Features

Stepping into Physiotherapy at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital

Published

3 years ago

2023/04/30

Thilina Walpola

Royal Orthopaedic Hospital

Excerpted from Memories that Linger: My Journey in the World of Disability
by Padmani Mendis

From Woodlands to Belmont

The move from nursing to physiotherapy would take a walk of perhaps 500 metres north on the Bristol Road to “Belmont”. This magnificent old building housed the School of Physiotherapy of the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital or ROH. It provided also space for a boarding to accommodate the first-year students who had completed their two years training as an Orthopaedic Nurse. For the following two years, the second-year physiotherapy students – if we had got that far – would move to “Bella Vista” a very large sprawling house situated south on the Bristol Road, at the further end of Northfield Village.

Both houses were leased by the ROH. These two were within walking distance of each other and of the ROH. This made for a considerable saving on bus fares for us who were now impoverished. As nurses we had handsome monthly allowances and now we had none. Sterling pounds ten in the first year and twelve in the second year allowed for rather luxurious expenses taking into account that food and lodging was on the house.

My colleagues had now to depend on their parents for a small allowance. I was better off than them with the ten pounds the Controller of Exchange of the Central Bank of Ceylon generously allowed my mother to send me every month. On particularly cold and foggy winter nights I could afford the luxury of a bus ride from Belmont to Bella Vista.

A Link with Cadburys

Belmont, so it was said, belonged to the Cadbury’s – the very same entrepreneurial family responsible for the chocolates enjoyed the world over. Belmont had rather extensive gardens, but this was apparently only a very tiny part of the Cadbury Estate. We also believed that the seemingly large property next door was where some of the family lived. Beyond occasionally seeing a handsome young man driving a MG racing car or sometimes a Jaguar sports in through the gate, we saw nothing of the family that lived there.

The village of Bourneville which gives its name to Bourneville Cocoa, was within walking distance. We were taken there to the Cadbury’s Factory on formal visits on two occasions. To come away favoured with the Cadbury largesse including much of their signature Dairy Milk, and at that time, Cadbury Roses.

Living at Belmont

On arriving at Belmont we had to decide how we would allocate the accommodation available. Barbara and I raised our hands immediately asking to share a room. Our friends gave us the largest available and that was nice. The room was spacious and airy. It had a large fireplace, unused, but not for long. I had it soon filled with a dried arrangement I made using branches, twigs and leaves. I thought it looked quite pretty but Barbara turned up her nose at it. That made no difference. The arrangement was replenished when it asked for it and remained all through the year we spent together. There were, as I recall, another two double-rooms located in the upstairs of the main house which accommodated another four. All the others lived in what was called “The Stables” because that is what it had been used as by previous generations. Adapted for living by the ROH.

Besides a small annex for Miss Harrington our Warden and her cat, a kitchen to prepare our food and an area where we would dine, the rest of the space downstairs was occupied by the School. Oh, I forgot to mention that one of the rooms upstairs was used as a classroom. Looking back for the purpose of describing it to you here, it makes me think that the actual floor area of Belmont was relatively small. Which makes me wonder how do I have that illusion of space? Could it be that I was overawed by this whole new experience of independent living in Birmingham?

As nurses, our lives were protected under the close eye of Home Sister and others. It was lived within specified rules as for instance, of when we could come and go and so on. Here at Belmont we could come and go when we liked, asking Miss Harrington to please keep the door open for us. Looking back, it seems as though as a nurse our life outside the hospital was still as a nurse and guided by a certain ethic. Here we were just students. Free. Is that only how I, coming from a sheltered life in Colombo, felt? Or did my friends also feel the same way?

Miss Brenda Horsfall

Our first formal contact with physiotherapy – could I henceforth say physio? – was Miss Brenda Horsfall. Miss Horsfall was the Principal of the School. She was the first to come into our classroom, welcome us, and tell us what the next three years would basically be about. We all agreed she was an absolute “sweetie”. No other word could describe her uniquely calm and amiable appearance together with an inner charm and kindness. She would sort of lean towards one when she spoke because she was a little short of hearing. She always had the hint of a smile on her face even when she spoke, which made one always feel welcome. But make no bones about it, she was a stern disciplinarian when she needed to be.

