2025 Spectating features and adventures provided an opportunity to share from my corner of the world the local moments and global forces shaping small islands in a changing world.
Some pieces were driven by controversy, others by celebration. Some recounted life experiences and stories of people, places, and events near and far. But all of them, in one way or another, asked us to reckon with who we are, what we value, and how seriously we take the idea of nationhood and our place in a global village.
This was a year when culture spoke loudly. From Carnival debates to theater stages, from fashion contests to Soca milestones, we were reminded that culture is more than entertainment. It is a mirror. It shows us our contradictions, courage, humour, and sometimes our discomfort. When we argued about lyrics, costumes, performances, and legacy, we were really arguing about belonging, respect, memory, and power.
It was also a year when institutions were tested: Social Security, Electoral Boundaries, with a powerful end as finally, we “Fixed the Oath”. These were not abstract discussions. They touched pensions, votes, trust, and the quiet agreements that hold society together. In moments like these, noise is easy. Clarity is rare. And clarity, as 2025 showed us, is what people were searching for.
Sport once again proved it could carry more than scorecards. Rising talent inspired hope. Leadership debates forced reflection. Cricket reminded us that pride is not automatically inherited. Our Carifta athletes are reminded that investment yields dividends, and even with limited resources, the right mix of discipline, perseverance, and support pays immense dividends. It must be earned, nurtured, and defended. When young athletes rise, they do not do so alone. They carry a nation’s expectations on their shoulders while still learning their own strength.
Beyond our shores, political leadership across the region and beyond was also under the gun as the world shifted. Elections across the Caribbean, evolving global power dynamics, the United States’ surge in nationalism, and China’s expanding economic presence all underscored a simple truth: small states do not have the luxury of being uninformed. Positioning matters. Awareness matters. Voice matters.
And then there were the quieter stories. The human ones. The profiles, the tributes, the moments of remembrance. These pieces rarely trend the fastest, but they endure the longest. They remind us that history is not only made by those who hold office or command stages, but also by those who teach, mentor, build, create, and show up, year after year.
A Word of Thanks
None of this work exists in isolation.
In 2025, you, treasured readers, gave something precious: your time. Amid a year crowded with noise, distractions, and endless scrolling, you chose to pause, read, reflect, and share.
Together, we interacted more than three million times across platforms. Some individual features recorded over 7,000 unique reads, traveling through homes, classrooms, offices, WhatsApp groups, and across the diaspora. Over the course of 2025, 102 special features were published, alongside 47 new Time Capsule stories, each a deliberate act of documentation and remembrance.
Those numbers matter not as vanity but as evidence that thoughtful storytelling still has a place and that readers still value context.
What 2025 ultimately taught us is this: a nation is a conversation. Sometimes harmonious, sometimes tense, always unfinished.
Petra-The-Spectator’s role was to share and fuel thought and conversation, not to inflame or flatter, but to hold space for understanding. To ask better questions. To connect dots others sometimes rush past. To archive the moments that tomorrow will need context for.
As we turn the page to 2026, the work continues. Not loudly. Not recklessly. But deliberately.
Because the stories we tell today become the evidence that tomorrow relies on.
— Petra The Spectator