China’s lurch from extreme zero-Covid to extreme herd immunity is a watershed moment in the global ideological struggle of our age, an unanswerable illustration of why autocratic regimes are less successful in the end than messy liberal democracies. Leadership cults and totalitarian media control can at times enable breathtakingly destructive policies, and it is hard […]

By Ifham Nizam Sustainable food security is not an easy target to achieve in a country like Sri Lanka, where primary production has been given the priority, Professor Buddhi Marambe of the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya said. Speaking to The Island Financial Review Marambe stressed that concerted efforts are […]

By Fan Wang The growing number of Chinese public figures whose deaths are being made public is prompting people to question the official Covid death toll. The death of Chu Lanlan, a 40-year-old opera singer, last month came as a shock to many, given how young she was. Her family said they were saddened by […]

BY GEORGE BRAINE This was early 1981, and the government was planning to start a state-run television service. Applicants were invited for an inaugural training course for producers, directors, researchers, and writers. I had applied, and was called for an interview. The interview was at the newly set up National Television Planning Centre, at Kirulapone. […]

Ronnie de Mel’s contribution undervalued, corruption later gnawed at its vitals Excerpted from volume two of Sarath Amunugama’s autobiography One of the spectacular achievements of the Jayewardene regime was the completion of the accelerated Mahaweli Development scheme. The Ceylon National Congress and its successor the UNP under the Senanayakes paid special attention to the development […]

By Uditha Devapriya A recent World Food Programme report underlines the magnitude of the food crisis in Sri Lanka. The report shows that 36% of the country’s households are effectively food insecure, while 76% are engaging in “food-coping strategies.” 35% of the country’s households are “facing insufficient food consumption”, while female-headed households (44%) are “...

Institutions remain the most important factor for strengthening productivity and the investment climate in a country. Good governance, rule of law, and socio-political stability are crucial determinants of long-run economic growth. As famously described by Douglas North, “Institutions are the rules of the game in a society; more formally, they are the humanly devised constraints […]

By Jehan Perera The passage of the budget by a comfortable majority confirms that the government’s parliamentary majority is holding in the face of adverse circumstances. The ruling party has lost over twenty of its members who no longer follow the party line. But the rest of them appear to be staying together despite the […]

By D. L. Sirimanne I dreamt I was the Radio Officer on a KLM Super Constellation flight to Colombo with a Dutch crew. Flight Information sent us a ‘red alert’ that Colombo Airport was closed and to divert the flight to Jaffna. I immediately informed the Captain and he accordingly altered heading to Jaffna. I […]

By Shamindra Ferdinando Narendra Fernando, Sergeant-at-Arms of the crisis-ridden Parliament, has declared that the largest number of students, in the post-independence era, visited the House on Thursday (Dec. 01). Director, Legislative Services, Janakantha Silva, who is also the Acting Director of Communication, quoted Fernando as having said that approximately 5,000 students, from 32 schools, rec...

By R.K. RADHAKRISHNAN Member of Parliament Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, who has kept together a diverse coalition of Tamil political parties under the umbrella of the Tamil National Alliance since 2001, has witnessed many phases of the struggle since Sri Lanka became an independent country in 1948. Now 89 and largely confined to his official residence in […]

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan says he could have created a situation like Sri Lanka, but he didn’t, says a news report published by the Indian Express.The IE report filed from Islamabad, said that Khan stated on Saturday his party was quitting the country’s regional and national assemblies, as he made his first public […]

Speech made November 22 I have consistently recorded my opposition to Minister of Finance being the President. From 2010 onwards in this House, whenever the President in his capacity as Minister of Finance has presented a budget I have recorded that protest and I wish to record that today as well. When a person who […]