OF MAGIC & MADNESS
Voters without choice are just glorified dummies
You’ve already met the dummy candidates, aka independents. Now, meet dummy voters.
Polls schedule is not a cut-off point for dialogue
Without political reconciliations, we're headed for another violent, one-sided election
Who are these nameless, faceless arsonists?
These attacks are at once a political issue, a law enforcement issue, and a human rights issue.
Can bureaucrats be neutral in a win-or-lose-all battle?
Let me put it another way: is a fair election possible even if Awami League “allows” it?
Soft openings, hard politics
As the political landscape heats up in anticipation of the general election, the ruling Awami League seems to be pulling out all the stops
Road safety, transport politics, and a curious policy U-turn
The latest policy rollover on unfit vehicles seems to be the result of our policymakers remembering that they have interests to protect.
A Lunch Date Gone Wrong
The apparent hospitality offered to BNP leaders Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Amanullah Aman has caused reactions both funny and speculative.
A nation off-guard: Why is dengue still a non-issue?
Can we respond to a public health crisis with the same urgency as the crisis over our electoral future?
Books and bureaucrats are a dangerous mix
Few people are perhaps aware that there is a specific government institution responsible for overseeing non-government libraries.
Sacred Corruption: The Unqualified and The Unscrupulous
Corruption in hajj management has come to the limelight after the publication of two reports
Living in the land of dying rivers
What's happening to our rivers is not driven just by necessity, but also greed, a general disregard for the sanctity of life, and a reckless can-do-ism.
Is there a Bangalee way to celebrate Pahela Baishakh?
The “Bangalee way” in the sense of a single, linear way is a myth at best, and nationalist propaganda at worst.
In times of crisis, journalists must double down on facts
Facts, once the prerogative of the media, used to be sacred. Now, they are just fodder in an increasingly hostile war of narratives.
The UN got it wrong. We’re not just sad, we’re happily so
We toy with the idea of change, but seek accommodation with the status quo.
Living like the poor, paying like the rich
Inflation followed by greedflation followed by shrinkflation – is there no way out of this trap?
Awami League wants us to love DSA. It’s too late now
While the manner in which the DSA is being defended is nothing new, the timing bears significance
