Vir Sanghvi

The real problem with Section 377 is not that it doesn’t work, or that it is misused or that it ignores centuries of same-sex love. The problem is that it extends the scope of the law beyond what is necessary or legitimate in a liberal society. Allow the police to decide what two homosexuals can do in their bedroom and you have no logically consistent reason for refusing to let them decide what two heterosexuals can get up to, writes Vir Sanghvi.

Unlike other great black performers, Jackson fused theatre with music. Nobody else had ever used so many props or hired magicians to invent stage illusions on that scale. Without Jackson’s concerts, we would have never had a Madonna or her dancing style of performing, nor would we have had today’s concerts where most performers recognise that theatre is as important as rock, writes Vir Sanghvi.

The rebels are united by their conviction that Advani, having run the party like an extension of his family, is now trying to ensure that his cronies continue to run the party in perpetuity. Vir Sanghvi writes.

I am continually surprised by how normal middle class people, who are not especially politically aware, seem to be so relieved because of the Congress victory. Not only are there no tears for the BJP but fewer middle class people seem to identify with it any longer. Vir Sanghvi writes.

The problem with the BJP and the reason why it gropes for old issues to blow up again and again is that it is a party with no core beliefs. Nobody is really sure what it stands for any longer. Vir Sanghvi examines.

Family-dominated politics is a closed shop. Entry is open only to those with the right credentials of birth. Outsiders are banned from entering. And slowly but surely, true democracy is replaced by a kind of feudalism in which the peasants are given the right to choose between various aristocrats. The peasants can never enter the ruling class because the wrong blood flows in their veins, writes Vir Sanghvi.

Rahul has shown us that there is a new aspirational young India out there, looking for new answers and new methods. He reached out to those voters even as the Mayawatis and Amar Singhs were playing their own sleazy games, writes Vir Sanghvi.

All opinion polls suggest that the average Pakistani hates India, loves Osama bin Laden and believes that 9/11 was a Jewish plot to malign global Islam. Worse still, the evidence suggests that if you push the Pakistani masses about their true identity they would pick Muslim over Pakistani. Do you have to be a genius to see that the good neighbour policy has been an utter and complete disaster? Vir Sanghvi examines...

Despite the global recession and the dip in Dubai’s fortunes, Atlantis is on target and had record April revenues. Alan Leibman, President of Atlantis, attributes some of this to the unique nature of the property. It is three things in one: a luxury resort, a water park and a collection of fine restaurants and night clubs. Vir Sanghvi tells more...

What angers me the most about the Mangalore attack is that the agenda is not really anti-alcohol or about any concern for India’s cultural traditions. It is about controlling women, writes Vir Sanghvi.

Even if we accept Zardari’s claim about non-State actors, there’s still a lot that Pakistan can do to help us. Nor is this unprecedented: it does more every day for the US. Vir Sanghvi elaborates.

There are many things wrong with the Third Front but here’s the one that worries me the most: these people have no unifying ideology, they have no vision of India, and in many cases, they don’t even have a sense of India outside of their own states, writes Vir Sanghvi.

For Dr Manmohan Singh, the deal is not about America or about military might. It is about energy for India's development needs, writes Vir Sanghvi.

Our response to the Beijing Olympics is far too complex to be caricatured as support or opposition. Nearly all of us empathise with the Tibetans, writes Vir Sanghvi.

If you are a poor man, struggling to make a living in the big city, worst of all, a driver, expect no respect at all, writes Vir Sanghvi.