Someone had to say it

The past week was a showcase of talent, turbulence, and top-tier thievery. Our athletes sprinted past systemic neglect to bring home glory, airplane passengers reminded us that altitude kills etiquette, and in Paris, a group of thieves turned the world’s most famous museum into their personal playground. From triumphs to tragedies of manners, it’s been a week equal parts dazzling and dumbfounding. Let’s get into it.

Sri Lanka’s Got Talent, Just Not Support

Sri Lankan athletes have been bringing home multiple medals lately, proving, yet again, that raw talent isn’t what we lack. It’s the system that keeps tripping them at the starting line.

These are athletes who train on broken tracks, wear secondhand shoes, and still outrun the odds. But when it comes to recognition, funding, or even basic facilities, they’re left panting. Meanwhile, the same officials who forget to pay their allowances somehow find the budget for “study tours” abroad.

It’s almost poetic how Sri Lanka can produce world-class athletes with third-world support.

Last Word: We don’t need another Facebook post saying “proud moment for Sri Lanka.” We need a system that makes being proud the norm, not the miracle.

The Mile-High Mess

Every flight these days feels less like air travel and more like a social experiment in who can forget basic manners first. You’ve got people clipping their nails mid-air, taking off shoes like it’s their personal living room, reclining seats straight into your face mid-meal, and using the aisle like a yoga mat.

And let’s not even start on the passengers who stand up the second the plane lands, as if sprinting to the overhead bins will somehow make immigration move faster. Spoiler: it won’t.

Somewhere along the way, we stopped treating planes like shared spaces and started behaving like they’re extensions of our bedrooms, minus the hygiene, apparently.

Last Word: Air travel used to be glamorous. Now it’s just a flying reminder that common sense doesn’t come with your boarding pass.

Paris, Power Tools, and a Priceless Mess

Only in France could a group of thieves pull off a jewel heist in broad daylight - from the Louvre, no less - and still manage to expose a national security meltdown more embarrassing than the actual theft.

Four men showed up at the world’s most-visited museum armed with power tools, climbed a balcony like it was a Mission Impossible audition, and made off with €88 million worth of royal jewels. They were in and out in four minutes. No alarms, no heroics, no cameras working in a third of the rooms. Just a mechanical lift, some scooters, and what I can only describe as audacity in its purest form.

Authorities say two suspects have been caught - one at the airport, trying to flee to Algeria, and the other to Mali - but the jewels? Probably long gone, melted, cut, or sold to someone who thinks “vintage” means “stolen with flair.”

Last Word: When you can rob the Louvre with a ladder and leave France with a PR disaster, maybe the real priceless artefact here is common sense.

Until next week, aim high, act right, and if you’re planning a heist, maybe start with cleaning your conscience.
- Rihaab