Social Impact with Emma » Prime Minister : A Jamaica Gleaner Blog

The Corruption Problem: Is It People or Systems That Are to Blame?

July 22nd, 2018

I have been thinking about the Petrojam affair (after a while, one gets tired of the word “scandal”), which has taken several twists and turns. I hope that the Permanent Secretary in what is now the Ministry of Science and Technology only, who is reportedly investigating the matter, does a thorough job. The need for […]

CARICOM, The Patriarchy and Plastic Bottles

July 7th, 2018

Over the past few days, Jamaica, as incoming Chair, has been proudly hosting the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) 39th annual Conference of Heads of Government in Montego Bay for approximately 200 foreign officials. We have been regaled with numerous social media posts, video clips with cameras panning across sunlit views of the coastline and happy, smiling […]

(Harry and) Meghan: What’s the Fascination?

May 20th, 2018

I spent this morning on my favorite social media platform (Twitter) catching up on the feedback to the #RoyalWedding (alternative hashtag: #HarryandMeghan with a tiny icon of two intertwined wedding rings). As expected, some of it was purely gushing. Others wished the newlyweds well – even if grudgingly so. Some sourly declared their lack of […]

Powers of Persuasion

May 1st, 2018

I often pick up ideas from seemingly random comments on Twitter. I turn them over in my head. They coalesce, curl into a little ball. I uncurl them again later, and see if I can write about them. Many ideas can develop that way, if you give them the chance. So, a tweet from environmentalist […]

The Jobs Dilemma

August 18th, 2017

The Government announced a couple of days ago that our employment rate is at an all time high. Or, to put it another way, unemployment is historically low. The inevitable response soon followed: That’s great, but what constitutes employment? And what kind of jobs? Are we looking at the question of underemployment? Are we looking […]

Emancipation Revisited

July 31st, 2017

Emancipation is a difficult word. It’s too long, for a start: five syllables long. When combined with the four syllables of Independence holiday it becomes that horrible portmanteau word someone invented (a Government official, perhaps?) a few years ago… Emancipendence. But I would suggest we could hardly celebrate them both together, in one breath. That would be trivialising the […]

Older Entries