There are a few moments during a crisis when a person’s façade breaks away and admissions of cold and brutal truth are made. Such an occurrence happened in 2008 during the meltdown of the global financial system when Alan Greenspan was called to testify on Capitol Hill and admitted that his view of the world, the ideology which he had championed for decades, was wrong and that regulation of the financial sector could have staved off the financial crisis.

We have to disappoint those of our readers whose imagination took them along interesting and exotic paths after last week’s column left them to ponder the origins of the cricket term "to bowl a maiden over". Its origin is quite straight forward, innocent and not all that exciting. But not quite the same can be said about some of the stories about the origin of the English word "shit".

According to news reports, Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa said the committee of ministers appointed to head off the threat of renewed xenophobia is seeking an urgent meeting with newspaper editors to discuss what they perceive as a pattern of damaging reports. If people who do not even read newspapers pack and beg lifts to Zimbabwe, or phone their employers while the Fifa Soccer World Cup final is being played to say they will not be in on Monday for fear of leaving their homes, this could be tantamount to dangerous self-delusion.

With the campaign late last year for entries into the annual Bookmarks Awards, under the slogan "Be Big in Digital", 91% of the entries received as a result of the online advertising were from users who only viewed the ad, and did not click on it.

The last cheers had hardly died down at Soccer City, when it was back to business as usual in South Africa. Despite government ministers dismissing warnings of impending xenophobic attacks as mere rumour mongering by opposition leader Helen Zille, the media and a sinister third force hell-bent on undoing South Africa’s very positive current world image, the attacks began last night. And south of Johannesburg, the township service delivery protesters went back to work, blocking the Golden Highway with burning tyres.

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Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard would have looked on in anguish on Sunday evening. It was not the mere fact that the Dutch team lost its third-ever Word Cup final – this time to Spain – but it was its ill-fated decision to change its beloved style of football to a belligerent, rough-house tactic that might have annoyed these legendary icons of Dutch football. Spain, which remained true to its original football identity and style, eventually won the World Cup final 1-0 in a match that produced 47 fouls, 13 yellow cards and one red card.

Last week, we argued that there seems to be a convergence of evidence on a number of fronts in the existence of modern man, indicating that we are presently living through a transitional epoch from one historical era to another. This week, we look at the fact that we are now approaching the three-year mark since the global economy was hit by a financial and economic crisis that has morphed from one of private sector debt in the United States into one at sovereign level, posing the question: Are we only dealing with normal cyclical events, or is something more fundamental at a structural level taking place?

An edition of our hard-copy sister publication, Leadership magazine, has been voted best in the world in a particular category of the annual TABBIE awards. The TABBIE awards are presented by the United States-based Trade Association Business Publications International (TABPI), an association of more than 100 publishing houses.

New Zealand began its Tri-Nations campaign with a bang, and the Springboks theirs with a whimper. The Green and Gold imploded badly as the All Blacks raced to an emphatic 32-12 victory in Auckland on Saturday, showcasing their awesome talent and demonstrating why the first rule of communication is so vital.