I was in equal parts amused and annoyed by a letter to News24 in which a Capetonian, in rather typical Capetonian fashion, provided a handy guide to what he believes is proper tourist behaviour. Submitted, of course, under a pseudonym.

Up on this end of town, the much maligned Gauteng, we citizens don't have such a sense of exclusive ownership of our towns and cities. And yes, they do have some appeal, especially the bits just outside of Jozi, like the Cradle of Humankind and any one of number of game lodges from Krugersdorp through to Pretoria. It's kinda nice and everyone is welcome to come visit. We won't prescribe behaviour like we might do to kids, all the while committing the same peccadilloes we tell you not to.

Maybe that's why the feared and loathed Gauteng tourist is considered by many to be a much nicer and friendlier bloke than the average clique-ey Capetonian. Maybe. When 2010 tourists arrive, they'll probably notice that we don't have 'The Mooountain' but we have the hospitality.

With the silly season in full swing, a lot of us are off on holiday; I'm down in sweltering Durbs, from where I had a good look at the Moses Mabhida Stadium being put through its paces with a Kaizer Chiefs versus Mamelodi Sundowns match taking place there last Saturday afternoon. From the corner of Umgeni and Goble roads, it really is quite an impressive presence. Chiefs went down to Sundowns 2-1 in that encounter.

Of course, silly season or not, the big stage managed news event of the year end has to be the Copenhagen conference. Now, PJ O'Rourke once wrote a somewhat scathing (and hilarious) account of the newsworthiness of stage managed news 'events', when he had to cover the Reagan/Gorbachev summit along with 6000000000 other newsmen. But Copenhagen...we have all been compelled to believe that climate change is the challenge of our time. But is it really? A major scandal erupted on the eve of the Copenhagen conference confirming that much of the science to justify climate change was fudged. The people involved simply made up data to support their position.

Now, while I have made clear that I believe responsible use of resources is critical, that doesn't mean we should be bamboozled by pseudoscience and lies to suit a parallel agenda. I'd recommend reading Ivo Vegter's extremely well-argued columns on The Daily Maverick to get a broad understanding of the issues and what is now emerging as the scandal of the century.

And notice that the politicians are ignoring the now growing pile of contrary evidence...