Let’s start with an interesting one!

You have an orders table:
order_id | customer_id | order_date | amount
---------|-------------|------------|-------
1 | 101 | 2026-01-05 | 500
2 | 102 | 2026-01-07 | 300
3 | 101 | 2026-01-20 | 700
4 | 103 | 2026-02-02 | 400
5 | 102 | 2026-02-10 | 600
6 | 101 | 2026-03-15 | 200
7 | 102 | 2026-03-18 | 800
8 | 103 | 2026-03-25 | 500
9 | 101 | 2026-04-01 | 900

Challenge 🎯
For each customer, find their longest gap in days between two consecutive orders.

Your output should contain:
customer_id
previous_order_date
next_order_date
gap_days

There’s a catch: If a customer has multiple gaps tied for their longest gap, return all of them.

For example, if a customer’s orders were:
Jan 1 → Jan 10 → Jan 19
Both gaps are 9 days, so both should be returned.
Rules
Don’t hardcode customer IDs.
Only compare consecutive orders.
Return all ties.
Try solving it without a self-join. 👀
Bonus: Can you solve it without using a CTE?
Drop your SQL approach below! If someone has already solved it, try finding a different approach. 👇

This is something I’ve been thinking about lately.

Whenever something goes wrong—paper leaks, corruption, unfulfilled manifesto promises, policy failures—the first response is often a protest. While peaceful protest is a fundamental democratic right, I wonder whether we’re focusing more on prevention than on a lasting solution.

Our elected representatives take an oath to uphold the Constitution. Shouldn’t they also be held accountable through constitutional and legal mechanisms?
What if, instead of stopping at protests, citizens and civil society:
Documented broken manifesto promises and governance failures.
Collected evidence through RTIs and public data.
Filed PILs or other legal actions where appropriate.
Used constitutional institutions to demand accountability.

A protest says, **“This is wrong.”**

A legal and constitutional challenge asks, **“You had a duty to act. Why didn’t you, and what are the consequences?”**

Protests are important part of any democracy. But should they be the primary response? Or should we invest more effort in evidence-based, constitutional accountability that can lead to enforceable outcomes?
I’m curious to hear what others think.
Are there existing legal mechanisms that citizens are underusing?
What are the biggest barriers to holding governments accountable through constitutional means?
Could strengthening these mechanisms reduce the need for protests over time?

ps - I have used chatgpt to consolidate. please forgive and correct if anything wrong.