Bermuda was said to stand on a crossroads when David Burt, the Premier, made headlines on January 8 by announcing a General Election for February 18.

Although the Progressive Labour Party leader had until late August 2025 for the island’s voters to go back to the polls, based on the last election in October 2020, Mr Burt’s decision came as little surprise.

Less than two months earlier, the Opposition’s Reply to the Throne Speech characterised the island as “broken”, with Jarion Richardson, the leader of the One Bermuda Alliance at the time, declaring it was time to “fix” Bermuda by putting it to the people now.

Mr Burt kept his announcement brief: with the 2025-26 Budget impending, the Premier said it was time the island’s voters made a fresh decision based on his party’s record in office — and that the Budget needed to reflect the collective wishes of the electorate.

He added: “Bermuda stands on the cusp of a pivotal time, and we think it’s time for the people to have a say so that whatever Budget is passed it represents the will of the persons as we press forward.”

The Government was quick to assuage any concerns, with a spokeswoman assuring the public that the Budget would come in ahead of the coming fiscal year.

Not everyone was happy to hear about the calling of another election. Young voters decried the call to the polls, which came shortly after overseas students returned to school from the Christmas holidays.

It revived the longstanding issue of absentee voting, an electoral reform long spoken of without being brought into force.

The public’s feelings on the issue appeared mixed when The Royal Gazette sampled opinion on the streets of Hamilton — but there was sympathy for allowing students and other non-resident Bermudian to vote by mail.

The OBA swiftly vowed to deliver absentee voting within a year if returned to the Government.

However, Mr Richardson’s speech on January 13 highlighted an issue that would prove decisive in the General Election on February 18.

The Opposition leader warned that a race between the PLP, the OBA, the Free Democratic Movement and independent candidates ran a risk of splitting the vote and handing the outcome back to the ruling party.

January came with candidates under all four political banners throwing their hats in the ring.

Political retirement made the news that month for three established figures: Susan Jackson, of the OBA, and Derrick Burgess and Wayne Caines, of the PLP.

Mr Burgess had represented Hamilton East (Constituency 5) since 1998, while Mr Caines was elected to Devonshire North West (Constituency 14) in 2017.

Ms Jackson, the MP for Pembroke South West (Constituency 20), had held the seat since 2012.

Its vacancy meant a new opposition candidate, Michael Fahy, could create a stir on January 30. It marked the return to politics for a former home affairs minister under the OBA government whose policies, starting with the ditching of term limits on work permits, put him in the PLP’s crosshairs.

Mr Richardson acknowledged as much from the outset. “We know it will be controversial,” he said — but he emphasised Mr Fahy’s integrity and political experience.

Arguably more controversial was the OBA’s selection of Kellan Lewis, convicted of manslaughter in 2008, to run in Southampton West (Constituency 32).

Mr Lewis emphasised his enduring regret and remorse over the incident that resulted in the death of Kellon Hill, but said he was running for political office to bring positive change to the community.

Farther afield, Bermudians in Southern California were caught up one of the year’s big international stories when a combination of factors conspired to propel the state’s seasonal wildfires into a devastating conflagration that tore through swathes of Los Angeles.

Wanda Ray Willis, a Bermudian artist and performer, told the Gazette of fleeing her Glendale apartment after getting awakened by “winds howling outside like a hurricane” as the inferno neared her community. Her home survived.

Three days later, Jarrett Crockwell, a Bermudian turned American football coach and teacher, told of losing everything in the blaze that consumed the Altadena neighbourhood.

Three months later, Mr Crockwell said he and his family were “taking it day by day — still nowhere to live but we are hanging in there”.

Back home, 2025 began inauspiciously for the Bermuda Tourism Authority.

The quango was already notably losing staff — about 25 people over two years — when the resignation of Hazel Clark, an Olympic track star and the BTA’s director of global business development and partnership, made headlines.

The next day, the BTA announced that it had launched a “culture review” into concerns about what Wayne Caines, its chairman, acknowledged as “concerns regarding workplace culture” at the organisation.

Mr Caines would be stepping down himself the next month.