The muted, panicked voice came through the phone of a friend who croaked she was very confidentially warning Cassandra and advising her. Yours truly was immediately panic infected. With deep emphasis and concern the friend took her time to advise that Cass withdraws all money from banks. Cass was for once glad she was poor […]

Wednesday 21st June, 2023 The ‘Rice Mafia’ has emerged so powerful over the years that it is now running a parallel government of sorts. Wealthy rice millers resort to market manipulations, determine paddy and rice prices and exploit farmers and consumers alike, with impunity. This country is not short of political leaders who talk tough […]

A highly appreciative skill of the Pakistani administration is their extensive theatricals which can deceive the most intelligent of men. Lengthy speeches in the parliament are converted into minutes packed with wise counsel. After collecting enough praises and spewing venom on the opposition, they end up ultimately doing what they would do anyway — putting […]

New laws contemplated by the government appears to have caused much concern among Opposition political parties for obvious reasons. The constitutionality of the proposed Broadcasting Authority Bill is expected to be challenged in the Supreme Court. The whole process of law making raised quite a stir in the wake of the recent shocking Supreme Court […]

‘Broadcasting Authority a political mechanism led by Media Secretary’ By Shamindra Ferdinando Top Opposition spokesman Prof. G. L. Peiris yesterday (05) alleged that President Ranil Wickremesinghe intended to silence television and radio stations through the proposed Broadcasting Authority Bill (BAB). The former External Affairs Minister asserted that the BAB was part of a destructive political [&...

Reforms to be introduced to end ‘media abuses’ President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said that the government was not in a position to lower the taxes. Delivering his second government policy statement to inaugurate the Fourth session of the Ninth Parliament, the President said: “Some people say that the primary taxable income should be raised from […]

Thursday 9th February, 2023 President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who presented his government’s policy statement in Parliament, yesterday, sounded like a seasoned insurance sales agent with glib phrases rolling off his experienced tongue; he sought to scare the public and infuse them with hope, at the same time, to sell his policies. The knee-jerk reaction of the […]

Dr. Jaishankar is in Sri Lanka to help under the “neighborhood first” strategy of India By R. R. M Lilani  Dr. Jaishankar, India’s Foreign Minister, who is scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka on January 19, 2023, has made another ‘neighbourhood first’ agreement with Sri Lanka by backing the country’s delayed debt restructuring programme with […]

officials responsible for the country’s economy were quizzed […]

by Goolbai Gunasekara The political scene changes from day to day….indeed from hour to hour it seems. Here are some thoughts on subjects being discussed among people like me who have no influence in politics but have plenty to say on the bizarre events that have shown a rich vein of eccentricity running through the […]

That means authorities we should not talk about debt restructuring parameters

Friday 5th August 2022 Sri Lanka’s struggle to shore up its crumbling economy continues, and there are no signs of promised foreign assistance materialising anytime soon. The Cabinet has just retained the services of some foreign firms for external debt restructuring, which is one of the main

British Politics and Ours Both Sri Lanka and the UK have experienced an unprecedented political upheaval of late. It is interesting that both leaders agreed to resign within a day of each other. Everybody else saw the ‘the end is nigh’ sign for quite a while. They didn’t or didn’t want to see it until […]