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

The Road Safety Problem: Are We Missing Something?

July 23rd, 2019

It’s always interesting, when you have visitors, to see aspects of Jamaica through their eyes – whether negative or positive. So when a recent friend observed that, having come to Jamaica, she is more afraid of the mayhem on our roads than crime, I quietly agreed. Not that we don’t have a crime problem too. […]

“The End of the World Is Nigh”

July 1st, 2019

This was the message on a placard that a man on our London high street used to carry. Or rather, it hung around his neck as he shuffled along, head down. He was a gloomy sight: shabbily dressed, his features perpetually downcast. He was what we used to call a “sandwich man,” with a placard […]

But…Can It Be Business as Usual?

April 27th, 2019

Perhaps it’s just me, but the year 2019 seems to have been one of considerable upset for the world. A second, extremely fierce cyclone has arrived in Mozambique (the first one killed over 900 people, although it hardly received mainstream media coverage). On the beautiful island of Sri Lanka, which I visited in late 2017 and […]

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 […]

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