During workshops on Key Message Development, I always beat on about only having three key messages at hand to carry you through any form of communication – particularly when it means having to convey something unpalatable. Anything more than that tends to get lost in the bubbling maelstrom of information we have to wade through each day.

Let’s call it like it is for once, shall we? No tiresome beating around the bush. Governments generally don’t want you to know that they have Big Boy public relations machinery working for them. Bell Pottinger is one repugnant South African case in point.

I don’t know if you, like me, are mortified by the way people write – or shall I say attempt to write – these days. It seems perfectly acceptable to misspell names, to abbreviate words into The Dreaded Text Speak, and then to sign off with an obligatory emoji.

The ability to communicate – be it face-to-face or in written form – is withering away. And I mourn its imminent demise keenly.

There are a few things in life that are unavoidable. One of them is paying your tax – although there are those in high places who seem to slither their way out of that one.

Life is a funny thing. But the one thing it has taught me is that the only constant is change. It doesn’t come easily to most – not least of all to me. It can be a terrifying prospect, a leap into the unknown, and an utterly overwhelming inevitability.

The proverbial elephant in the room seems to be taking up more space at each workshop I facilitate, with delegates doing their level best to side step and shadow box around it, or to make it their sole mission to steer clear of unpalatable subject matter.

South Africa could face a massive cyber assault this year. At a recent International Data Corporation (IDC) and Microsoft event on cyber threats, the IDC’s Jon Tullett said one of the company’s predictions for 2017 was the country could see an attack at “public service level or within financial services. It will be a very public malware or ransomware attack“.

Fake news and yellow journalism has undoubtedly become the new norm. From false reports and fake missing friends, to photo-shopped images, government scandals and sensationalism, this scourge has organisations and news outlets fighting for their credibility.

So if adamantly refusing to answer questions from journalists and blaming the media for an unfolding social crisis counts as a press conference, then the whole notion of press briefings is nothing short of a cruel joke.