Author Archives: Ranil Dissanayake

Hi all, This week’s links round-up is on better-than-nodding terms with fatigue and mental exhaustion after a series of early starts to run up and down the country (or rather, running west and slightly further west) to attend two conferences … Continue reading →

Hi all, Last week I fielded a bunch of e-mails noting that my strategic silence on the cricket results was unbecoming of such a rabid sports fan. Far be it from me to make the same mistake twice: Sri Lanka … Continue reading →

Hi all,  This is not a drill: the NBA is back. With the news basically being unremitting bleakness and irritation, I am seizing every possible opportunity to overreact outrageously to everything. Already, I’ve found time to seriously consider whether LeBron … Continue reading →

Hi all,  In an effort to raise the intellectual standard of the Links round-up intros, we are going to talk about art (it also has the very welcome side-effect of distracting me from the rain-delay induced rage that characterises my … Continue reading →

Hi all,  The Nobel Peace Prize was announced today, and while the announcement is often a let-down (remember when Obama got it for not being Dubya? I always thought I should have shared that with him – I’m not, either), … Continue reading →

Hi all,  This week’s links are written in a hurry, as DFID is apparently planning the e-mail apocalypse at 5pm, so if I don’t get these out soon I’ll break my several-year-long streak of getting these out on every Friday … Continue reading →

Hi all, My traditional intro usually consists of some mild gloating about the weather wherever I happen to be sitting on that particular Friday (today, windy and miserable as I look out on a half-destroyed garden after overnight storms), chat … Continue reading →

Hi all,  There really aren’t too many downsides to spending a week in glorious sunshine in the Alentejo – a place where in a single morning you can easily spot 50-odd bird species, including so many Little Owls they were … Continue reading →

Hi all, This week’s links are a little longer than usual, but they’ll also be your lot until September 14th as I flit off to Portugal next Friday, where matters of economics and public policy will be far from my … Continue reading →

Hi all, I have to admit: my reading took a hit yesterday after the news about Aretha Franklin broke (for all the many qualities of her music, it’s not something you can concentrate on reading to). My first memory of … Continue reading →