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# Where to go and what to read
- URL: https://www.examiner.media/where-to-go-and-what-to-read-6/
- Published: 2025-10-31T06:17:27.000Z
- Updated: 2025-10-31T07:39:32.000Z
- Author: The Examiner
- Tags: Diary, maintag-Diary, Week-08-2025

Colombo is often dead, but for once it's not a bad thing. For the dead are out tonight, at [over a dozen Halloween parties](https://www.happeningcolombo.com/?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com). [Kiku’s](https://www.instagram.com/p/DQV9k0hDABv/?igsh=MXg5b2FoMWFvejc1ZA==&ref=examiner.media) and [Love Bar’s](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPtrQd-iEAw/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fweb%5Fcopy%5Flink&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) seem promising. There’s even one for the [kids](https://www.instagram.com/p/DQEo0cqCLB%5F/?igsh=MXYxeGk4MzkyajB5bw==&ref=examiner.media). Barefoot’s [*Impermanence*](https://www.instagram.com/p/DQL6tMmDCjo/?igsh=dDFubnk4bXF1bGIz&ref=examiner.media) and Saskia’s [*Go Home with Me*](https://www.instagram.com/p/DQL4wDMCE6w/?igsh=MXBxZGh3bnpnOG53dA==&ref=examiner.media)open. 

Halloween parties aside, [Q’s jazz ](https://www.instagram.com/p/DQbSoHmiV6E/?igsh=ZjUzNDE2NmQwNHQ0&ref=examiner.media)promises dangers more mellow at Bayleaf on Saturday. For activities sacred rather than profane, St. Michael’s Polwatte has [choral services on all weekend](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1oNFWDwUjJgso3lMLmZ6MLwCqSYBWyfAHvFzsC5hpJ%5F8/edit?usp=sharing&ref=examiner.media). Also explore the memories embedded in objects at [Lakmahal](https://www.instagram.com/p/DQDtvYuk%5FKY/?ref=examiner.media) and children’s [cookie making](https://www.instagram.com/p/DQL6tMmDCjo/?igsh=dDFubnk4bXF1bGIz&ref=examiner.media) at Hungry Island Studio. 

Sunday has a tour of the Bawa Trusts [*Ways of Knowing*](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ways-of-knowing-exhibition-tour-tickets-1855976518729?aff=oddtdtcreator&%5Fkx=akMZ%5FDNxzjJ4md6agzb3R6ZUc9A2Wcb1h9VnBHabdTE.WZFqbH&ref=examiner.media)exhibition. On Tuesday, they explore how [traditional knowledge can regenerate our modern future.](https://www.instagram.com/p/DQTNexXkd8h/?igsh=YWw5dGd3NnJqcjQy&ref=examiner.media) Also [discuss the death of expertise](https://www.instagram.com/p/DPoN8yuAHtd/?igsh=bm5rd3Q2eWVtdTFw&ref=examiner.media) with universal expert Rohan Samarajiva. Thursday brings [Music Matters open mic](https://www.instagram.com/p/DPoLCbOkaxe/?ref=examiner.media). 

Next week[ dissect the budget with Duminda Hulangamuwa](https://www.instagram.com/p/DQY5rc7kV1A/?igsh=MTg2b2JxeDBhZmxhcA==&ref=examiner.media) and other captains of industry. Plus [Uditha Devapriya’s webinar on Martin Wickremesinghe](https://www.instagram.com/p/DQJ3KiYEqqo/?igsh=MXFlZW4wbTY3bzg5Ng==&ref=examiner.media). 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/2b/562b4f8e-9dd1-43bb-a213-bc1615650661/content/images/2025/10/yaka-2-1.jpg)

*What to read*

Sri Lanka’s tax rates now make much more sense, the challenge is really in enforcing them. Mick Moore’s paper explains [how we can make property taxes actually ](https://www.veriteresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/10272025%5FProperty%5FTaxes%5Fin%5FSri%5FLanka%5FProposal%5Ffor%5Fa%5Fmore%5Feffective%5Fvaluation%5Fmethod.pdf?ref=examiner.media)[work](http://work.tl/?ref=examiner.media). Tl;dr: digitize property valuation. Also watch Ganeshan Wignarajah's lecture on [lessons from our sovereign default](https://www.ids.ac.uk/events/sovereign-default-imf-stabilisation-and-trade-lessons-from-sri-lanka/?ref=examiner.media). 

The government published its [climate finance strategy](https://www.treasury.gov.lk/api/file/ef2dff2b-8a19-4bc8-9936-10c3e17a9264?ref=examiner.media). ICES gathers together materials under the umbrella of [*Religion and Resistance*](https://www.ices.lk/%5Ffiles/ugd/fba0ea%5F8de735c68b494678ab9d52b0d31d1aad.pdf?ref=examiner.media)*.* The Institute for Political Economy [argues debt for nature swaps won’t save Sri Lanka](https://ipe-sl.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DFNW-wont-save-SL.pdf?ref=examiner.media). What can? Mongabay has a piece on the island’s [illicit elephant trade](https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/landmark-conviction-exposes-sri-lankas-deep-rooted-illegal-elephant-trade/?ref=examiner.media). 

Three cumbersome reads with important facts. Researchers find that [Mannar wind farms aren’t affecting the fish catch.](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=5643693&ref=examiner.media) Kanishka Werawella at Colombo University’s data shows [previous generations of women are more likely to join the labour force](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kanishka-Werawella/publication/384861201%5FLabor%5FForce%5FParticipation%5Fin%5FSri%5FLanka%5FAge%5FPeriod%5FCohort%5FAnalysis/links/681a17a2ded433155742bc57/Labor-Force-Participation-in-Sri-Lanka-Age-Period-Cohort-Analysis.pdf?ref=examiner.media) than those that followed them. This *Polity* article reminds us that [one in five victims of sexual violence don’t tell anyone.](https://polity.lk/prasanna-pitigala-liyanage-safety-is-not-a-wall-beyond-protection-from-domestic-violence/?ref=examiner.media)