Three things

1] The Awami League government's desire to create a Digital Bangladesh progresses. It has just been announced that a new bill will be introduced that allows people to transfer money via mobile phones from anywhere within the country, even from the remotest regions. The implications for this are enormous and need to be tracked. Further confirmation that the mobile phone has been the most influential new technology in contemporary society.

2] I have just marked an Honour's Thesis about representations of women in Bangladesh, which is quite excellent. Of particular interest is a section on Acid Attack victims. What surprised me is the fact that this vile action is of very recent origin, probably beginning in the 1980s.

3] The other day I found myself taking a short cut on the wrong side of the road to speed up a trip I was making. Other drivers were quite rightly very annoyed and I realised that I was driving like a Dhaka driver. So it was with interest that I read in The Daily Star about the attempts to improve traffic flows in Dhaka. I have always maintained that one of the main reasons for the terrible jams on the Dhaka roads is the Dhaka drivers' utter disregard for the laws of the road. Yesterday's headline was "Driving remains willy nilly". Today (10/12/2009) it is "New traffic rules show some hopes" as drivers begin to obey the rules for fear of penalty. It should have happened years ago!