She would teach us physiology and also pathology. I loved both subjects. Physiology taught us how the body works; that fascinated me then as it does now. To me that is a miracle of God’s creation. The first pathology lessons taught us how the body heals when it has been “abused” and that is basic to physio. The subject went on to teach us how the body changes with different diseases and what, if anything can be done about it. This was the foundation of physiotherapy in the various health conditions.

Miss Horsfall outlined to us how we would be spending the next three years and three months as physio students. Our course of study, successfully completed, would enable us to be Members of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy or CSP, UK. The first six months at Belmont would be taken up with classroom learning. After that we would start clinical work, going to various hospitals in the mornings and coming back to Belmont for classroom learning in the afternoons. We would have tutorials to do on a regular basis. We would have exams at the end of every term. At the end of 18 months we would sit for the Preliminary Examination of the CSP; after 30 months we would sit for the Intermediate of the CSP; and then in November 1963 the Final. Between the Intermediate and Final Exams, we would be doing full-time clinical work. The Final of the CSP would decide if we will be members of the esteemed CSP UK or have to sit the examination again.

Miss Eva Jahn

Miss Eva Jahn (pronounced Yarn) was as new to Belmont as we were. This formed between us an instantaneous common bond. Miss Jahn had just completed successfully the two-year Diploma in the Teaching of Physiotherapy at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital or QEH, the only other physio school in Birmingham. The Diploma was also conducted by the same esteemed CSP. It was Miss Jahn who would be “our” tutor during the length of our course. That is to say she assumed responsibility for us. We were “her batch”. Whether this was an implicit understanding or an explicit responsibility we never came to know. But did that really matter? She was there when we needed her.

Miss Jahn taught us anatomy. In the anatomy class I felt that I was a favourite. I learned it well. And when, at the Prelim of the CSP I earned a Credit I was written into her book. There was no award of Distinctions with the CSP, so Credits were the highest one could achieve.

Miss Jahn also taught us massage. Both the theory and the practice of massage. This was definitely not my favourite subject. To learn the practice of massage we worked in pairs, each using the other in turns as the guinea pig. That I did not like being touched on different parts of my body is putting it mildly. And Miss Jahn would imply that I was not good at massage, constantly correcting my techniques. She said my fingers were too flexible, the joints of my fingers stretching further back than they should. She said this probably had to do with the fact that I had Asian hands.

That reminded me this was the western type of massage. I disliked having to learn it all the more. Later, after I returned home my oldest brother who knew all this would introduce me as, “This is my sister Padi. She has been five years in England and is now qualified to give massage.” He said this with great pride. It was of course meant as a joke and he would soon correct his statement.

What we came to know later was that when she was still quite little, Miss Jahn together with her sisters had come to Birmingham to live with an aunt. This was during the time that Adolph Hitler was persecuting Jews in Germany. As with Matron Galbraith of Woodlands, Miss Jahn presented a stern exterior. At heart she was the kindest we could hope for in a teacher. She became a friend to each of her students. We were all very fond of Miss Jahn.

On being a Physio Student

And so, we settled down to the routine of being a physio student at Belmont. One new subject that physios had to acquire knowledge and skills in was “Kinesiology”.

This was the study of the body’s movement. Kinesiology started with learning mechanics and then applying that learning to the body. Mechanics some of us had learned in physics at school and that gave us a good start. Once we knew the theory of how the body moved, we went on to its application to therapeutic techniques in physio.

One may say that movement therapies are at the heart of physio. Kinesiology was therefore a very important subject in our curriculum. Miss Gilchrist taught it well and instilled in us an interest in it. The intricacy of the body’s movements has fascinated me ever since then. And even now, when I watch young people dance or a bricklayer at work, I ask myself, what is happening here and how? What joints and muscles are being used here and how?

Electrotherapy was very important in physio. Miss Amos was an enthusiastic teacher of all things electrical, starting with basic physics. At the beginning of the course Miss Amos was not quite happy with the fact that she could not teach me much that was new. Not that I showed it, but she knew that I knew. So she would try to catch me out when she could.

