Premium: There are advantages to being behind the curve during turbulent times

Growing up in a small town brought many advantages. One I never appreciated, however, was being down the pecking order on new stuff. Movies in the local bug-house came months after hitting SA's circuit. Music and magazines also arrived a long time after city-folk had access.

Living in South Africa has a similar feel relative to the rest of the world, although in this networked age, we're only days behind. This, however, can be an obvious advantage for astute investors. More broadly, too, where opinion-poll-driven politicians in the First World often act first, think later.

UK prime minister Boris Johnson's red listing of SA over Omicron revealed his penchant for knee-jerking. He was at it again yesterday when reimposing new curbs to slow down the spread of the new variant. British data on Omicron will be available next week. Johnson's critics say he should have waited.

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