January 1: The world's top debt rating agency, Standard & Poor's, downgraded Bermuda from positive to stable. A perceived lack of transparency in various branches of Government, underlined by overdue audit accounts in almost 20 Government organisations and public funds, together with increasing social polarisation and the likely cost of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) election promises on the public purse, were factored in.

January 2: Belco was given clearance to raise its electricity rates to customers by 2.5 percent every year for the next four years. In the fifth year, the rates will rise three percent. By putting up the amount it charges, the electricity company expected to raise a portion of the near half-a-billion dollars it needs to invest over the coming decade to provide new plant and infrastructure to meet the Island's growing demands for energy.

The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Ellen-Kate Horton, sister of then Education Minister Randy Horton, was moved to the Cabinet Office to be Assistant Secretary, less than two weeks after getting the position in the Education Ministry.

January 4: Home Affairs Minister Sen. David Burch repeated appeals for the public to come forward with information that would put the killer of Aquil Richardson behind bars. Sen. Burch declared an "all out war" on criminals, saying in the coming weeks and months the public would see evidence of "unrelenting efforts" to rid Bermuda of crime.

Truckers claimed that tractor trailer dumpsters were operating illegally on the Island and were taking away their livelihood. More than 50 self-employed truckers petitioned Government for answers, arguing that without a special permit from Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown, or an amendment to The Motor Car Act 1951, the dumpsters were moving materials illegally.

January 12: Documentary filmmaker and author Andrew Stevenson led a protest against a Japanese fisheries patrol boat being allowed to dock in Bermuda. At the end of the protest he attempted to present the captain with the figure of a whale as a gift, but was denied the opportunity by police who said they wanted to keep things peaceful.

January 14: Police launched Operation Safer Streets – a zero-tolerance crackdown on violence – in an effort to get Bermuda returned to normality after the Christmas shootings. The initiative had quietly started on January 5, when dozens of officers rolled through the streets in convoys of vehicles, day and night. They were backed up by dog handlers and a 24-hour roster of armed officers.

More than 70 Corporation of Hamilton workers downed tools to march on City Hall to protest working conditions. Their grievances dated back several years and included pay, inconsistency of disciplinary action, concern over a lack of health and safety in the depot yard and job training. Workers did not have union representation at the time, but presented a unanimous front.

January 15: Primary school children took to the streets in memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. An activist and Baptist minister by training, Dr. King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott and eventually organised the 1963 March on Washington where he delivered his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech. The walk in Bermuda was supposed to recreate that event.

January 16: Dwayne Pearman, the pilot of a fast ferry that crashed into a dock was fined $2,000 in Magistrates' Court. He pleaded guilty to being more than twice over the legal alcohol limit at the time. Pearman was piloting the J.L. Cecil Smith with 60 passengers onboard when he hit the dock. The crash resulted in minor damage to the bow railing of the boat and ferry dock. The Ministry of Transport fired Mr. Pearman after a disciplinary hearing. A standoff then followed between the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) and Marine and Ports. The BIU demanded the pilot be reinstated, while Government maintained its "zero tolerance" policy on substance abuse would not be compromised. In February the incident became the focus of an industrial dispute with ferry workers agreeing to work to rule until their colleague was returned to a job. The matter was resolved after Transport Minister and Premier Ewart Brown announced Mr. Pearman had been offered another job as a seaman.

January 17: Bermuda reinsurers RenaissanceRe and PartnerRe, announced they would take a combined quarter-billion-dollar hit from their exposure to investments related to the US mortgage crisis. RenaissanceRe wrote down its imminent fourth-quarter results by $181.7 million to account for the expected losses, while PartnerRe took a $74 million charge. Between them, the two reinsurers owned more than half of the bond reinsurer ChannelRe – stakes which both Bermuda companies wrote off as worthless.

January 19: Former United Bermuda Party (UBP) Leader Wayne Furbert said there was large support in the Country for a new political party to take on the PLP. Speaking ahead of a crunch meeting at Elbow Beach which was to debate whether to reform or disband the UBP, Mr. Furbert said it was not too late to save the party. But he said there were thousands of voters looking for something new who would never support the UBP because of its racial bogey.

Daniella-Jade Lowe, a 16-year-old Berkeley Institute student, became Bermuda's first paraplegic to successfully complete Project Ride, the Island's version of driver's education. She received a licence to operate a motorbike on Bermuda's roads after completing 100 hours of training.

Work began on a major capital project to resurface the taxiways and aprons at the L.F. Wade International Airport. It was scheduled to last through early July 2008.

January 20: Kim Swan was unveiled as the new leader of the UBP. Mr. Swan, a former Senator, was elected to the House of Assembly at the last election, representing St. George's West. He was unopposed in his bid to become party leader.

More than 1,500 people joined the Live Healthy Bermuda 100 Day Challenge in just ten days. During the challenge people were encouraged to exercise and lose weight.

January 21: For two days, more than 70 Corporation of Hamilton workers downed tools in protest over the firing of two employees which workers believed was unfair and retaliatory. The workers were supposedly fired after a staff walk-out earlier in the week. After a series of crisis meetings with the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) the two workers were reinstated. A few days after the walkout, the workers gained union recognition.

January 24: Cole Simons was elected UBP Deputy Leader, beating former Deputy Patricia Gordon-Pamplin and newly-elected MP Bob Richards.

The family of murdered teenager Becky Middleton abandoned efforts to get the case reopened, admitting they could no longer foot the enormous legal bills involved. The decision follows a failed bid in 2007 to get Chief Justice Richard Ground to consider fresh charges against suspects Kirk Mundy and Justis Smith.

XL Capital Ltd. announced that it expected to post a fourth-quarter loss of up to $1.2 billion, mostly due to costs related to its investment in a bond insurer Security Capital Assurance (SCA).

January 25: A Special Development Order (SDO) was granted for 66 luxury holiday apartments at Coco Reef. Government said the SDO was approved due to the "importance" of the development to the Island's tourism product – even though tourists will only occupy 'Coco Villas' for six months of the year.

January 28: Opposition Leader Kim Swan introduced his new Shadow Cabinet – giving himself the tourism brief and making former leader Michael Dunkley the UBP's leader in the Senate.

January 30: Bermuda-born Brian Duperreault was named chief executive officer of Marsh & McLennan Cos. Mr. Duperreault, 60, made his name in the insurance industry as chairman and CEO of Ace Ltd. from 1994 to 2004.