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Home » ColumnsHouse goes into year-end recess with crossover hangover
If anyone was hoping for fireworks on the last sitting day of Parliament, before the January 8 Presidential poll, they would have been disappointed. None of the excitement associated with the lead up to the poll, with multiple crossovers to and fro taking place outside, was in any way reflected when Parliament met on Friday. [...]
Grappling with conscience at the crossroads of crossovers
The time has come to underscore once more that the outcome of the presidential election on January 8 will not be determined by members of parliament regardless whether they cross over or stay put but by the masses of this country who will assume their oft neglected role as the true kingmakers of this nation. [...]
Curious plea in support of authoritarianism
Some of you might remember Felix Dias Bandaranaike, the strong man in Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike governments. He was not afraid of taking on the formidable front liners of the Left parties, particularly after they had pulled out of her administration in the second half of the seventies. On one occasion Felix mischievously (and I [...]
Rupavahini blatantly flouts Polls Chief’s guidelines
Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya, on the one hand, acknowledged the role of the state and private media equally when he spoke to the nation last Monday. On the other, more importantly, he made clear that both should act in a fair and just manner in their coverage in the run-up to the presidential election on [...]
Facing the realities of an ageing population
The ageing of Sri Lanka’s population is one of the most serious socio-economic challenges in the coming decades. Although the Budget of 2015 recognised this to some extent, no significant steps have been taken to cope with the problems of an ageing population. Weak public finances, distorted prioritisation of public expenditure and wasteful expenditure leave [...]
Need for a modest hand on the reins of state
Sri Lanka’s former Army Commander and 2010 Presidential election candidate General Sarath Fonseka has never been at loss for a catchy turn of phrase in the wittiest Sinhala idiom possible. And as the Government’s defensive posture in relation to the common opposition’s accusations of misrule by a grossly corrupt family cabal reminds one of the [...]
Crossovers and cross currents
Nominations for the presidential election closed on Monday to be followed by a week that saw a record number of crossovers. Emotions are running high with both camps locked in a do-or-die battle for the country’s top spot. At least three political figures have cried on camera, on public platforms. Election monitors have noticed that [...]
UPFA showpieces Tissa; Maithri offers Rs. 10,000 pay hike and petrol at Rs. 50
Attanayake accused of links with Rajapaksa for two years; UNP trio hit back at former secretary Pope’s visit confirmed, MR assures bishops he will step down peacefully if he loses The ‘star of the week’, the United National Party’s former General Secretary Tissa Attanayake was on board the SriLankan Airlines airbus A 330 with President [...]
Gross encounters of a political kind
My dear Tissa, I thought I must write to you when I heard that you had crossed over from the Green camp to the Blue camp after being with the Greens for more than thirty years and serving as their secretary for the past ten years. I must admit I was shocked by what you [...]