spotlight

The Iran war’s fallout is already here, including via higher oil prices and torpedoed ships. Sri Lanka is better placed than in the past to manage the adverse impact, which will depend greatly on the war’s duration. But there are silver linings too.

Sri Lankan food isn’t a monolith. Specific dishes like Jaffna crab curry are associated with particular communities, but regional cuisine isn’t explored. Geography and trade give rise to a distinct culinary tradition beyond the Bentara, and with it delicacies like fish ambulthiyal and kalu dodol.

Some call Tilvin Silva the phantom President. The JVP’s general secretary for thirty years, he is the party’s ‘nucleus’ and role model. The president calls him ‘aiya’. Hiranyada Dewasiri examines what Tilvin is doing with all this influence.

How did a UNP carpenter's son become the JVP's General Secretary? In the first half of a two part series, Hiranyada Dewasiri examines the experiences, the women, and the books that made the enigmatic Tilvin Silva who he is today – possibly the most powerful man in the country.

Getting things done has been a challenge for successive governments. Despite new laws and policy reform, good ideas keep getting stuck when they reach the implementation phase. One overlooked reason is the quality of our civil servants and the exams that recruit them.

Education reforms are underway — the most significant in the recent past. But can they reform history textbooks, which despite incremental improvements remain nostalgic, nationalist, and sometimes straight-up racist?

With their people-centric design, Torrington, Summit, and Senanayake flats persuaded residents out of houses and into apartments. Low rise flats offer a solution for cities’ high densities without resorting to the cold, dead shell of high rise towers. But soon they may be lost.

Sri Lanka’s tourism product is vast; blue waves, golden sand, cool forests, and historical ruins are spread throughout the island. But poor destination management and infrastructure development means that tourists congest at only a handful of tourist sites.

Judges and lawyers are using AI. But candid conversations about risks and ethical use trail far behind. Meanwhile, legal AI companies keep developing their products with newer, bolder features.

Other than Manila, no Asian city takes Christmas as seriously as Colombo. Some traditions are dying and new ones are emerging. As many migrate, armed with milk wine, salt beef, and figgy pudding, Burgher aunties and uncles fight the good fight to preserve the best of Christmas past.