In one written tutorial related to forms of heat therapy, I had used the phrase “put the patient on heat”. She caught me out on that one. When she returned my tutorial she said to me, “in English we don’t say put a person on heat. Only female dogs go on heat.” She could not bring herself to use the “b” word. Miss Amos went on holiday at the end of one term and returned at the beginning of the next as Mrs. Moses.

The only addition to the original Belmont was a large hall extending from a side door on the ground floor. This we called the “Gym” because that is where we had what we called “Movement” classes. It was an adaptation of physical education that we had known at school. Here the buxom and blonde and delicious Mrs. Wall taught us to use exercises for therapeutic purposes. The exercises were in the form of classes – foot classes, shoulder classes, back classes and so on which we later used with individual patients.

There was time allocated for tennis. All the natives among us had played it at school so she used this time for a tennis tournament. She teamed the best player with the weakest. I was the second weakest. Gill, my partner and I, won the tournament. I thought that Gill played exceptionally well to earn us the prize.

Mrs. Wall took us to the pool at the ROH because learning swimming was also part of the physio curriculum. I told her repeatedly that I had learned to swim as a girl guide. She saw that I could swim quite well. And yet at the end of our swimming course she gave me a prize for having learned to swim. Mahin, Lyda and Barbara were the other prize winners. I still have the delicate little glass fish that she gave us as prizes. This amused our native friends so much that they never let us forget it. This experience was part of the “Beautiful Birmingham” that I wrote about.

From Learning to Practice

The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Outpatient Physio Department was housed in the middle of the city on the very “Broad Street”. It was extremely busy, always teeming with patients registering for physio. Most of them were after surgery at the ROH in Northfield. After they had their heat therapy and massage it was time for exercises.

The only way we could serve such large numbers was in a group or “class”. I took great delight in bringing 10 or 12 patients for the purpose at any one time for example, for a “foot class”. It was so enjoyable seating them together on a long bench or two and getting them, usually middle-aged, all with crooked toes and bunions to do exercises and activities with their toes. They would have to pick up with their toes and make patterns on the floor with sticks and stones and marbles and string and whatever one could lay one’s hands on, so the tiny muscles in their foot would be given a chance to get stronger.

Clinical Practice, or putting learning into practice and then building on that learning, was no doubt an excellent way of developing as a professional; it was also a most enjoyable one. Our schedules were so arranged that each one got the range of experience called for to enable us to practice as a qualified physio.

The ROH physio in-patient and outpatient departments gave us orthopaedic experience; and those at Selly Oak General Hospital not far away and the Birmingham General provided a wealth of experience in physio in neurological conditions, in medical chest conditions and in general health disorders.

The Yardley Green Chest Hospital was then using surgical interventions for the treatment of patients who had severe tuberculosis of the lungs. We were fortunate to have had experience in procedures such as thoracoplasty which involved removal of parts of the chest wall and of the lungs. Physio was becoming increasingly important in the surgical treatment of patients who had TB.

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Features

The US-China rivalry and challenges facing the South

Published

11 hours ago

2025/12/11

Sahan Weerasooriya

Prof. Neil DeVotta making his presentation at the RCSS.

The US-China rivalry could be said to make-up the ‘stuff and substance’ of world politics today but rarely does the international politics watcher and student of the global South in particular get the opportunity of having a balanced and comprehensive evaluation of this crucial relationship. But such a balanced assessment is vitally instrumental in making sense of current world power relations.

Thanks to the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS), Colombo the above window of opportunity was opened on December 8th for those sections of the public zealously pursuing an understanding of current issues in global politics. The knowledge came via a forum that was conducted at the RCSS titled, ‘The US-China Rivalry and Implications for the Indo-Pacific’, where Professor Neil DeVotta of the Wake Forest University of North Carolina in the US, featured as the speaker.

A widely representative audience was present at the forum, including senior public servants, the diplomatic corps, academics, heads of civil society organizations, senior armed forces personnel and the media. The event was ably managed by the Executive Director of the RCSS, retired ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha. Following the main presentation a lively Q&A session followed, where many a point of interest was aired and discussed.

While there is no doubt that China is fast catching up with the US with regard to particularly military, economic, scientific and technological capability, Prof. DeVotta helped to balance this standard projection of ‘China’s steady rise’ by pointing to some vital facts about China, the omission of which would amount to the observer having a somewhat uninformed perception of global political realities.

