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The just-concluded Rajya Sabha elections have made some changes to the seating arrangements in the Upper House. Maybe some weeping of tears and gnashing of teeth, too. But ‘Bua Mayawati’ must not be among those weeping tears. She is the gnashing of teeth sort. ‘Bhatija Akhilesh’ was tested in Friday’s Rajya Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh — especially after the aunt had done a favour to the nephew and made him victor in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls — and the red-hatted boy-marvel failed her.

It may sound ludicrous that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is working on the modalities to stage a comeback to the Mahagathbandhan. In view of the acute hostility between JD(U) and RJD and the mudslinging between the leaders of the two parties, this appears to be a remote possibility. But it is a known fact that Nitish can go to any extent for the sake of his political survival.

Predictions that Facebook will go out of business in the not too distant future appear more realistic than ever before, with the once darling of social media increasingly getting into trouble with regulators for its unsustainable business model. There have been a number of forecasts that predicted its doom from time to time, the time range cited generally being 5 to 20 years. Facebook predecessors such as Yahoo and MySpace have nearly perished, although they continue to be around as a pale shadow of what they used to be. With its popularity among teens and young adults dropping consistently, Facebook has, however, managed to prolong its longevity by introducing new features and functionalities, but recent developments suggest that its inevitable demise looms larger on the horizon now.

Now that US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on a host of Chinese goods worth some $60 billion and kicked off responses the world over, unpredictability has given way to some vague predictability. One can safely say that countries will react, currencies will realign, financial markets would be in turmoil and global growth prospects somewhat dim. Unless, of course, the principal target of all the rhetoric and actions of the US president remains somewhat submissive. From the first reaction, that seems not too unlikely.

Each plenary session of the Congress has sent a message for the people. Perhaps, the most important one was when the Congress completed 100 years of its existence. The centenary plenum was held in Bombay in June, 1985 where Rajiv Gandhi, who headed the Congress and was Prime Minister, made his famous “power broker” speech. The Bombay plenary was held when the Congress was at the peak, with Rajiv Gandhi having got highest ever—over 400 seats—in the Lok Sabha and ruled most of states.

A report on financial status of Indian Railways presented with the General Budget 2018-19 on February 1, 2018 in Parliament paints dismal picture of its financial health indicating that the railways have to remain financially viable on borrowed money from market and other sources. As a result of merger of Railways budget with the General Budget since 2017-18, Railways escaped dedicated media focus and for that matter public scrutiny of its overall functioning altogether, the casualty being the impugned report on its financial status from public notice. That is how Indian Railways have lost its sheen in public glare. It comes on the fore in public domain only when accidents take place with heavy casualties.

After nearly six months of haggling, the three-party German coalition puck is in the goal box. The suspense is over. For the fourth time in a row the country will again be run by Angela Merkel.

Nearly three years since Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader, his standing has drastically changed. His opponents in the parliamentary party are a lot quieter. The Labour Party apparatus is at last being reshaped to match the new reality. Recent polls indicate Labour has a real chance of winning a general election.

Is it possible to fix Indian elections using data from Facebook? It depends funnily enough on who wins, and which party loses! Post-2014, chances that Facebook data helped was certain; post-Bihar gatbandhan, the view was the opposite – ‘no, hardly likely’. Post-Donald Trump’s election, ‘you’re damn right’; Ditto Brexit – the ‘leavers’ raided FB with help from Cambridge Analytica cat burglars.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has an objective-type question for the people of India. It is regarding China and its desire to occupy Doklam. Reports are that China is opening up a new route to reach south Doklam and put India and Bhutan in jeopardy. The Congress President, who everybody knows lacks a funny bone, has attempted to inject humour in an issue that is very serious and of considerable national strategic interest.