In a year of global challenges and fall-out, we at Caribbean Intelligence© have focused on the aspirational side of Caribbean life.

Our news page and Twitter/ X feed continue to focus on the day-to-day trials and challenges in the lives of Caribbean people. However, our features have brought you the aspirations and achievements of our people – from the Great and the Good to the most humble of do-gooders.

2024 started with a guest article from Emma Lewis on the work battling plastic waste in Jamaica. We felt that her Pletchary Blog showcased the work of government and volunteers groups on the island. She wrote:

'The level of participation from volunteers and partners was, as usual, tremendous, with 6,859 volunteers registering from 106 groups across the island. They cleaned up 145 sites and collected 78,704 pounds of garbage, filling 5,437 garbage bags. A total of 183 cleanups were conducted, covering a distance of 106.98 miles of coastline. The Government’s Tourism Enhancement Fund has provided great support in recent years to this effort, and I really hope they will continue; there is nothing worse for our “image” than streets littered with plastic.'

The full article can be found at Jamaica’s battle with plastic: we can’t give up | Caribbean Intelligence.

Early Spring gave us an opportunity to look at the British Library exhibition Beyond the Bassline: 500 years of Black British Music. The spring/ summer event offered a reflection of Black music and its influence on British music from punk to garage.

Enjoy the trip down memory lane and the photos at The legacy of Black music: Beyond the Bassline | Caribbean Intelligence.

In our continuing focus on new approaches by Caribbean countries and territories to attract investment and grow their economies, Caribbean Intelligence© attended a reception to promote the investment potential of Tobago. 

Our article Becoming “the greatest little island on the planet”: Tobago woos foreign investment | Caribbean Intelligence became one of our most shared articles on our social media posts – mostly due to the profile of popular advocate and TV personality Baroness Floella Benjamin. Her appearance at the Caribbean Council-organised House of Lords event certainly got your attention this year.

  In one of our favourite book reviews, we looked at the page-turning latest novel by David Dabydeen. From Wuhan to Demerara – A tale of love, new starts and yearning | Caribbean Intelligence charted a haunting tale from China to Guyana’s early days of development and nationhood.

In another of the diaspora high-profile appearances, British stage and TV star Rudolph Walker launched his memoir. The celebrity-packed event at the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in London heard anecdotes from Walker’s Trinidad childhood as he launched his book Rudolph Walker still walking with dignity | Caribbean Intelligence. 

The title of the book harks back to the group of strong women who raised him.

We ended the year with another approach to marketing in the UK – this time from St Kitts & Nevis. Our article St Kitts: Carving a USP from a difficult history | Caribbean Intelligence looked at how the islands, relatively new to the world of Caribbean tourism, have created a tourism niche using their history.

There are articles already in the pipeline for 2025 and we look forward to sharing the high-achieving and creative aspirations of the Caribbean, its diaspora and friends with you in the coming year. 

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