Concerns are mounting among psychologists, NGOs catering for the welfare of children and parent groups about the impacts and dangers of some elements of the ever-expanding network of social media in the cyber space. The concerns were heightened in South Africa last week by rumours on Facebook about the suicide of two students after they were “named and shamed” on the controversial chat room website www.toilet.wen.ru.

Globally governments and traditional institutions of the mass media are battling to come to grips with the impact of the relatively recent explosion of what has generically become known as the social media driven on the back of electronic networks. Its roots can, however, be traced back at least 40 years to Iran and the overthrow of the Shah of Iran.

Two years to the day after a global financial crisis was triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers some plans have been announced by the European Union for a clampdown on derivatives ­– the high-risk investment tools favoured by speculators – which played a prominent role in the demise of Lehman and the other financial institutions sucked in by the crisis. If much will actually happen, remains to be seen.

The South African treasury reckons it put $5bn into the World Cup, while corporate sponsors took home more than $4bn in tax-free profits. All those corporate parties, free tickets, kickbacks and other "gifts" merely indulged a post-apartheid elite that presides over the most inequitable society on earth, writes  John Pilger on the Information Clearing House website.

“This is surely the end of my 34-year relationship with this bank. It was getting worse the last seven years any way--- and now sports politics!!! No thanks. I’m on my way….. !!!!” and  “....I don’t do business with racist banks like Absa, I shall be closing my account with Absa tomorrow and moving to …” These two comments represent the main thrust of the thousands on the Internet following the news that Absa  has expressed its dissatisfaction with the state of transformation and a subsequent letter by SA Rugby president Oregan Hoskins to all provincial unions on the matter.

While the Companies Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro) seems to be fast heading for large-scale organisational meltdown, South African companies are dangerously exposed to irregular attacks on their ownership in electronically launched hijacking on the agency’s register. At the same time two other cornerstone institutions, the Deeds Office and the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) have also come under attack.

So the Springboks got the wooden spoon for their efforts in the 2010 Tri-Nations rugby competition. If coach Pieter de Villiers was sitting an exam for public speaking he might well also have seen a wooden spoon dangled in front of him in an age-old academic tradition from the University of Cambridge.

Worth a read is not your ordinary book review. It is rather a meta-review providing an overview of the opinions contained in a variety of book reviews published in the media at large. This week’s meta-review takes a look at “Capitalism 4.0: The Birth of a New Economy in the Aftermath of Crisis”, written by Anatole Kaletsky and published in July 2010.

Thank you, South African cricket. Cricket has dominated the news headlines for the wrong reasons in the past few weeks and the Pakistan cricket chief Ijaz Butt played a pivotal role in keeping it on the front pages by accusing England of corruption during the past weekend.

Naas Botha once famously said that the Currie Cup was not won in May, but it could have been lost in September for the Blue Bulls if they did not rally to beat the Lions to catapult themselves to third position on the ABSA Currie Cup log. This weekend will equally be a vital one too in determining the destiny of the coveted trophy.

With the co-operation of the The LR Management Group, we can now bring you the leadership training tool 50 Lessons, which is a powerful force in the world of corporate learning. 50 Lessons is the worlds premier multimedia business resource, offering more than 1 000 personal and authentic video lessons from internationally respected business leaders. It can assist you to increase the utilisation and return on investment of your learning programmes immediately!

As observers, analysts, the business community locally and wider and indeed the country are keenly watching developments at the ruling ANC’s national general council (NGC) this week in Durban, indications after the first of the meeting’s five days were of less overt drama and battles than most anticipated. The situation surrounding the Youth League (ANCYL) and its president Julius Malema might, however, be the one exception.

Is the great European experiment of establishing an integrated power as a global economic, political and strategic player on the world stage about to fail and will the dream of a Greater Europe remain just a dream? What are the implications for international power relations as mounting evidence seems to indicate that the answer to these two questions is veering towards the affirmative?