As anyone who has ever written matric would know, getting six distinctions is impossible. Yet in spite of this incontrovertible fact, several local pupils have achieved the impossible, five pupils in Grahamstown schools have even gone so far as to reach way beyond impossible and achieve eight distinctions.

When the ANC suddenly took a decision to halt its plans to have the much-speculated secrecy bill - the Protection of Information Bill - voted into law last week, the entire country breathed a sigh of relief.

Members of the media were at pains trying to reason with the government since the introduction of this matter in the public domain during the past year. Last week some even held night vigils in protest, and marches were organised across the country, including in Grahamstown. Members of the public came out in their numbers in support of the Right2Know Campaign. The media was out in full force. Then suddenly, the ANC National Executive Council (NEC) decided to shelve the matter - even though it was clear that they would get the majority vote.

Young people are constantly on their mobile phones; sending text messages, checking emails, making or receiving calls, even when they are having a face-to-face conversation with another person. If this sounds like you – what does it say about your manners? asks Aurelia Mqoyi.

Mobile phones are a common annoyance to everyone. We have all been irritated by someone talking super-loudly on the phone; sometimes they're so loud that you eventually wonder why they bothered calling the person the other side at all. With such volume they could have easily reached the person without using a phone.

We all know the frustration of having a conversation with your friend when suddenly she screams, “OMG!!” (Oh my gosh) – then you realise she is not responding to something you said, but to the text she is reading on her screen.