Holiday schedule Because of the coming holiday season, next week’s Beacon (the one that will be published on Thursday, Dec. 19) will be the last print edition of 2024. After …
December 12, 2024
December 12, 2024
POEM — My Story
You placed it in my hands Your book with your story Hoping to poison my mind To keep my thoughts in captivity You blurred my vision Hoping I will see …
December 12, 2024
COMMENTARY — Trump seen as threat to world
The election of Donald Trump as the next United States president marks a new American governance model marked by impunity and machismo. Democracy is increasingly taking a back seat. Hubris …
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December 10, 2024
EDITORIAL: Virgin Islands must not rest on tourism laurels
Signs abound that the coming tourism high season will be successful, building on travellers’ positive impressions of the Virgin Islands and showing that the demand to vacation here remains strong. …
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December 5, 2024
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (December 5, 2024)
It’s a sign A Reporter’s Notebook item published on Oct. 31 highlighted an embarrassing error on a mock street sign then in the Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park. At …
December 5, 2024
COMMENTARY — ‘Yes, we were different’
“The defence of the individuality of places is the defence of the individuality of ourselves,” wrote British architectural critic Ian Nairn. In the 1970s, the Virgin Islands proudly boasted, “Yes, …
December 3, 2024
EDITORIAL: Great March lessons still ring true today
Kudos to the hundreds of residents who took part in the recent re-enactment of the 1949 Great March. Together, they staged an impressive and appropriate commemoration of an enormously important …
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November 28, 2024
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (Nov. 28, 2024)
Hitchhiking When a Beaconite was hitchhiking into Road Town one morning last week, she got a ride from a kind driver who identified herself as a “born and raised” Virgin …
November 28, 2024
COMMENTARY — The Wagners of Trellis Bay, part 27
In part 26 of this series, published on Nov. 14, I described how the then governor of Puerto Rico gave the 1950s Beef Island airstrip project a Caterpillar bulldozer, delivered …
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November 22, 2024
EDITORIAL: UK minister missed the mark on transparency
For decades, successive governors and other United Kingdom leaders have pressured the Virgin Islands government to be more transparent. They are right to do so. But the UK must also …
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November 21, 2024
COMMENTARY — Expecting the worst from Trump
The United States has moved hard right with the victory of Donald Trump and the Republican Party in the country’s Nov. 5 election. The win has also ushered in an …
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November 21, 2024
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (Nov. 21, 2024)
Birthd(el)ay card Oh, happy day! A Beaconite was beyond delighted to receive a birthday card from London this week. The fact that his birthday was actually in May and said …
November 19, 2024
EDITORIAL: Virgin Islands should expect the worst from Trump presidency
It has been said that when the United States sneezes, the whole world catches a cold. We fear much worse than a proverbial cold for the Virgin Islands and the …
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November 14, 2024
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (Nov. 14, 2024)
Police presence A Beaconite was walking along Norman Fowler Drive last week when she noticed about six armed police officers — many of whom were also wearing bulletproof vests — …
November 14, 2024
LETTER — The Cedar Tree Press Christmas Quiz
Cedar Tree Press is hosting a Christmas quiz to celebrate traditional Virgin Islands Christmas customs of former years. The exercise will help to remind, cement and pass on knowledge of …
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November 14, 2024
COMMENTARY — The Wagners of Trellis Bay, part 26
In part 25 of this series, published on Oct. 31, I noted that Mabel Wagner opined in her book Lest I Forget that her husband Wladek Wagner faced a mammoth …
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November 12, 2024
EDITORIAL: Government must stop backpedaling on airport transparency
We fear we spoke too soon. Last November, we praised the Virgin Islands government for preliminary steps that should have boosted transparency surrounding the proposed expansion of the Terrance B. …
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November 7, 2024
COMMENTARY — Late VI poet remembered
The lines English poet Thomas Hardy wrote under “Chorus of the Earth” in his tragedy “The Dynasts” is relevant to these islands at this point in time. “We would establish …
November 7, 2024
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (Nov. 7, 2024)
Dr. Who? A doctorate is an advanced degree meant to be earned through years of hard work leading to the mastery of an area of study. And many doctorates …
November 4, 2024
EDITORIAL: Smooth transition key amid minister shakeup
Sudden shifts in leadership are an occasional feature of any democracy, and dramatic Cabinet reshuffles are not unprecedented in the Virgin Islands. But after the latest shakeup, it is imperative …
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October 31, 2024
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (Oct. 31, 2024)
Spelling matters Do you remember the spelling of Patsy Lake’s name? The Beacon remembers. It would seem, however, that the activist known for fighting to keep Wickhams Cay under local …
October 31, 2024
COMMENTARY — The Wagners of Trellis Bay, part 25
In his memoirs published in 1990, Howard Reynold Penn (1903-1994), who in 1956 was a member of the Virgin Islands government, recalled then-governor Sir Kenneth Blackburne seeking funding for “H.R. …
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October 29, 2024
EDITORIAL: New vessel a big win for the environment
We welcome news of an important tool that will help address mounting threats to the Virgin Islands’ marine environment. This month, the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change …
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October 24, 2024
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (Oct. 24, 2024)
Political storms The thunder and lightning crackling across a brooding Road Town sky could be seen and heard from within the House of Assembly chamber as the clock ticked down …
October 24, 2024
COMMENTARY — The Wagners of Trellis Bay, Part 24
I started this series of commentaries on July 20, 2023, after the inaugural American Airlines flight between Miami and Beef Island and the reopening of Marina Cay, to salute the …
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