Indi had written something urging citizens to vote for good people. Just before the last election I did an assessment of the candidates. What we have now is something of a re-run of the same issues but with the advantage of having a short track record of the Sirisena administration to compare against Mahinda. Looking back at the past few ...

I don't often listen to the radio but a friend of mine rang me yesterday and told me to listen to 97.8 FM - he said it was a new Chinese station.I tuned in briefly today and it does seem to be manned by Chinese (judging by the accents) and it seemed to carry some news about Chine. According to ...

Dayan Jayetilleka, erstwhile diplomat and academic has lately been engaged penning paeans to the former regime. This has drawn in criticism from a number of sources which he has responded to. In his latest response he is tying himself in knots trying to find reasons to discredit his critics. His arguments are fundamentally flawed but he cleverly throws together unrelated ...

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 ...

Icarus had written something on ICT literacy and how meaningful the numbers were. The question posed is that "yes people do have internet access but what do they use it for?" A lot of the time for very trivial things.I had been thinking a little on the subject of the spread of ideas.I think one of the most critical developments ...

Indi had written a post on the upcoming election and I was rather surprised by his assessment of the current regime. It was a relative assessment, in comparison to its predecessors but I find it difficult to believe that we have seen anything other than steady decline since the 1950's.Are they less racist?True, JRJ is one of the biggest ...

President Sirisena has recently called for the protection of domestic agriculture and for import substitution policies to help local cultivation.Highlighting on the agriculture sector development, Sirisena said it was “a shame” that the country was importing agricultural products which could be cultivated in the country, adding that the Government was spending over Rs. 6,000 million annually on imports of essential ...

This evening when returning home I came across something that I had believed was extinct: a man wheeling a cart selling gothamba rotti.Piyadasa, making gothamba rottis.These were a familiar sight years ago, the carts would go by in the evening, 'bell' clanging. The 'bell' was not a real bell but the head of a small mammoty which would be stuck ...

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in the 'Wonder of Asia' for a flying visit, flying being the operative word.His visit is scheduled to last a total of 23 hours, about a third longer than the 15 hours or so that he will spend travelling to and from Beijing. (The fastest flight is on Sri Lankan that is supposed to ...

I spend quite a lot of my time analysing events, a process that sometimes ends with a prediction or forecast. Another little thing that I do is to review some of my predictions or positions with the benefit of hindsight.Hindsight is a great thing and spending some time contemplating one's previous positions or opinion can be very enlightening. Often it ...

Shammi has reminded me that today is my blog's birthday. I was not sure so I had to go back and check, but it indeed the anniversary. What shocked me is that it has been nine years since I started.It seems a very long time indeed. Ironically I started with a post criticising the President, shortly after he was elected ...

Overheard at a cafe:The trouble with international schools is that they are full of children, whose parents have earned a lot of money, very fast. These children have the notion that money can buy anything and that money can substitute for love. Children who go to these schools thus tend to end up with the wrong set of values, unless ...

Java Jones had written something on the last round of Wikileaks revelations. He felt that the leaks were helpful, I disagreed and wrote a reply that kept growing longer so I decided to post it on my own blog instead.I had not read his blog for some time, so this reply is almost six months late but I think the ...

The current system of issuing a visa on arrival to tourists is to be suspended on the 30th of September. Tourists will be expected to apply for a visa in advance.The issue visas on arrival will be restricted to countries that reciprocate, which means Singapore and the Maldives. Everyone else will need to apply for a visa. This plan was ...

A friend sent me an email with pictures of a building in China that has keeled over and fallen. For a moment I thought it was joke until further research revealed that it was indeed true. Hmmmm.... Given that the Chinese are constructing a highway, a harbour, a coal fired power plant and much else lets hope that they do a better ...

I sold my vehicle (rather too cheaply it seems) and then went and bought another (paying too much because I liked it). I went to the RMV to get the transfer forms and I expected a certain amount of hassle. Parking was not too difficult, I had to walk about a 100 yards but that was not too bad. The ...

Sri Lanka has launched another $1,000m bond, the fourth international bond since 2007.The issue is being managed by Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, HSBC, and Royal Bank of Scotland. Some of the banks: Bank of America, Barclays and Merril Lynch are new entrants to Sri Lankan bonds, the weaker market conditions overseas probably necessitating the larger number of ...

I opened the Daily News this morning to learn that the Ministry of Power and Energy was denying that power cuts were taking place. The pro-Government Island newspaper has however reported that power cuts in the Biyagama industrial zone were causing a lot of disruption. What on earth is going on?When checking around, one person in the office had experienced ...

There is something special about train travel. Perhaps it is the fact that the passengers are seated high above other traffic, perhaps because trains have priority over road users, possibly the immense power of the engine itself or the graceful shape of the train as it wends its way across the horizon. It is hard to pin down but when ...

It was depressing to learn that internal conflicts within the UNP have now spilled out into open violence. It is the very last thing that we need.The problem is with the leadership of the party. Dayan Jayatilleka presents a decent analysis of why Ranil must go, while Mangala Samaraweera explains why he feels he needs to support Ranil. I agree ...