The Daily Friend

The Daily Friend serves as the digital publication for the Institute of Race Relations (IRR). Founded in 1929, the IRR aims to advance political and economic liberty and has emerged as a leading think tank opposing apartheid globally.

International, National

English

Newspaper, Online/Digital

Outlet metrics

Domain Authority

Ranking

Global

#314897

South Africa

#2807

News and Media

#99

Traffic sources

Monthly visitors

Articles

How Javier Milei differs from Donald Trump

1 week ago | dailyfriend.co.za | Ivo Vegter

Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, famously gave Elon Musk a chainsaw. As similar as he appears to Donald Trump, he differs in key respects. Milei is often compared to Trump and to other right-wing populist leaders, like Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. As a crude comparison this might be adequate, if you’re a left-winger and anyone who isn’t socialist looks the same to you. However, it obscures critical philosophical differences.
For information only…

1 week ago | dailyfriend.co.za | Terence Corrigan

Some years ago, I remember paging through a magazine appealing to, shall we say, our less refined impulses. Among the adverts for performance enhancers and pheromone deodorant, a mail-order outfit was selling books with such memorable titles as Stoned at the Greengrocer.
Pax Americana II: ripping up the global trade and currency system

1 week ago | dailyfriend.co.za | Ivo Vegter

Although Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs and tariff threats seem confusing and contradictory, let’s examine the underlying motives. Earlier this week, I touched on a few of the contradictions and misconceptions in Trump’s global tariff war. The stated justifications depend on which Trump minion you ask (and the day of the week), and their broad scope – even against countries to which the US exports more than it imports – is inconsistent with the trade deficit argument we’ve often heard.
The ANC’s and DA’s fates are bound together

2 weeks ago | dailyfriend.co.za | Nicholas Lorimer

Nicholas Lorimer, a politician-turned-think tank thinker, is the IRR's Geopolitics Researcher and is host of the Daily Friend Show. His interests include geopolitics, and history (particularly medieval and ancient history). He is an unashamed Americaphile, whether it be food, culture or film. His other pursuits include video games and armchair critique of action films from the 1980s.
Make it make sense!

2 weeks ago | dailyfriend.co.za | Ivo Vegter

Without straight answers from the White House, nothing about America’s trade policy makes any sense. Why did US president Donald Trump levy a 10% import tariff on goods from the Heard and McDonald Islands? The penguins wanted to know, so they contacted a journalist in the US to ask Trump’s Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick. He assured the journalist that the White House did not use AI to generate a list of top-level domain names to levy tariffs against.
The Sacred Contract: Citizens and Citizenship in South Africa

2 weeks ago | dailyfriend.co.za | Terence Corrigan

Terence Corrigan is the Project Manager at the Institute, where he specialises in work on property rights, as well as land and mining policy. A native of KwaZulu-Natal, he is a graduate of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg). He has held various positions at the IRR, South African Institute of International Affairs, SBP (formerly the Small Business Project) and the Gauteng Legislature – as well as having taught English in Taiwan.
VUCA − the Trumpian moment in history

2 weeks ago | dailyfriend.co.za | Mike Berger

VUCA! What a lovely acronym: volatile, unpredictable, complex, ambiguous. It rolls off the tongue and hits the sweet spot of the present moment in history. It captures in four letters the inherent intractability of an increasingly networked world linked by information, technology exchanges and dependencies, trade, population movement and economic trends – and, of course, our physical environment.
Trump tariffs hit penguins hard

2 weeks ago | dailyfriend.co.za | Ivo Vegter

Tomorrow, Trump’s promised global tariffs on everyone take effect. Even penguins on uninhabited islands are in his cross-hairs. On 2 April 2025, a day he called “Liberation Day” with Orwellian flair, US President, Donald Trump, announced the imposition of a minimum of 10% “reciprocal tariffs” on imports from all countries, except for a very short list that includes Russia.
Justin and Justinian

2 weeks ago | dailyfriend.co.za | Nicholas Lorimer

This Week in History recalls memorable and decisive events and personalities of the past. 1st April 527 Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throneMosaic of Justinian I, in Ravenna [Petar Milošević – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40035957]Justinian I is one of those great characters of history whose biography is written again and again and whose choices help to define an era.
Retaliatory tariffs are bad policy

3 weeks ago | dailyfriend.co.za | Ivo Vegter

We all like to hear fighting words from the targets of Trump’s tariffs, but counter-tariffs only make a bad situation worse. Lately, we’ve had a lot of opportunity to discuss tariffs and whether they’re a good idea. US president Donald Trump promises that tariffs will return America to an age of prosperity and greatness, will enrich US citizens because they’re paid by foreign countries, and will revitalise American industry, reduce prices, and bring quality manufacturing jobs back from overseas.