The following are some of the facts about contemporary China that were highlighted by Prof. DeVotta:

* Money is steadily moving out of China and the latter’ s economy is slowing down. In fact the country is in a ‘ Middle Income Trap’. That is, it has reached middle income status but has failed to move to upper income status since then.

* People in marked numbers are moving out of China. It is perhaps little known that some Chinese are seeking to enter the US with a view to living there. The fact is that China’s population too is on the decline.

* Although the private sector is operative in China, there has been an increase in Parastatals; that is, commercial organizations run by the state are also very much in the fore. In fact private enterprises have begun to have ruling Communist Party cells in them.

* China is at its ‘peak power’ but this fact may compel it to act ‘aggressively’ in the international sphere. For instance, it may be compelled to invade Taiwan.

* A Hard Authoritarianism could be said to characterize central power in China today, whereas the expectation in some quarters is that it would shift to a Soft Authoritarian system, as is the case in Singapore.

* China’s influence in the West is greater than it has ever been.

The speaker was equally revelatory about the US today. Just a few of these observations are:

* The US is in a ‘Unipolar Moment’. That is, it is the world’s prime power. Such positions are usually not longstanding but in the case of the US this position has been enjoyed by it for quite a while.

* China is seen by the US as a ‘Revisionist Power’ as opposed to being a ‘Status Quo Power.’ That is China is for changing the world system slowly.

* The US in its latest national security strategy is paying little attention to Soft Power as opposed to Hard Power.

* In terms of this strategy the US would not allow any single country to dominate the Asia-Pacific region.

* The overall tone of this strategy is that the US should step back and allow regional powers to play a greater role in international politics.

* The strategy also holds that the US must improve economic ties with India, but there is very little mention of China in the plan.

Given these observations on the current international situation, a matter of the foremost importance for the economically weakest countries of the South is to figure out how best they could survive materially within it. Today there is no cohesive and vibrant collective organization that could work towards the best interests of the developing world and Dr. DeVotta was more or less correct when he said that the Non-alignment Movement (NAM) has declined.

However, this columnist is of the view that rather being a spent force, NAM was allowed to die out by the South. NAM as an idea could never become extinct as long as economic and material inequalities between North and South exist. Needless to say, this situation is remaining unchanged since the eighties when NAM allowed itself to be a non-entity so to speak in world affairs.

The majority of Southern countries did not do themselves any good by uncritically embracing the ‘market economy’ as a panacea for their ills. As has been proved, this growth paradigm only aggravated the South’s development ills, except for a few states within its fold.

Considering that the US would be preferring regional powers to play a more prominent role in the international economy and given the US’ preference to be a close ally of India, the weakest of the South need to look into the possibility of tying up closely with India and giving the latter a substantive role in advocating the South’s best interests in the councils of the world.

To enable this to happen the South needs to ‘get organized’ once again. The main differences between the past and the present with regard to Southern affairs is that in the past the South had outstanding leaders, such as Jawaharlal Nehru of India, who could doughtily stand up for it. As far as this columnist could ascertain, it is the lack of exceptional leaders that in the main led to the decline of NAM and other South-centred organizations.

Accordingly, an urgent task for the South is to enable the coming into being of exceptional leaders who could work untiringly towards the realization of its just needs, such as economic equity. Meanwhile, Southern countries would do well to, indeed, follow the principles of NAM and relate cordially with all the major powers so as to realizing their best interests.

Features

Sri Lanka and Global Climate Emergency: Lessons of Cyclone Ditwah

Published

11 hours ago

2025/12/11

Sahan Weerasooriya

Floods caused by Cyclone Ditwah. (Image courtesy Vanni Hope)

Tropical Cyclone Ditwah, which made landfall in Sri Lanka on 28 November 2025, is considered the country’s worst natural disaster since the deadly 2004 tsunami. It intensified the northeast monsoon, bringing torrential rainfall, massive flooding, and 215 severe landslides across seven districts. The cyclone left a trail of destruction, killing nearly 500 people, displacing over a million, destroying homes, roads, and railway lines, and disabling critical infrastructure including 4,000 transmission towers. Total economic losses are estimated at USD 6–7 billion—exceeding the country’s foreign reserves.

