A guy comes up to my car window with a large garbage bag tied around his neck. He pauses and looks entreatingly in my direction. He then moves his hand to his mouth presumably to indicate hunger (although in Italy, the same expression generally translates to "what the f… are you doing?"). He then clasps his hands together and does a half-hearted curtsy.

Is there some kind of begging school somewhere that teaches guys this stuff?

The liberal theory around why urban social decay happens is that these ills occur as a result of social injustice and poverty. (In our country, social injustice and poverty are in turn blamed on racism.) So the argument is that if you fix poverty and social injustice, these problems go away.

Dear Dr Ramphele.

So here you are with an extraordinary track record by current standards of the human race – student activist, medical doctor, community activist, researcher, head of the University of Cape Town, leader at the World Bank – now wanting to devote the next phase of your life to help rebuild your country.

And what do you get?

Even though De Sa is a good coach, and even though Pirates is well resourced and has probably the biggest support base in the country, it means nothing if the team is not up to scratch.

In many ways, that's what we have to look forward to with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's budget speech this week.

Have you ever lost someone to cancer? If you have not, count yourself fortunate. I certainly have, as, I suspect, most of you reading this. And as we speak, I have two dear friends who are battling the big C in opposite corners of the globe.

When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, says a recent proverb. It's a concept that has since been referred to as "the law of the instrument". Which brings us to the latest shenanigans from the Gauteng provincial government. The province intends banning the sale of alcohol on Sundays

I'm no fan of Iran. Indeed, I'm terrified of all states that set their interpretation of the word of their god ahead of rational discourse.

But Iran has learned, as India and Pakistan and North Korea have, that no one takes you seriously when they have the capacity to nuke you and you cannot retaliate.

It's unusual for the chief of the South African National Defence Force to chair media briefings and issue statements. General Solly Shoke was probably wishing this week that he was doing so under less grim circumstances.

Did you ever stop to wonder why Christmas is always on 25 December but Easter is kind of a moving target? In 2011, Easter fell on 24 April. Last year, it fell on 8 April. This year, it fell on 31 March. Next year, it falls on 20 April…

This thought process kicked in when I was tiptoeing around my home late on Saturday hiding Easter eggs for my soon-to-be 6 year old daughter to find in the morning.

On June 16, 1989, London newspaper The Guardian published a report under the headline "Thatcher 'in plan to force Pretoria deal'".

The substance of that report, strenuously denied by the ANC at the time, subsequently proved to be correct. The process that would lead to the Nelson Mandela's release from prison barely seven months later had already begun.

It's the amazing thing about history – what one believes is true at the time later turns out to be idealist naiveté.