The President opened a new military hospital, supposedly the largest in the country last week. Equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, it has cost around Rs.3,500m; equivalent to around 9% of the entire capital expenditure budgeted for health in 2014. While I am generally opposed to an enlarged role of the state in public life, spending on health and and education are ...
Sri Lanka has only one burning problem to resolve: the law of primogeniture. When I last looked at this problem some resolution was needed by 2017.Five years on, thanks to the 18th amendment to the constitution we have bought ourselves a few more years to tackle the issue. Although we are no closer today than we were in 2008 we ...
Despite the generally rosy economic numbers that are frequently in the news I don't think the economy is in good shape. Some of these weaknesses are evident in the recent Central Bank report.Crucially, FDI in 2013 was down 2.7%, (to US$ 916m) and youth unemployment roseto 19.2%, (in 2012 it was 16.8%). Looking behind the FDI numbers reveals and even ...
Another grave site has been discovered, this time in Mullaitivu. The GoSL blames the LTTE. We do not have much to go on, but an analysis of the reporting of the story tells us quite a lot. To begin with this is a major story, especially a month ahead of the UNHRC summit in Geneva.The news of the discovery emerged ...
It's time to be patriotic again and the assorted fools, knaves, thieves and courtiers almost seem to be falling over themselves, trying to be the most patriotic of all. A good time then to take a step back and ask ourselves what this all means. The rocker Bob Dylan wrote a number of songs that became anthems of the US ...
I moved in to a new job some months back. It has been a fairly tough period involving a lot of learning. Its in a completely new industry and one that is highly technical.There is also the problem of added responsibility, having to carry the can, so too speak.The pay is better, the work is 'real'-grappling with day to day ...
Two Provincial council elections are around the corner and voters have a choice of actresses, singers and other sundry characters, mostly unsavoury to choose from. I am wondering if it is even worth voting at all.Should there be some sort of qualifying criteria for politicians? The problem with electoral democracy is that such a thing is not possible; it would ...
I was telephoning a few hotels in Embilipitiya, trying to find accommodation for staff on a site visit. I called a place that looked nice, had a decent review and was cheap.The conversation was in Sinhalese and the fellow who answered the phone first wanted to know where I was calling from. I answered: Colombo. He then asked: local or ...
How many people bother to pick up and read a newspaper nowadays? I used to be an avid reader of the local press but my interest has waned in the last year or so.The problem is that there is very little that is in any way challenging or interesting. Even when a decent story emerges coverage tends to be superficial.I ...
I was amazed to read that there is now a new and growing aerial menace. Are we being threatened, once again by the LTTE's air arm? Hordes of flying cockroaches? Perhaps vampire bats that descend from the heavens to suck the blood of the sleeping townsmen? No, we are now being threatened by peacocks; not vampire peacocks, or even vampire ...
The Company I work for was expecting some visitors, potential buyers from Africa and South Asia, We told them that they need to apply for business visas and the simplest was to get it on line.Unfortunately the Process for ETA business not clear. The home page claims that it can be obtained from missions overseas or on arrival. Sri Lanka ...
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has published a Monetary & Financial Road Map for 2014 and beyond.Its a peculiar document, part propaganda and part paen to the mighty. I'm still trying to make sense of it but buried on page 150 was the announcement that the Financial Transactions Reporting Act (link to act here) was to be extended to ...
Our Rulers want to make Sri Lanka a hub for aviation, tourism and many other things. Will they inadvertently end up creating something like Spetses?Spetses is a small Greek island, a an exotic playground for rich tycoons. Once a destination for cheap package holidays, the country moved up-market in the 1990's and now caters mostly to the super-rich who can ...
"Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts—the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others; but of the three, the only quite trustworthy one is the last. The acts of a nation may be triumphant by its good ...
I know cooking is one of the more popular topics on Kottu, so let me take a stab at my own, a Christmas Special, if you like. I am a great fan of plantains, sometime referred to as banana's. I was looking for some interesting things to do with banana's (for the record I do not possess a dirty mind) ...
The fightinme had written something about Sri Lanka being in the spotlight.It is true that some of the criticism is orchestrated by the Tamil/Tiger diaspora; I’m never sure where the Tamil diaspora ends and where the Tiger diaspora begins. Whatever criticism made needs to distance itself completely from the Tigers, which unfortunately it does not. As I pointed out ...
I started playing around with the look of this blog, I'm not not the greatest designer but I think a change in look will help refresh my mind.I've managed a hundred posts this year but at the expense of quality. There are a few posts that I am happy with but a lot that are below par. Not enough time ...
Something strange seems to be going on in the Pradesheeya Sabhas. Many of them, despite having a majority seem unable to pass their budgets.For a while I was wondering if there was some sort of conspiracy or some underground opposition activity that was manifesting itself. It sounds unlikely but was a possibility; given that the opposition members and some ruling ...
The proposal to fell the timber on estates to pay the statutory dues (EPF, ETF) of workers is again in the news, but no one seems to be posing the most fundamental of questions: can this be sustained?If this proposal works out they may be able to settle the past dues, but once this is done, how do they plan ...
The satirical LBO piece, A Dress to Kill Budget, apart from being very entertaining is quite seriously, best summary of the main thrust of this years budget. They could have added that defined professionals (including accountants, lawyers, accountants, engineers and some academics) were given a tax reduction (to a maximum of 16% compared to the current 24%) and, even better, ...
