Dutu Tena Allanu The play that was booed to a stop by blind worshippers of tradition

The play ‘Dutu Tena Allanu’ (Arrest on Sight) was staged at the open air theatre of the Peradeniya University on July 12. Part of the audience booed and forced the performance to a stop by throwing 

BACK ON THE BLOCK

In the Denzel Washington movie ‘The Equalizer’, a character explains his behaviour after an especially dramatic scene, 

Examine the cancer of self-interest in education

Excessive privatization, commercialization or marketization of vital areas such as healthcare, educatio

The Tamil question is it among leaders or people?

“Every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud, adopts as a last resource pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and happy to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing hims

CITES trade suspension: A blow to the SL economy

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, globally known as CITES, is an international.....

THE INDEPENDENCE AND THE INTEGRITY OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL

The office of the Auditor General is a position constitutionally guaranteed in Sri Lanka and protected worldwide with wide powers and....

Response to “Kill the bill OR the man”

A recent letter from the well known and respected ENT Surgeon Dr. Cynthia Jayasuriya in the Daily Mirror of July 25 under the interesting....

Paada Yatra and bread and circus: The simple logic of distraction

Paradoxically though, protests in this country have become something akin to a Roman circus.They are no better than reality television and.....

Bus travel is a commuter’s nightmare - EDITORIAL

The authorities have agreed with the private bus operators to increase bus fares by six per cent from yesterday. However, the journey in....

ROUND AND ROUND THE BUSH (PART IV): They got the POWER

The Youth Commission in their report as far back as 1990 had recommended that the Parliament being the central institution....

Knowledge, change and quality of life

We talk a great deal about change in the modern world. We want change because we want to have better circumstances around.....

The battle against Chronic Kidney Disease: When the entire country is sick

Despite various government programmes and efforts, the chronic renal disease that started from the dry zone of the country continues to take....

The Invisible predator of children

Is it safe for our children to watch films? Are they unfairly exposed to commercial influences under the guise of creativity and....

LEAVE KASHMIR TO THE KASHMIRIS - KDITORIAL

Kashmir is once again in the news -unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. The Kashmir Valley once famed for its picturesque beauty and the....

The mother of all marches

The marathon protest march “Jana Satana Pada Yathra” launched by loyalists of former President and current Kurunegala district MP Mahinda Rajapaksa is currently underway in Sri Lanka. The march organized by pro – Mahinda political stalwarts known as the -Joint Opposition-began in Kandy on July 28th 2016. The five day march is scheduled to conclude in Colombo on August 1st 2016.

Too many American nuclear bombs

The Incirlik air base in south-east Turkey -- from which US pilots launch bombing raids on ISIS forces in Syria -- is home to about 50 B-61 hydrogen bombs. That makes it NATO’s largest nuclear storage facility.   

The most execrable sum of all villainies

Today is the World Day against Trafficking in Persons and the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a message calls on all countries to come together to overcome this transnational threat by supporting and protecting victims while pursuing and prosecuting the criminals.   

Searching country’s identity through architecture

“I strongly believe that it is impossible to explain architecture in words. I have seldom enjoyed seeing buildings and seldom reading explanation about them. Architecture cannot be totally explained, but must be experienced,”- Geoffrey Bawa. 

Brecht within a Tamil Chalk Circle

My first introduction to Bertolt Brecht was through the Sinhala adaptation of his play “Caucasian Chalk Circle” by renowned, respected and award winning Sinhala playwright and producer, late Henry Jayasena.

I won’t work for a government again Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya

Politicisation is accepted as inevitable in almost every government sector institution.

Protestocracy: Mind the rights of the silent majority

It appears that protests have become a part of our lives. Not a day passes without a protest being held in Colombo or elsewhere. Indeed it is a good sign of a vibrant democracy, so long as the state is not turned into a protestocracy or government by protesters for protesters. Sadly, this appears to be the case in Sri Lanka. 

The youth are seeking justice not party politics

In the aftermath of the brutal murder of a Catholic priest at a church near Normandy in France on Tuesday, Pope Francis in a spirit of mercy has gone beyond individual indoctrination or some mental imbalance to analyze the root causes of terrorism. Speaking to reporters on the plane which carried him to the World Youth Congress at Krakow in Poland, Pope Francis said what was happening was virtually a world war but not a war between religions. Ins

Paada Yathra, only for a moral boost

It is quite unnatural for an Opposition to attempt to topple a newly elected Government soon after Parliamentary elections, since any new government would gain further strength, at least for a year after its coming to office. 

Look back at historic marches

The above title was copied from a highlighted news item that appeared in the front page of the state-run Ceylon Daily News of March 23, 1992. The text under the headline—

President warns JO not to breach party discipline

Ahead of Pada Yatra, the protest march from Kandy to Colombo, President Maithripala Sirisena, as the leader of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), convened the party’s MPs sitting with the Joint 

This isn’t a question of tit-for tat - C.V.Wigneswaran

Northern Province Chief Minister and former Judge of the Supreme Court C.V. Wigneswaran spoke to the Dailymirror at his official residence in Jaffna. During the interview, he spoke of the recent clash at the Jaffna University, the personal and the political and much more:

Oral cancer; stop chewing betel, use charcoal

Despite the marvels of modern medical technology different forms of cancer are raging worldwide for 

Moragahakanda: where devolutionists will drown

A mild and entertaining debate was sparked when President Maithripala Sirisena took part in a ceremony to enshrine treasures at the site of the Moragahakanda-Kalu Ganga Irrigation Development 

Special High Court for cases of financial crimes

A multitude of civic action movements played a major role in mobilizing people power for the silent revolution on January 8 last year. Many of them are now complaining that the new national 

Is Free Education a boon or a bane?

Recently we witnessed a prominent “civil society activist” expressing views in favour of the privatisation of education at a meeting organised by ‘Purawasi Balaya’ garnering displeasure from a