The orphan economy
There are at least six different parties and groups giving their own views about the state of the economy and the required direction of policies, and their viewpoints differ drastically…
Berlusconi gives up on mafia-tainted vote-getter
Engaged in a uphill struggle to close the gap on front-running centre-left rivals ahead of next month's elections, former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has sacrificed a powerful but scandal-prone…
Growing strength or brewing disaster?
Pakistan has posted a current account surplus amounting $250 million during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year (2012-13) as against a deficit of $2.4 billion in the…
Purple bamboo
The early morning mist hangs heavy. Seemingly light and ephemeral, it smothers the ground and hangs heavy on the soul too. No one knows when it will lift its burden.…
Enter through the narrow gate
“The sun came up upon the left, out of the sea came he! And he shone bright, and on the right went down into the sea.” Thus began the southward…
The Congress and the ‘middle class’
Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as the Congress Party’s vice-president was an organisational non-event. He was already functioning as its Number Two, and dynastically destined to succeed his mother. The appointment’s significance…
The new kingmaker
Since the return to Pakistan last month of the Tehreek-e-Minhaj-ul-Quran (TMQ) chief, Tahirul Qadri, strange things have happened in unexpected ways. A political analyst, thinking loudly, quoted William Cowper’s 1773…
Changing mindsets
When Sheema Kermani launched her play Zehreela Dhooan, she probably didn’t realise how formidable would be her battle against the cigarette. In this play a cast of eight earnest people…
Winds of change (Part III)
The traumatic recent developments involving the long march to Islamabad of over a hundred thousand persons expressing their deep frustrations at the present political system reflect the agony of the…
Wanted: a magic wand
Ambition is a perfectly legitimate gene within the political DNA. Without ambition it would be almost impossible for anyone except a saint to suffer the dross, ennui and heartless envy…
