It was the winter of 1995, or maybe 1996. Let me only say that it was a memorable moment for me, a quarter of a century ago in the city of Dhaka.

Among the flurry of e-messages (including a surprise “phishing” one), there was one worthy nugget available in my year-ending inbox: a random warning about not writing the year 2020 in short format.

As part of a class assignment last semester a group of architecture students asked me a question: what makes a city inspiring?

As we enter the new year of 2020, we are in fact making a very significant transition when it comes to the issue of climate change.

Following a rather relatively quiet national elections in December 2018, the year 2019 began with the hope of doing better in economic fronts.

I am sitting at my desk, with a hot cup of tea, peering out at the foggy winter morning enveloping the placid Gulshan Lake.

2019 has seen a significant drop in the number of journalists being killed—49 as against the annual average of 80 journalists killed for the past two decades. The annual report by Reporters Without Borders, known better by their French initials RSF (Reporters Sans Frontières), termed this figure “historically low”.

I was explaining the apocalyptic fear in Blake’s poetry to my students. To offer a contemporary example, I mentioned the Y2K software problem that led to global panic responses, almost creating a doomsday scenario at the turn of the century.

Two recent trade pacts—one between the US and China, and the other among US, Mexico and Canada—have given the economists plenty of reasons to worry.

As this is my last column for 2019, I am going to share some of its highlights and also my verdict on the year as well as some reflections on the next year and the next decade.

The year 2019 was a year of highs and lows for Bangladesh’s RMG sector. On balance, it was a year of positivity. However, it would be naïve to ignore the fact that things were not all plain sailing and that there is a great deal of work to be done as we enter the new decade.

have recently written articles focusing on two of Bangladesh’s competitors in the global apparel sourcing industry: Vietnam and, to a lesser extent, Ethiopia. I believe it is healthy to discuss the competition and hopefully all these countries can together spur each other onto greater things.

If we were to describe the global garment and textile industry as a three-horse race, China would be out in front with two other horses fast closing in.

As we draw closer to pulling the curtain on 2019, it is an opportune moment for self-analysing ourselves.

Everyone knows you are the sharpest officer, but be prepared to put “Maj. (Retd.)” before your name once you hang up your uniform for good. Ok, maybe not. Since you stand out so much from the rest, you’ll advance further, to the rank of Lt. Col., tops. Ok? Now go, finish up your staff college and be happy with “PSC” at the end of your name and stop dreaming of adding an NDC (National Defense College) on your business card.

Legend has it: the black magician Doctor Faustus sold his soul to devil in exchange of 24 years of earthly knowledge and pleasure.

There is much talk of Ethiopia as the next “go to” apparel sourcing location right now, but how much is hearsay and how much should the Bangladesh Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry fear this new rival needs scrutiny.

While witness-ing chaos unfolding in India over the newly passed Citizenship Amendment Act (ACC), I could not help but think about Amartya Sen’s bestseller The Argumentative Indian, a book that invokes the rich Indian tradition of scepticism and heterodoxy, and discusses how this has facilitated the flourishing of the world’s largest democracy.

The 25th Conference of Parties (COP25) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) started on December 2 and was due to finish after about two weeks, on December 13 (Friday).

Every time I travel to a developed country, I observe new ways of doing things. I find that human interaction has become unnecessary in getting services.