The Sri Lankan Armed Forces have led the relief efforts, aided by international partners including India and Pakistan. A Sri Lanka Air Force helicopter crashed in Wennappuwa, killing the pilot and injuring four others, while five Sri Lanka Navy personnel died in Chundikkulam in the north while widening waterways to mitigate flooding. The bravery and sacrifice of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces during this disaster—as in past disasters—continue to be held in high esteem by grateful Sri Lankans.

The Sri Lankan government, however, is facing intense criticism for its handling of Cyclone Ditwah, including failure to heed early warnings available since November 12, a slow and poorly coordinated response, and inadequate communication with the public. Systemic issues—underinvestment in disaster management, failure to activate protocols, bureaucratic neglect, and a lack of coordination among state institutions—are also blamed for avoidable deaths and destruction.

The causes of climate disasters such as Cyclone Ditwah go far beyond disaster preparedness. Faulty policymaking, mismanagement, and decades of unregulated economic development have eroded the island’s natural defenses. As climate scientist Dr. Thasun Amarasinghe notes:

“Sri Lankan wetlands—the nation’s most effective natural flood-control mechanism—have been bulldosed, filled, encroached upon, and sold. Many of these developments were approved despite warnings from environmental scientists, hydrologists, and even state institutions.”

Sri Lanka’s current vulnerabilities also stem from historical deforestation and plantation agriculture associated with colonial-era export development. Forest cover declined from 82% in 1881 to 70% in 1900, and to 54–50% by 1948, when British rule ended. It fell further to 44% in 1954 and to 16.5% by 2019.

Deforestation contributes an estimated 10–12% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Beyond removing a vital carbon sink, it damages water resources, increases runoff and erosion, and heightens flood and landslide risk. Soil-depleting monocrop agriculture further undermines traditional multi-crop systems that regenerate soil fertility, organic matter, and biodiversity.

In Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands, which were battered by Cyclone Ditwah, deforestation and unregulated construction had destabilised mountain slopes. Although high-risk zones prone to floods and landslides had long been identified, residents were not relocated, and construction and urbanisation continued unchecked.

Sri Lanka was the first country in Asia to adopt neoliberal economic policies. With the “Open Economy” reforms of 1977, a capitalist ideology equating human well-being with quantitative growth and material consumption became widespread. Development efforts were rushed, poorly supervised, and frequently approved without proper environmental assessment.

Privatisation and corporate deregulation weakened state oversight. The recent economic crisis and shrinking budgets further eroded environmental and social protections, including the maintenance of drainage networks, reservoirs, and early-warning systems. These forces have converged to make Sri Lanka a victim of a dual climate threat: gradual environmental collapse and sudden-onset disasters.

Sri Lanka: A Climate Victim

Sri Lanka’s carbon emissions remain relatively small but are rising. The impact of climate change on the island, however, is immense. Annual mean air temperature has increased significantly in recent decades (by 0.016 °C annually between 1961 and 1990). Sea-level rise has caused severe coastal erosion—0.30–0.35 meters per year—affecting nearly 55% of the shoreline. The 2004 tsunami demonstrated the extreme vulnerability of low-lying coastal plains to rising seas.

The Cyclone Ditwah catastrophe was neither wholly new nor surprising. In 2015, the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) identified Sri Lanka as the South Asian country with the highest relative risk of disaster-related displacement: “For every million inhabitants, 15,000 are at risk of being displaced every year.”

IDMC also noted that in 2017 the country experienced seven disaster events—mainly floods and landslides—resulting in 135,000 new displacements and that Sri Lanka “is also at risk for slow-onset impacts such as soil degradation, saltwater intrusion, water scarcity, and crop failure”.

Sri Lanka ranked sixth among countries most affected by extreme weather events in 2018 (Germanwatch) and second in 2019 (Global Climate Risk Index). Given these warnings, Cyclone Ditwah should not have been a surprise. Scientists have repeatedly cautioned that warmer oceans fuel stronger cyclones and warmer air holds more moisture, leading to extreme rainfall. As the Ceylon Today editorial of December 1, 2025 also observed:

“…our monsoons are no longer predictable. Cyclones form faster, hit harder, and linger longer. Rainfall becomes erratic, intense, and destructive. This is not a coincidence; it is a pattern.”

