Politics unpacked

The Hunupitiya train

A fifth Sunday English weekly hits the newsstands come end June. Three of the Editors of the Sunday weeklies are ones who were with the Wijeya Group, formerly.

What an exodus!

The one remaining, is one who gave some ballast to matters financial in his Monday to Saturday Biz Journal.

Question being asked is quo vadis, this man? A wag in a cryptic manner asked this scribe "is he going to be the fourth apocalyptic horseman to saddle up and ride out of cross-road that is Hunupitiya?"

Curiously of the first three horsemen to ride out, their surnames begin with the first letter of the alphabet.........

Send it by post

A sister paper launched a "write to the man himself'' campaign. What better way to stop the war, than ask the Warlord to do it himself? Then came the jest. How do you find the man's address? There were no real answers, apart for the nomination of some proxies in the so-called Wanni Peace Secretariat to receive the peace massage for Prabha.

Until somebody piped up and said sternly "I think you can send the postcards c/o Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe.'' Problem solved.

From Megalo to mellow

It is now being said that Velupillai's daughter's flight to Europe was facilitated with a diplomatic passport no less, by the immediate past President.

Her mother was deprived of her civic rights, for her some despotic tendencies. (i.e; imposing fiats and diktats on her own, without any form of approval by Cabinet.)

The question now in politico-legal circles is, can the daughter be tried now for this act - palpably an act of treason? But, my, myeeee..... how the times change.

Curiously in an interview the poor soul speaking from the Presidential palace once referred to Velupillai as being a 'megalomaniac.'

Solid like rock

Mother Lanka's loss, down under gain? Alas one of our country's best in computing and setting up systems, migrates for reasons of economic stability to ensure a better opportunity for his two young children.

A CEO of a global bank hails from Batticoloa, and he has ended up in the upper echelons of global banking.But our brain trusts are not moving out, and there is no room for the brilliant young talent at the bottom.

Can this problem be addressed by those in the bank that is central, along with heads of leading blue chip conglomerates presided over by the Secretary of the Treasury?

Mogul meanderings

A big newspaper mogul visited the President. He went on his hobbyhorse grouse -- there are no Tamils of any standing in any Sinhala administration.

Said the President: ''for starters, there is a top army ranker in Jaffna.''

The mogul said "is that right?'' He was advised to find out for himself.

Heard the word 'Thankless'?

Said one foreign expert who has a truly consummate knowledge of Sri Lankan commercial affairs that the Sri Lankan state makes investment in the country the most difficult task, in comparison to the competing countries. He said: " its as if they want the investor to be lured by the challenge that this is the hardest country to invest in.''

But in spite of that, the BOI manages to deliver millions to the state coffers. But then, the BOI is found fault with regularly. Why? Because it has delivered so much - but not enough. The word Thankless evolved, to describe just such situations.

No strings attached

Some top echelon state think-tank folks journeyed to the President's home territory - Tangalla. They were there for some development related work, and in that spirit, wanted some down home fare for breakfast.

A top man asked the Hotel Restaurant Manager whether there are any strings for a meal.

Answer was in the negative, which prompted our man to say ''what, even the President begins his day with string hoppers.''

Replied the hotelier "but with these prices here, we have only bread and toast.'' Well, they didn't burn the toast, but they certainly cremated the taste for a good Tangalla style breakfast.