hopefield environmental dispute....

Read the full analysis and more data-driven insights: https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/Become a Common Sense Member for R99/pm https://bit.ly/3QJWRIdIn this episode of Talking Sense, the panel breaks down the week's biggest stories: South Africa’s push to exit the ICC following Trump’s crackdown, the true size of SA’s middle class (just 15% — and how it could have doubled), black ownership of...

Read the full analysis and more data-driven insights: https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/Become a Common Sense Member for R99/pm https://bit.ly/3QJWRIdIn this week's Talking Sense Podcast, the panel breaks down the Bishop's School Pride flag controversy and elite institutions playing politics, the collapsing Iran ceasefire and its implications, and the politically motivated attacks on Tony L...

Read the full analysis and more data-driven insights: https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/Become a Common Sense Member for R99/pm https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/subscribeThis week on Talking Sense: The Panel dives into the MI6 file labelling Lord Mandelson a "privileged contact" and the mechanics of Western influence. Marius breaks down a new by-election model forecasting an ANC collapse...

Read the full analysis and more data-driven insights: https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/Become a Common Sense Member for R99/pm https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/subscribeIn this episode of Talking Sense the panel gather together in person for the first time in London, with Gabriel absent. The conversation starts on the controversial article the Common Sense wrote about whether Johannesburg is a bet...

Read the full analysis and more data-driven insights: https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/Watch Omry's podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AesSrjPptI&t=18sBecome a Common Sense Member for R99/pm https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/subscribeThe episode opens with the reported Iran memorandum of understanding and whether the Trump administration has pulled back too early. Richard argues that...

Read the full analysis and more data-driven insights: https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/Become a Common Sense Member for R99/pm https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/subscribeIn this episode of Talking Sense, Gabriel Makin is joined by Frans Cronje, James Myburgh, Simon Lincoln Reader, and Richard Tren to discuss South Africa’s ecological risks, American election dysfunction, Russian money in London, So...

Talking Sense Podcast Gabriel Makin is joined by James Myburgh, Simon Lincoln Reader, Richard Tren, and Frans Cronje for this week's wide-ranging panel discussion covering South African politics and global affairs. This week the panel covers:South Africa's Deindustrialisation — Manufacturing's share of GDP has fallen from a peak of 25% to just 12% since the 1940s. Frans Cronje explains...

The episode opens on Phala Phala and the unanswered questions around the foreign currency found at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s farm. James explains the official version involving a Sudanese businessman and the alleged purchase of buffalo, while Frans notes that several versions of the story point toward cash, couriers, and links to the Middle East. The discussion asks why Ramaphosa has gone to suc...

This week the panel starts with Cricket South Africa’s Newlands ticket debacle, where ordinary fans were largely shut out of the England Test while expensive tour packages dominated access. Marius Roodt explains how only about 10 000 of roughly 70 000 tickets for the first four days were reportedly available to ordinary fans, while many supporters were pushed towards costly package deals. The disc...

In this episode the panel begin by revisiting the Shelley Garland affair, where the Deputy Editor of The Common Sense, Marius Roodt, under the pseudonym "Shelley Garland", managed to publish an article in the South African edition of the Huffington Post which called for white men to lose the right to vote for 20 years. The point of the article was to expose the woke madness that had infected media...

In this episode, the panel begin by celebrating the momentous achievement of the parliamentary DA caucus in proposing a well-thought through alternative to South Africaa's existing empowerment legislation. From there the panel explain how there have been a few doctored SRF poll results that have been doing the rounds on social media. Frans points out that if people are taken in by what is very...

In this episode, the panel tries to understand the record-breaking third assassination attempt against President Trump. They examine how the constant raising of the temperature and slander by the media, celebrities and politicians have created an enabling environment for deranged people to feel as though they are doing something heroic. The panel also unpacks how the same dynamic is not playing ou...

In this episode, the panel explains why all the doom-mongering about the current state of the world is entirely unjustified. They explain data showing how much safer, more prosperous, and free the world has become over the past 500 years. For example, Frans explains that whereas a person had to labour for more than 50 hours 500 years ago to light their home for an hour, today the same amount of li...

In this episode, the panel explains the new polling data released by the Institute of Race Relations. They unpack how the findings are in line with the theory that South African public opinion is by and large moderate and sensible. From there the panel turns its attention to the new leader of the DA, Geordin Hill-Lewis. They give a very positive reception to his acceptance speech, but then touch o...

In this episode, the panel explains how traditional western media is presenting a completely misleading reading of how the war in Iran is actually going. Dr Frans Cronje and Richard Tren analyse the latest updates, America's strategic victories, the actual global economic position and what the effect of the war on global markets has actually been. From there Simon Reader turn's to a good n...

In this episode, the panel explains the historical dynamics of the explosion of crime in South Africa's townships. It then gives some context on the mega-deal being negotiated between Paramount and Warner Brothers/Discovery and contrasts that with the failing economic model of the BBC. Gabriel Makin explains what happens at a DA Congress, the next which is being held later this month and where...