Thoughts

Thoughts

Photos: Md Iqbal Hossain

The de-commonisation of the Brahmaputra: A call for transformative governance

As climate change and competing national interests intensify, the Brahmaputra needs cooperative, transboundary governance that treats the river as a shared common rather than a contested resource

An enormous concentration of concrete infrastructure in the deltaic landscape of earthquake-prone Bangladesh makes Dhaka a highly risky place to live. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

This city is no longer mine

Photo: TBS/File

Rethinking Bangladesh’s economic ties with the US as it turns 250

In Bangladesh, where social protection coverage is limited even for formal workers, platform workers are almost entirely excluded from health insurance, employment injury benefits, and pensions. 

ILO Convention on Decent Work in the Platform Economy, 2026: A changemaking blueprint for Bangladesh 

Bangladesh's girls value family as much as ever, yet for nearly half, marriage comes before they can choose

Bangladesh's girls value family as much as ever, yet for nearly half, marriage comes before they can choose

For many of the successful small business enterprises, accessing bank finance remains out of reach without land as collateral. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain 

Funding the unfundable: What Bangladesh's banks still cannot see

Despite the dominance of Argentina and Brazil in both the marketplace and popular culture, Portugal supporters may occupy only a small corner of the consumer market, but they are not voiceless. Photo: Collected.

Football fandom, consumer culture, and the politics of visibility

Delisting is not the solution: Inquiry, accountability and investor protection must come first

Delisting is not the solution: Inquiry, accountability and investor protection must come first

Illustration: TBS

The hidden cost of being a woman in Bangladesh

A messy diffusion of power centres seems to be the cloud hanging over the 250th anniversary of the US. Photo: Reuters

At 250, the US is at a crossroads at home and abroad

The gold that tripled over the past decade did not climb on jewellery or vague fear; it climbed on Chinese money. Photo: UNB

Is gold a good investment?

Illustration: TBS

From promises to performance: Why Bangladesh needs a delivery state

Photo: AI generated

Fandom morphs into misogyny in Bangladesh's unsporting spectacles