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Home » ColumnsExcise Dept. and NATA in spirited clash over Happy Hour liquor ban
Excise Commissioner General M. J. Gunasiri is to discuss the possibility of permitting “happy hour,” the time when alcoholic drinks are served at discounted rates, at establishments with liquor licences. This is after a recent directive by the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) warned that a fine would be imposed on happy hours [...]
One country, one law
Apey Mahanayake hamuduruwaney, I thought of writing to you after seeing that you had written to Uncle Ranil requesting that Gnanasara hamuduruwo be offered a pardon. Reading that letter, hamuduruwaney, I am convinced that you must have been misinformed by someone because the reality is quite different from what your letter states. One of the [...]
Plantation wage increase reasonable but financially unaffordable
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s promise of increasing the daily wage of plantation workers to Rs 1,700, though socially desirable, could make the plantations economically non-viable. How this wage hike is financed remains to be seen. Gazetted The wage increase has been gazetted, and the President has threatened to take over the estates managed by Regional Plantation [...]
Elections or no elections, the tragic consequences of political anarchy
As South Africa readies itself for an election result poised to dislodge the ruling African National Congress (ANC) from a comfortable majority perch in an unprecedented turn of events and India’s general elections winds down with results to be announced in the coming days, both these nations and their peoples can afford to boast, despite [...]
Range Bandara ends up with egg on his face after failed test ploy
General Secretary of the UNP, Ranga Bandara has received egg on his face in abundance for trying awfully hard to make history repeat itself by suggesting this year’s presidential elections should be postponed for two years in the same manner the UNP deferred parliamentary elections in 1982. In a televised broadcast under the party’s ‘Smart’ [...]
Long live dictatorship of the boorucrats
It used to be said in days gone by that the United Nation’s chamber in New York used to come alive when it anticipated a verbal clash between Sri Lanka’s sharp-witted Permanent Representative to the UN, Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe with his coruscating tongue, and Israel’s superbly eloquent Foreign Minister Abba Eban reputedly fluent in 10 [...]
Range Bandara’s remarks backfire: Parties get ready for presidential poll
Opposition political parties flay UNP General Secretary’s election-postponement suggestion NPP says comment was confirmation that Ranil fears defeat at poll; SJB says no constitutional provision to put off the election Wickremesinghe’s northern visit wins acclaim from Tamil politicians By Our Political Editor Palitha Range Bandara, the General Secretary of the United National Party, one of [...]
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