OF MAGIC & MADNESS

OF MAGIC & MADNESS

The more BNP talks about reforms, the less convincing it sounds

BNP’s adversarial politics hurts more because it was expected to lead a new culture of politics.

1m ago

Devils, heroes, or something in between?

Should we continue to condone unregulated public outbursts?

2m ago

Opinion / No more concessions for India on border killing or fencing

Protecting our citizens and our border integrity is non-negotiable

3m ago

Opinion / BNP faces the weight of history and expectations

For all its pro-reform posturing, BNP has yet to signal a real willingness to lead political reforms, including within itself.

7m ago

Opinion / The new age demands a re-reading of Bangabandhu

Bangabandhu as a subject of study should be approached with an openness to embrace truths, however unflattering.

8m ago

The nine lives of a corrupt public servant

Let's delve into the hypothetical lifelines in a public servant’s career that help them indulge in corruption.

9m ago

Cow running amok in a shopping mall: It’s not a ‘moo’ point

Animals in Bangladesh are losing their homes because people are taking over their spaces.

10m ago

The only budget I care about is one that reduces my bills

Budget day is turning into our very own Groundhog Day.

11m ago

The story of the middle class you’re never told

What is the picture that flashes through your mind when someone talks of social classes? A reader of The Guardian newspaper once made an interesting albeit highly generalised observation.

3y ago

When faith is a weapon, don’t be surprised by who wields it

A dramatic turn of events since the March 17 attack on Hindu villagers in Sunamganj’s Shalla Upazila has been reshaping the narrative on the culpability of potential actors and, by extension, the politics of communal violence in Bangladesh.

4y ago

What’s Eating Quader Mirza?

How well do you follow the headlines of your newspapers? If one were to run a quiz to see how well the readers of The Daily Star stack up against each other, the question that is most likely to be at the top of the list would be about the name that appeared most in the headlines of our central pages over the last week.

4y ago

The road to development is ‘always’ under construction

What is the first image that comes to your mind when you think of the word “development”? I see an image of a signboard, and it’s about the Metro Rail (MRT Line-6) being constructed in Mirpur, connecting different parts of the metropolis.

4y ago

Kindness can heal what blind faith cannot

I remember there was a time when, owing to my youthful naiveté, I would think that living is more than surviving.

4y ago

First transgender madrasa: Let it be the spark for a social revolution

On Friday, November 6, the first madrasa for transgender Muslims in Bangladesh was opened in Dhaka through a private initiative.

4y ago

Sarwar’s abduction: A chilling message for journalists

Late in the evening on November 1, 2020, journalist Golam Sarwar, who went missing on October 29, was found unconscious near a canal at Sitakunda, Chattogram.

4y ago

The political pendulum is rigged to swing back

In an article in August 2018, I argued that emerging political leaders, because of the unique socioeconomic reality in which they grew up, might be more likely to accept change and less likely to default to norms and practices pursued by their boomer predecessors.

4y ago

A Long March to Brutalities

It could have been just another episode in the regular show of police and ruling party men merrily clamping down on the “disturbers of public peace” who love to play with people’s emotions with their pesky ideas and noisy chants of human rights abuses.

4y ago

Death penalty minus political will to stop rape is just good optics

From harsh legal penalties to severe moral reprimands, from street protests and sit-ins to virtual seminars and teach-ins, from increasing mobilisation and visibilisation of pro-choice activists to critical interventions by state and non-state actors—nothing, and no one, seems to be able to deter the rapists or protect women and children.

4y ago