Without urgent action, even more extreme weather events will threaten Sri Lanka’s habitability and physical survival.

A Global Crisis

Extreme weather events—droughts, wildfires, cyclones, and floods—are becoming the global norm. Up to 1.2 billion people could become “climate refugees” by 2050. Global warming is disrupting weather patterns, destabilising ecosystems, and posing severe risks to life on Earth. Indonesia and Thailand were struck by the rare and devastating Tropical Cyclone Senyar in late November 2025, occurring simultaneously with Cyclone Ditwah’s landfall in Sri Lanka.

More than 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions—and nearly 90% of carbon emissions—come from burning coal, oil, and gas, which supply about 80% of the world’s energy. Countries in the Global South, like Sri Lanka, which contribute least to greenhouse gas emissions, are among the most vulnerable to climate devastation. Yet wealthy nations and multilateral institutions, including the World Bank, continue to subsidise fossil fuel exploration and production. Global climate policymaking—including COP 30 in Belém, Brazil, in 2025—has been criticised as ineffectual and dominated by fossil fuel interests.

If the climate is not stabilised, long-term planetary forces beyond human control may be unleashed. Technology and markets are not inherently the problem; rather, the issue lies in the intentions guiding them. The techno-market worldview, which promotes the belief that well-being increases through limitless growth and consumption, has contributed to severe economic inequality and more frequent extreme weather events. The climate crisis, in turn, reflects a profound mismatch between the exponential expansion of a profit-driven global economy and the far slower evolution of human consciousness needed to uphold morality, compassion, generosity and wisdom.

Sri Lanka’s 2025–26 budget, adopted on November 14, 2025—just as Cyclone Ditwah loomed—promised subsidised land and electricity for companies establishing AI data centers in the country.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told Parliament: “Don’t come questioning us on why we are giving land this cheap; we have to make these sacrifices.”

Yet Sri Lanka is a highly water-stressed nation, and a growing body of international research shows that AI data centers consume massive amounts of water and electricity, contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.

The failure of the narrow, competitive techno-market approach underscores the need for an ecological and collective framework capable of addressing the deeper roots of this existential crisis—both for Sri Lanka and the world.

A landslide in Sri Lanka (AFP picture)

Ecological and Human Protection

Ecological consciousness demands

recognition that humanity is part of the Earth, not separate from it. Policies to address climate change must be grounded in this understanding, rather than in worldviews that prize infinite growth and technological dominance. Nature has primacy over human-created systems: the natural world does not depend on humanity, while humanity cannot survive without soil, water, air, sunlight, and the Earth’s essential life-support systems.

Although a climate victim today, Sri Lanka is also home to an ancient ecological civilization dating back to the arrival of the Buddhist monk Mahinda Thera in the 3rd century BCE. Upon meeting King Devanampiyatissa, who was out hunting in Mihintale, Mahinda Thera delivered one of the earliest recorded teachings on ecological interdependence and the duty of rulers to protect nature:

“O great King, the birds of the air and the beasts of the forest have as much right to live and move about in any part of this land as thou. The land belongs to the people and all living beings; thou art only its guardian.”

A stone inscription at Mihintale records that the king forbade the killing of animals and the destruction of trees. The Mihintale Wildlife Sanctuary is believed to be the world’s first.

Sri Lanka’s ancient dry-zone irrigation system—maintained over more than a millennium—stands as a marvel of sustainable development. Its network of interconnected reservoirs, canals, and sluices captured monsoon waters, irrigated fields, controlled floods, and even served as a defensive barrier. Floods occurred, but historical records show no disasters comparable in scale, severity, or frequency to those of today. Ancient rulers, including the legendary reservoir-builder King Parākramabāhu, and generations of rice farmers managed their environment with remarkable discipline and ecological wisdom.

The primacy of nature became especially evident when widespread power outages and the collapse of communication networks during Cyclone Ditwah forced people to rely on one another for survival. The disaster ignited spontaneous acts of compassion and solidarity across all communities—men and women, rich and poor, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, and Hindus. Local and international efforts mobilized to rescue, shelter, feed, and emotionally support those affected. These actions demonstrated a profound human instinct for care and cooperation, often filling vacuums left by formal emergency systems.

