OF MAGIC & MADNESS

OF MAGIC & MADNESS

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

World Environment Day / 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

Survival of the Noisiest

Living with Dhaka’s noise pollution is a gruelling endurance test.

Messi, Messier, Messiest

Drink it all in.

Why politicians should study human rights

For human rights advocates, 2022 has been a catastrophic year.

In the silos of bureaucrats, public interests are a trifle

To the uninitiated, the public interaction between our prime minister and state officials may seem curious at times.

Is the EC fighting an unwinnable war?

There are a few possible explanations behind why the EC chose to suspend the Gaibandha-5 by-poll

Who wants a piece of forest?

Plans to build a prison on forestland show that the country is in environmental free-fall

Teachers aren’t under siege, but justice, civility and reason are

Here’s an image that will likely be seared into our memory forever: a teacher being forced to wear a garland of shoes around his neck.