I found this year's Christmas Boat Parade a little disappointing. Many entries seemed lacklustre, contenting themselves with putting a few rows of lights down their hulls and a couple of inflatable figures on their decks. Compared with previous years, there...
When politicians of opposing parties come together, when churches set aside matters of doctrinal dispute, when thousands unite to produce a common voice, surely it is a cause for celebration? No it is not. The root of the union, the...
I’ve not had much time for Anglican Bishop Ewen Ratteray since he kicked Rev. Alan Tilson out of Bermuda and reaffirmed his opposition to the ordination of women priests. But my opinion of him has improved after his announcement that...
Yesterday morning we headed down to Ordnance Island in St. George's to see the sloop Spirit of Bermuda before it set sail for Hamilton. You can see more pictures here. Thanks to Stuart Hayward for providing the best ones!
Alas, my camera is currently in for repair, so I wasn't able to take any photos of Saturday's annual Sandcastle Competition at Horseshoe Bay. Fortunately, Marcus Cooper did.
Martin writes: “I have come to the conclusion that, on balance, Bermudians are a fairly serious lot. Smiles and laughter can lower stress, dissolve anger and unite peoples. The late Victor Borge said, ”A smile is the shortest distance between...
I was shocked to learn that while 68% of whites and 73% of people of mixed race supported Renee Webb's recent bid to ban discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, a mere 19% of blacks did so. Black homophobia...
With talk of a split in the Anglican Church after US Episcopalians elected their first female bishop last week, it's no surprise to learn which side of the debate Bermuda's Anglican Bishop is on. On Friday, Bishop Ewen Ratteray reaffirmed...
On the radio news this evening I caught a local preacher (I didn’t hear who it was) denouncing Renee Webb’s private member’s bill on the grounds that the Bible says that homosexual behaviour is sinful. Sorry, I didn’t write the...
While Russian gay rights campaigners are saying that they will hold a gay pride rally in Moscow on Saturday, despite a ban by mayor Yuri Luzhkov, yesterday local drag artist Mark Anderson joined Bermuda's Heritage Day parade despite a Government...
Blind wedding couple Craig and Rebecca Cooper, who came to Bermuda for their honeymoon, have split up after just three months.
Ideally, community service should be voluntary. But that depends on the concept of service to community being inculcated in every youth — one cannot be expected to volunteer for something of which one is ignorant. I believe many families in...
A recent story in the New York Times questions lethal injections as a humane method to carry out the death penalty. As I have given some thought to the way I'd prefer to die, this debate genuinely interests me. Setting...
While packing a bottle of wine in a plastic carrier bag at the grocery store this afternoon, I was reprimanded by the girl on the till. She told me that I had to put it in a brown paper bag...
Martin writes: "For many of us, a circus forms a happy part of a childhood memory. Over recent years in particular, however, both groups and individuals that are concerned about animals in captivity have continued to express their concerns about...
Kieth Flaherty is perplexed by the lack of a Bermuda camera club. As a result, he's started a blog "to discuss photography in general with a heavy bias on Bermuda and meet all those hidden hobbyists here on The Rock"....
Every year, Christmas seems to come earlier. Yesterday evening - November 24th - I spied a Christmas tree in the lobby of one of the businesses along Par-La-Ville Road. This evening, the lights on the Corporation of Hamilton's Christmas tree...
What heinous act could possibly provoke comments such as: “As Christians, we must stand for righteous living, and we must bring back some Godly order to our society.” Or “We don’t want to give the enemy a foothold as we...
Another year, another emergency appeal for boats to sign up for the Christmas Boat Parade. While the situation this year does sound more serious, with only 8 entries so far compared to 30 at the same time last year, I...
"Judge finds Rights Act is flawed" said the headline in Saturday's Royal Gazette. A Supreme Court judge has blown the whistle on “serious” flaws in the Human Rights Act which have prevented at least one complaint of discrimination being heard...
Two front-page stories from the Royal Gazette today. First this: "Church leaders are hopping mad over a sexually suggestive poster and flyer featuring two nude women engaging in a sex act for a party at a public beach claiming it...
Sitting here in my Bermuda shorts, long socks and slip-on leather shoes, I was sad - but not entirely surprised - to come across this article in the LA Times (courtesy of Pondblog) documenting the decline of the Island's signature...
The sharp-eyed may have noticed the appearance of a "What's On" section in the sidebar of this site. It's an experimental idea, intended to make it easier to find out what's going on in Bermuda. All events are stored at...
I'm not sure what's more embarrassing: that the audience at last night's Bermuda Heritage Concert at St. John's Church, Pembroke, had to be told not to applaud between the movements of Bach's Concerto in A Minor, or that they did...
If you're stuck for something to do this Sunday afternoon, you might like to check out the Bermuda National Trust's Historic Open House Day. Verdmont and its grounds are being transformed into an interactive festival of Bermuda's history and culture,...