Yet spontaneous solidarity alone is insufficient. Sri Lanka urgently needs policies on sustainable development, environmental protection, and climate resilience. These include strict, science-based regulation of construction; protection of forests and wetlands; proper maintenance of reservoirs; and climate-resilient infrastructure. Schools should teach environmental literacy that builds unity and solidarity, rather than controversial and divisive curriculum changes like the planned removal of history and introduction of contested modules on gender and sexuality.

If the IMF and international creditors—especially BlackRock, Sri Lanka’s largest sovereign bondholder, valued at USD 13 trillion—are genuinely concerned about the country’s suffering, could they not cancel at least some of Sri Lanka’s sovereign debt and support its rebuilding efforts? Addressing the climate emergency and the broader existential crisis facing Sri Lanka and the world ultimately requires an evolution in human consciousness guided by morality, compassion, generosity and wisdom. (Courtesy: IPS NEWS)

Dr Asoka Bandarage is the author of Colonialism in Sri Lanka: The Political Economy of the Kandyan Highlands, 1833-1886 (Mouton) Women, Population and Global Crisis: A Politico-Economic Analysis (Zed Books), The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka: Terrorism, Ethnicity, Political Economy, ( Routledge), Sustainability and Well-Being: The Middle Path to Environment, Society and the Economy (Palgrave MacMillan) Crisis in Sri Lanka and the World: Colonial and Neoliberal Origins, Ecological and Collective Alternatives (De Gruyter) and numerous other publications. She serves on the Advisory Boards of the Interfaith Moral Action on Climate and Critical Asian Studies.

Features

Cliff and Hank recreate golden era of ‘The Young Ones’

Published

11 hours ago

2025/12/11

Sahan Weerasooriya

Cliff Richard and Hank Marvin’s reunion concert at the Riverside Theatre in Perth, Australia, on 01 November, 2025, was a night to remember.

The duo, who first performed together in the 1950s as part of The Shadows, brought the house down with their classic hits and effortless chemistry.

The concert, part of Cliff’s ‘Can’t Stop Me Now’ tour, featured iconic songs like ‘Summer Holiday’, ‘The Young Ones’, ‘Bachelor Boy’, ‘Living Doll’ and a powerful rendition of ‘Mistletoe and Wine.’

Cliff, 85, and Hank, with his signature red Fender Stratocaster, proved that their music and friendship are timeless.

According to reports, the moment the lights dimmed and the first chords of ‘Move It’ rang out, the crowd knew they were in for something extraordinary.

Backed by a full band, and surrounded by dazzling visuals, Cliff strode onto the stage in immaculate form – energetic and confident – and when Hank Marvin joined him mid-set, guitar in hand, the audience erupted in applause that shook the hall.

Together they launched into ‘The Young Ones’, their timeless 1961 hit which brought the crowd to its feet, with many in attendance moved to tears.

The audience was treated to a journey through time, with vintage film clips and state-of-the-art visuals adding to the nostalgic atmosphere.

Highlights of the evening included Cliff’s powerful vocals, Hank’s distinctive guitar riffs, and their playful banter on stage.

Cliff posing for The Island photographer … February,
2007

Cliff paused between songs to reflect on their shared journey saying:

“It’s been a lifetime of songs, memories, and friendship. Hank and I started this adventure when we were just boys — and look at us now, still up here making noise!”

As the final chords of ‘Congratulations’ filled the theatre, the crowd rose for a thunderous standing ovation that lasted several minutes.

Cliff waved, Hank gave a humble bow, and, together, they left the stage, arm-in-arm, to the refrain of “We’re the young ones — and we always will be.”

Reviews of the show were glowing, with fans and critics alike praising the duo’s energy, camaraderie, and enduring talent.

Overall, the Cliff Richard and Hank Marvin reunion concert was a truly special experience, celebrating the music and friendship that has captivated audiences for decades.

When Cliff Richard visited Sri Lanka, in February, 2007, I was invited to meet him, in his suite, at a hotel, in Colombo, and I presented him with my music page, which carried his story, and he was impressed.

In return, he personally autographed a souvenir for me … that was Cliff Richard, a truly wonderful human being.