Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victory marked a high-water point for Sinhalese nationalism. But the NPP’s recent success in the North shows that its power is receding. Reading Rajesh Venugopal’s 2018 economic history suggests that the structural conditions which sustain this ideology are becoming weaker.

Customs seized a consignment of four books written by a Tamil writer. Writers and activists condemned the government. The culture ministry reviewed the books but recommended releasing only two, intensifying criticism.

Famously bureaucratic and long neglected, the IRD is getting a facelift. Mick Moore is hopeful: fixing the tax department’s personnel and technology woes will help solve a good chunk of the country’s budgeting problems.

Whisper words of wisdom this evening, at Lakmahal’s non-fic book club, on Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me.  AI is laying-off Colombo’s techies. ’Fully automated luxury communism’ presumably isn’t the

Tech layoffs are here, but they aren’t as bad as the rumours suggest. Small outsourcing companies, and specific jobs like tech writers and quality-assurance engineers face the greatest threat. Tech education isn’t keeping up.

The no-confidence motion against the energy minister cites negligence in procuring coal, and corruption from a stint at a state company. The motion is unlikely to pass but will publicly test the government’s commitment to anti-corruption. Government members disagree on how to handle the allegations.

Artemis II has flown off to space – the Examiner, too, is flying off on vacation. Diary covers the whole fortnight to sustain our readers while we’re beached. Feeling adventurous? Fly the coop and escape

Some Malaiyaha Tamils displaced by Cyclone Ditwah wait for transitional shelters in tents. Many need permanent housing. Their wait, prolonged by bureaucratic bottlenecks and plantation companies’ reluctance to let go of profitable land, exposes how disasters disproportionately harm minority groups.