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Home » ColumnsAnother picture at COP26: President’s powwow with India’s National Security Advisor
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who was in Glasgow, Scotland to attend the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) brushed shoulders with many prominent world leaders including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a photo of which was tweeted by the Indian leader and the Sri Lankan President. Shortly afterward, the Indian PM tweeted [...]
The Government in a mess of its own making
Is the Government losing control? This is probably the question uppermost in the minds of people when observing the goings on in the country at present. The cost of living is sky rocketing and shows no sign of being controlled. On the contrary the actions of the Government seem to suggest that they are giving [...]
Gang noises
My dear Wimal, Vasu, Gammanpila and the ‘Gang of Eleven’, I thought of writing to you when I heard that you have forcefully expressed your opposition to the some of the decisions taken by Gota maama and his government, particular the decision to sell a power plant to the country which adopted him and of [...]
The tone deaf indifference of ruling politicians to the despairing electorate
As Sri Lanka’s farmers abandon their rice fields, burning effigies of politicians and shouting their agonies to the heavens over the deprivation of fertiliser, elsewhere a desperate man breaks into the government-run Sathosa to steal three packets of milk doubtless for his family. These vistas of desperation have not been seen in the country, even [...]
One minute to midnight, before the lights go out
In cosmic time, it is one minute to midnight before the earth is irreversibly destroyed, its fragile atmosphere damaged beyond repair. And within this nano minute of grace, it rests in the hands of the human race which has brought the planet to the brink of Armageddon, the power to save it. It is still [...]
One, country, one law: The case of task farce
As students many decades ago, we were enthralled by the stories, if one might call them that, of Robert Ripley called “Believe it or not.” If at times it was difficult to believe them it was because some were so far-fetched and contrived and others so bizarre that they appeared to come from an imaginative [...]
Are there prospects of an improvement in the deepening crisis in external finances?
Foreign currency reserves have fallen to a dangerously low level of only US$ two billion at the end of September. Is there a prospect of an improvement in the external finances of the country in the coming months? Deepening crisis External currency reserves that were US$ 5.2 billion at the beginning of the year has [...]
Pohottuwa patriarch reads the Riot Act, as public anger grows over shortages of essential items
Referring to teacher, farmer protests and other crises, PM says SLPP has neglected political work among people SLPP’s Kariyawasam says dissidents should leave Govt, if they can’t stick to collective responsibility principle DEW describes the present cabinet as the worst since Independence and President as a scarecrow Trade unions’ blackout threat fizzles out; Power Minister [...]
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