Helena Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws

Helena Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws

Helena Ann Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws QC , FRSA , (born May 12, 1950 in Glasgow ) is a British lawyer, television journalist and Member of the Labor Party in the House of Lords . Lady Kennedy of The Shaws is the former Chair of the Human Genetics Commission, which advises the UK Government on ethical, social and legal issues arising from developments in genetic science.

family

She was born in Glasgow and has three sisters. Her family members are also Labor activists and staunch Catholics. Her father, Joshua Kennedy, a printer for the Daily Record , was a unionist. She attended Holyrood Secondary School in Glasgow, where she became Head Girl . Kennedy continues to attend masses and admits that her Catholicism "remains an important part of who I am" despite avoiding its more traditional values. She studied law at London's Council of Legal Education .

Her first partner was the actor Iain Mitchell , with whom she lived from 1978 to 1984 and by whom she has a son. In 1986 she married the surgeon Dr. Iain Louis Hutchison , with whom she has a daughter and a son.

Academic career

She has been Principal of Mansfield College , Oxford since September 2011 . She has received numerous scientific awards:

• Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts ( FRSA )
• Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute (FCGI)
• Member of the Académie Universelle des Cultures ( Paris )
• Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Psychiatrists , 2005
• Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health , 2005
• Honorary Fellow, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
• Honorary Fellow, University of Cambridge , 2010
• Honorary Fellow, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), 2011
• Honorary Doctorates in Law: University of Strathclyde 1992, University of Teeside 1993, Keele University 1994, Lancaster University 1994, Leeds Metropolitan University 1995, University of Bristol 1997, University of Wolverhampton 1997, The Open University 1997, University of Abertay Dundee 1997, Tavistock Center under the auspices of the University of East London 1997, University of Derby 1998, University of Leicester 1998, University of York 1999, National University of Ireland 2000, University of Aberdeen 2000, Oxford Brookes University 2001, Glasgow Caledonian University 2001, Robert Gordon University 2002, Judicial Academy of Russia 2002, Polytechnic University of Tomsk 2002, Middlesex University 2003, De Montfort University 2004, University of Sheffield 2005, Staffordshire University 2005, University of Paisley 2005, University of Edinburgh 2005

watch TV

• Author: Blind Justice , BBC TV, 1987
• Presenter: Heart of the Matter , BBC TV, 1987
• Host: After Dark , Channel 4 and BBC4, she presented many episodes of this series from 1987-2003, including the infamous episode starring the drunk Oliver Reed , in which he verbally insulted the critical feminist Kate Millett and tried to kiss her.
• Presenter: Raw Deal on Medical Negligence , BBC TV, 1989
• Presenter: The Trial of 'Lady Chatterley' , BBC Radio 4, 1990
• Presenter: Time Gentlemen, Please , BBC Scotland, 1994 (Winner, TV Program Award Category, 1994 Industry Journalism Awards)
• BAFTA Commissioner of Inquiry into the Future of the BBC, 1990

politics

She was chairwoman of Charter88 from 1992 to 1997 and is closely associated with the Common Purpose educational foundation .

On October 27, 1997, she was raised to life peeress as Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws , of Cathcart in the City of Glasgow, and thereby became a member of the House of Lords for life .

She rebels against her party's Whip in the House of Lords more often than any other Labor Party peers with a dissent of 33.3%.

Public offices

• President of the Helena Kennedy Foundation
• President of the Board of Governors of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
• Chair, JUSTICE
• Chair of the Board of Governors of the United World College of the Atlantic
• President, Medical Aid for Palestinians
• Patron, Burma Campaign UK , a London-based group promoting human rights and democracy in Burma
• Board member of Independent News and Media
• Trustee, KPMG Foundation
• Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University (1994-2001)
• Chair, British Council (1998-2004)
• Chair, Human Genetics Commission (1998-2007)
• President of the National Children's Office (1998-2005)
• Chairwoman of the Power Commission November 2005 to March 2006 examining the issue of democratic indifference in the UK. She published a report on the "Myth of Apathy" and the lack of political commitment.
• Chair of Power 2010, an initiative that aimed to bring the concepts behind the Power Commission to life in the 2010 UK General Election
• Member of the External Advisory of the World Bank Institute Council
• Member of the Board of Directors of the British Museum
• Vice President of the Haldane Society
• Vice President of the Association of Women Barristers
• Patron, Liberty
• Patron, UNLOCK , national association for ex-offenders
• Patron, Debt Doctors Foundation UK (DD-UK)
• Patron, Tower Hamlets Summer University
• Chair, Howard League Commission on Investigating Prison Violence for Young People (Final Report, Banged Up, Beaten Up, Cutting Up , published 1995)
• Chair, Reading Borough Council Commission to Investigate the Health, Environmental and Safety Aspects of the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston (Final Disclosure Against Security Report , published 1994)
• Chair of the Committee of Inquiry into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at the Royal College of Pathologists and Pediatricians (Established a protocol for the investigation of such deaths in 2004)
• Member of the Foreign Policy Center Advisory Council
• Formerly UK member of the International Bar Association Task Force on Terrorism
• As Commissioner for the National Commission on Education, she headed a commission for the expansion of continuing education and published a groundbreaking report for the commission in 1997, Learning Works .

Orders and decorations

• Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2004)
• Commander of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (2006)

Web links

• Helena Kennedy in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Helena Ann Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws on thepeerage.com

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c d} Nicholas Wroe: A radical in the house . In: The Guardian , March 27, 2004. Retrieved March 2, 2011. 
2. ↑ Kennedy coat of arms
3. ↑ Baroness Helena Kennedy QC elected next Principal of Mansfield College ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. University of Oxford Mansfield College, April 13, 2011  
4. ^ Rebel Lords - Current members The Public Whip
5. ↑ "2016: A Vision and Strategy for the Centennial" ( Memento of the original from June 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (p.18; PDF file; 4.59 MB) School of Oriental and African Studies, April 2010