Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story (original German title: Glennkill: Ein Schafskrimi) is a work of detective fiction which features a flock of anthropomorphic Irish sheep out to solve the murder of their shepherd. Written originally in German by Leonie Swann, the novel has been translated into more than 30 languages. According to Wikipedia In 2014, there was controversy in the Australian state of Victoria, where some kindergartens changed the words “black sheep”, because of concerns over the racial connotations of the word “black”. In addition, they were considering changing the line “one for the little boy who lives down the lane”, in case it could be deemed sexist.
Baa, baa, ‘rainbow’ sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full;
One for the master,
And one for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.
Yes, Comrade Minister, yes indeed. And once more, with feeling, yessss!: Leon Louw today in BusinessLive published online by Business Day.
Excerpt
According to an old joke, Swiss voters assume that whatever politicians propose is a bad idea. They learned to vote no in endless referendums. But bureaucrats spoiled the fun when they realised that a double negative is a positive. No to “Should taxes be raised?” is like yes to “Should taxes not be raised?” That enabled citizens to get the right result by voting yes. Officialdom responded by offering variable propositions. That plunged voters into the misery of having to think about whether to vote yes or no.
Like the Swiss, we are being forced to think about how we vote. One day, rabid opponents of president Jacob Zuma and EFF leader Julius Malema will thank them for catapulting us into a cathartic national crisis. Unprecedented cabinet fault lines mirror the decline of knee-jerk voting in elections. When Zuma said nearly three years ago that his party would rule “forever”, it seemed plausible. But he and Malema set about ensuring that our votes would no longer be cast in along racial lines. According to former deputy president, Kgalema Motlanthe, the ruling alliance no longer exists. In our recent municipal elections a record number of voters considered their options. Will the cabinet follow?