OF MAGIC & MADNESS
Citizen data server? More like a data supermarket
It's frightening to think citizens' private data is being sold through hundreds of social media pages and groups
Why does a six-day holiday feel too good to be true?
This is apparently the longest holiday that journalists have ever gotten in the history of Bangladesh’s newspaper industry.
Who will restrain prices in the month of restraint?
If the government really wants to control or bring down prices during Ramadan and afterwards, it must be willing to go after its 'own people.'
‘Will you be my Valentine?’ and other expensive offers
In the end, love is a personal matter and it should remain so, regardless of how it comes out on February 14 and in the days that follow.
Opinion / Word of the Election Year: Dummy
Politicians provided a steady supply of obnoxious, potentially title-winning examples
Opinion / Can BNP survive the pre-election meltdown?
BNP's retreat to the back foot amid mass arrests and convictions was as remarkable as it was rapid.
Voters without choice are just glorified dummies
You’ve already met the dummy candidates, aka independents. Now, meet dummy voters.
Polls schedule is not a cut-off point for dialogue
Without political reconciliations, we're headed for another violent, one-sided election
If my buying capacity triples and I don’t know it, does it still count?
Apparently, it does. According to the state-run Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). And according to Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud.
A citizen’s manifesto for Election Commission
In his first media briefing on February 28, 2022, the newly sworn-in Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal ticked almost all the right boxes.
The CEC Is Gone, Long Live the CEC!
Let me begin with the story of a thought experiment. I did this experiment with a concept known as perspective-taking.
How to read the Sinha murder verdict
For the government, the timing of the Sinha murder verdict on January 31 couldn’t have been worse, with increasing global scrutiny following a US sanction on RAB over allegations of human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings.
The story of the middle class you’re never told
What is the picture that flashes through your mind when someone talks of social classes? A reader of The Guardian newspaper once made an interesting albeit highly generalised observation.
When faith is a weapon, don’t be surprised by who wields it
A dramatic turn of events since the March 17 attack on Hindu villagers in Sunamganj’s Shalla Upazila has been reshaping the narrative on the culpability of potential actors and, by extension, the politics of communal violence in Bangladesh.
What’s Eating Quader Mirza?
How well do you follow the headlines of your newspapers? If one were to run a quiz to see how well the readers of The Daily Star stack up against each other, the question that is most likely to be at the top of the list would be about the name that appeared most in the headlines of our central pages over the last week.
The road to development is ‘always’ under construction
What is the first image that comes to your mind when you think of the word “development”? I see an image of a signboard, and it’s about the Metro Rail (MRT Line-6) being constructed in Mirpur, connecting different parts of the metropolis.
Kindness can heal what blind faith cannot
I remember there was a time when, owing to my youthful naiveté, I would think that living is more than surviving.
First transgender madrasa: Let it be the spark for a social revolution
On Friday, November 6, the first madrasa for transgender Muslims in Bangladesh was opened in Dhaka through a private initiative.
