A MEMO From Michael Roberts as Editor, Thuppahi, July 2025
The Word Press system keeps me informed about the HITs on TPS items everyday and also assembles figures for each week. Reviewing these details provides one with a glimpse of internet viewers and their interests. As an exercise with this objective I provide figures of HITS on items carrying biographical tales.
HEREWITh, then, are the figures of such hits — HITS on bio-tales –– during the past week.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, communal relations, cricket selections, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, Eelam, ethnicity, European history, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, performance, politIcal discourse, population, power politics, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, Tamil Tiger fighters, teaching profession, theatre world, unusual people, world affairs, world events & processes
EXTRACTS From The DIARIES Of DONALD FRIEND, Volume 3** …. The Ceylon Diaries cover the period 25th January 1957 to 22nd July 1962 and run into 180 pages in small print. During this period Donald Friend, the gifted Australian artist, based himself at Bevis Bawa’s ‘Brief’, Bentota.
“His diary entries are pithy, sarcastic, self-critical and wonderfully observant of people, places and events. I dare say he was a better writer than a painter. One can only look on aghast at how little things have changed in Sri Lanka in nearly 50 years of turmoil. ….” .… (the author of this ASSESSMENT remains unclear; while the highlights are interventions on my part: Michael Roberts).
26th January 1957: Time drifts through all this…. carrying on his back, like a turtle, a weight of the idiotic likes and dislikes….
4th February: Who like Bevis, is a hypochondriac. They both make a fascinating hobby of pills and injections …
19th March: The horrid old guide jibbered on endlessly, telling whopping lies.
24th March: Ratnapura Resthouse – nauseatingly loud Americans and a rabble of Ceylon drunks.
11th April: Orientals fortunately regard madness as something allied to holiness.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, Australian culture, australian media, Colombo and Its Spaces, communal relations, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, education, ethnicity, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, paintings, parliamentary elections, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, racism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Verbatim Record of Claude Malhuret’s Speech in French Senate, March 2025 **
A box of Impeachmints, … related to his dealings with Ukraine.
On Thursday, 19 December 2019, in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Donald Trump caricature is seen on a trailer in Krakow, Poland on July 25, 2024. The figure, which was previously a theater prop, has been bought by local politician Lukasz Wantuch. Now he is planning to present it at Donald Trump’s campaign rallies…. Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images.
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, Britain's politics, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, ethnicity, historical interpretation, human rights, law of armed conflict, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Russian history, security, self-reflexivity, truth as casualty of war, Ukraine & Its Ramifications, world events & processes
A Pix from Alan Benson received via Keith Bennett, 10 March 2025 …. maybe indicative of hardline Anti-Russian political fervour? …. what what!
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, disparagement, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, taking the piss, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes, zealotry
Darshanie Ratnawalli
So, have you read Ranil’s Al Jazeera interview?
Has anyone who is expressing an opinion on Ranil’s performance at his interview with Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan ingested the full content of this media circus? Even people like Himal Kotelawala (sympathetic to RW), Lakshan Wickrema (derisive of RW) and Crystal Koelmeyer (sympathetic to RW), whom I have so far read on this subject had not.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, democratic measures, discrimination, disparagement, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, life stories, LTTE, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, terrorism, truth as casualty of war, war reportage
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa, in Groundviews, …. https://groundviews.org/2025/03/07/sentiment-analysis-of-ranil-wickremesinghes-al-jazeera-interview-with-mehdi-hasan/
Renowned journalist Mehdi Hasan interviewed the former president Ranil Wickremesinghe on a programme of Head to Head, produced by Al Jazeera. The programme was released to YouTube and first broadcast on March 6.
At the time I studied 5,144 comments in response to it, the video had been watched over 218,620 times and liked over 8,000 times. Comments, views and likes are increasing at pace, which means that by the time this is read, the sentiments, trends and patterns analysed are not going to fully or accurately capture additional sentiment. What follows must be read as a study of the sentiments in the comments published at the time of writing this post.
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, democratic measures, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, electoral structures, ethnicity, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, IMF, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, life stories, modernity & modernization, parliamentary elections, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, world events & processes
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