If you're remotely interested in art, do yourself a favour and check out the show now on at the Interim gallery. 'Frogs, Dogs and Mermaids', which opened on Friday, features a diverse array of work from three artists. Lindsey George...
If, like me, you’ve been wondering why the wonderful new sculpture outside Bull's Head Car Park has been covered with a heavy green tarpaulin since its installation last year, wonder no more. Apparently, as a major piece of public art,...
A young Bermudian artist is opening her first solo show in the Onions Gallery of the City Hall Arts Centre this evening. Heather Macdonald has been working for two years on the work in the show. She takes a new...
On Saturday afternoon I went up to Warwick Camp to watch the Bermuda Regiment's newest recruits put through their paces. It was an impressive display of discipline and ceremony, though watching the recruits march around the parade ground, shuffle into...
I didn’t spend much time studying history at school. After three years of turgid medieval and Tudor monarchs I’d had enough and elected to do a GCSE in Geography instead. As a result, I left school woefully ignorant of the...
Which came first: Bermuda's housing shortage or its high divorce rate? Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent and Senator Bob Richards think the divorce rate is exacerbating the housing problem. Peter Carey (program director of The Family Centre) and Althea Iris (president...
Bermuda’s annual Christmas Boat Parade almost didn’t happen this year. But after being postponed twice last week due to rain and high winds, the event finally went ahead this evening – just hours before another front of wet and windy...
Last night was the National Trust’s annual Christmas Walkabout in St. George’s. It was a chance for residents and vistors alike to wander through the cobbled streets, listening to choirs and musicians, drinking eggnog, nibbling gingerbread, admiring the lights and...
Despite having a thoroughly enjoyable time on Friday evening at the 20th anniversary performance of the Not The Um Um Show, I came away with a nagging question. Why, in an audience of around 700 people, could I count less...
In a post on Politics.bm yesterday, Christian Dunleavy asked: "...surely the position of those opposed to [amending the Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation] aren't asking to be permitted to discriminate?" In today's Royal...
I've just carved my first pumpkin. It's something I've been wanting to do for years, but until tonight I never quite managed to get around to it. Halloween isn't celebrated in the UK like it is in the US or...
Nahw, look hur. Vat’s all dis nahwnsense dat Hodgson garrl’s bin chopsin bout us Bermewjans needin allocution lassuns? Bye, dat makes me vext! She axpact arrywun to tawk de same? Look at dem Limey byes an all tha diffrent vays...
In the spirit of the Imagine Bermuda project, I'd like to suggest something that every Bermudian could do that might help bring the Island a smidgen closer together. The idea came to me as I was heading into St. George's...
For those who are curious about the Imagine Bermuda initiative, here are the four questions that were used to frame the debate at Thursday’s meeting in St. George’s. I’ve reworded some of them slightly to make them applicable to the...
There’s a reason why I’m a writer and not a politician. I’m much more comfortable debating ideas online than I am discussing them with a room full of strangers. So it was with mounting panic that I realised that the...
On the Thursday and Friday before the first Monday in August, Bermuda celebrates a two-day public holiday to allow its residents to watch a game of cricket. To understand what Cup Match means to Bermudians, think of what Christmas would...
Possibly one of the quirkiest – or should that be quackiest - events on Bermuda’s social calendar is the annual rubber duck race in St. George’s. This was the eighth year of the Derby, run to raise funds for local...
At this time of year in London you’re spoilt for choice for open-air concerts. Throughout the summer, at venues across the city, crowds gather to listen to classical music in the evening sun – or more usually, huddled in their...
Today is one of Bermuda’s most celebrated public holidays: May 24th, or Bermuda Day. The holiday began back in 1902 as a celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday. Over the years it changed its name numerous times – first becoming Empire...
There's only one thing any new resident of Bermuda can sensibly do on his first Good Friday on the Island, and that's head down to Horseshoe Bay beach for the annual kite-flying contest. Jay had done his best to get...
Toronto had moose in 2000. London had cows in 2002. And now Bermuda has joined the bizarre international craze for turning sculptures of animals into works of art with the appearance of 50 life-sized pigs at the Hamilton Princess Hotel....
It's looking increasingly likely that Tim Burton's 'Big Fish' will be the first movie that I really want to see that isn't going to come to Bermuda. In a country with only four cinemas, each with only a single screen,...
Went to my first Bermuda Festival performance last night: a slightly bizarre mixture of opera and comedy from Candian comedienne Natalie Choquette. Unusual, but good. Ever since I was a child I've always made a point of buying a programme...
Bermuda's not the best place to live for lovers of classical music or the performing arts. There are few theatres or concert halls and cultural life here can seem a little barren when you've spent the last six years living...
Last night was the Christmas Boat Parade, Bermuda's largest annual spectator event. It's the time when Bermuda's boat owners, large and small, private and commercial, decorate their craft with displays of light ranging from the simple to the elaborate and...
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