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Indian vulture

The Indian vulture or long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus) is a bird of prey native to the Indian subcontinent. It is an Old World vulture belonging to the family of Accipitridae. It is a medium-sized vulture with a small, semi-bald head with little feathers, long beak, and wide dark colored wings. It breeds mainly on small cliffs and hilly crags in central India and south India.

The Indian vulture is a keystone species that has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2002, as the population has severely declined during the Indian vulture crisis. It is estimated that there are 5,000-15,000 mature individuals in the wild. The main cause of the decline was identified as kidney failure caused by the drug diclofenac, which was commonly given to cattle to reduce joint pain. It is thought that diclofenac poisoned vultures that ate the flesh of dead cattle. Diclofenac bans were enacted in India, Pakistan and Nepal in 2006.

The bird shares its habitat with two other vulture species (namely, the slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) and white-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis)) in some parts of its range.

Taxonomy
The Indian vulture is placed in the genus Gyps (old world vultures), and gets both its common and specific scientific names from its nativity to the Indian subcontinent. The genus name is from Ancient Greek gups meaning "vulture" and the species name is Neo-Latin indicus from the Ancient Greek "indikós" meaning "Indian".

The slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) was a sub-species of Indian vulture until 2001. Based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA evidence, it was separated into a different species from the Indian vulture in 2001.

Distribution and habitat
The range of the Indian vulture extended from southeastern Pakistan to south India and to Indochina and the northern Malay Peninsula in the east. It is now extinct in South East Asia with current populations existing mostly in central and peninsular India, south of the Gangetic plains. It is also found in southwest Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

It is also found in various land-forms ranging from semi-desert to dry foot hills, open fields and cultivable lands near villages, near garbage dumps and slaughter houses in urban areas. They are not migratory but travel hundreds of miles in a day scavenging for food. Indian vultures nest on cliffs or high buildings and rarely on trees.

Description
The Indian vulture is bulky and medium in size. Its body and covert feathers are pale brown with darker flight feathers. It has white thighs with scattered white fluff and broad wings with short tail feathers. It has a small, bare, dark-brown head with a long featherless neck, dark eyes and a long yellowish beak with a pale green-yellow cere. It is 89 - 103 cm long and has a wing span of 2.22 - 2.58 m.

The bald heads allow them to maintain body temperature in response to the environment. When it is cold, they tuck their necks in closer to their bodies to keep them warm and when it is hot, they extend their necks. Indian vultures have very few feathers on their heads which help them to keep their heads clean when they stick them into the rotting carcasses to feed.

It weighs 5.5 - 6.3 kg and is comparatively smaller than the Eurasian griffon. It is distinguished from that species by its less bulky body and wing coverts.

Behaviour and ecology
The Indian vulture is a powerful flier and soars on thermal convection currents. It reaches speeds of 35 km/h (22 mph) when gliding and can fly for six to seven hours continuously. The Indian vulture nests mainly on cliffs and is usually found is small flocks, sometimes with other vulture species.

Diet and feeding
The Indian vulture is a keystone species in its habitats and is a scavenging bird, feeding mostly from carcasses of dead animals. It plays a crucial role in the ecosystem by removing rotting meat that would otherwise spread disease. It covers wide areas sometimes ranging hundreds of miles in search of carcasses and mainly uses its eye sight to spot the same.

They are often attracted to large gatherings of other raptors or scavengers as this usually means that there is a carrion nearby. The Indian vultures generally feed on dead cattle and any leftovers by large predators. Individual birds often fight with each other to maintain the best position at the carcass. As Indian long-billed vultures are comparatively smaller than some other species, they have to sometimes back down to let other larger birds.

Lifespan and mortality
Indian vultures have a lifespan of 40 to 45 years. They sexually mature at five years of age. While vultures in the wild might have a longer lifespan, they are increasingly found close to human habitats. In the human habitats, Indian vultures are prone to higher mortality due to road kills, electrocution on high power lines, collision with trains and other high structures such as windmills. Apart from this, major cause of death has been NSAIDs including Diclofenac commonly given to cattle to reduce joint pain which believed to have been passed onto the vultures thorough the flesh of dead cattle causing kidney failure and death in vultures.

Reproduction
Indian vultures nest on cliffs, high buildings, and, more rarely, on trees. They sometimes build nests on old monuments and towers. A platform of sticks or twigs lined with leaves with the addition of green leaves advertising nest occupancy and fend off parasites.

Indian vultures reach breeding age at about five years old. Nest building starts in September and breeding happens between November and March. They often breed in monogamous pairs and the females lay only one egg a year. The egg is pure white or mottled with rusty spots. Both the parents take turns in incubating the egg and the egg hatches in about 50 days. The nests are often located near water sources such as rivers, lakes or ponds to enable them to maintain the humidity levels in the nests. The nests are located at higher altitudes with nearly 90% of the nests at an altitude of more than 900m.

Population decline and recovery

Beginning in the 1990s, the Indian vulture species suffered a 97% population decrease in its range in the Indian subcontinent over a period of 10–15 years. The species is classified as critically endangered in the IUCN Red List since 2002 due to the rapid decline in population. Currently, there are only an estimated 5000 to 15000 birds in the wild.

This is conjunction with the rapid decline in the population of other related vulture species including the slender-billed vulture and white-rumped vulture. Between 2000 and 2007, the annual decline rates of this species averaged over sixteen percent. The cause of this rapid decline was identified as poisoning caused by the veterinary drug diclofenac. Diclofenac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug commonly given to cattle to reduce joint pain. The drug is believed to have been passed onto the vultures thorough the flesh of dead cattle who were given diclofenac in their last days of life which then causes kidney failure in vultures.

Data modelling revealed that a tiny proportion (about 0.8%) of livestock carcasses containing diclofenac can cause significant crash in vulture populations. The decline in vulture population had a huge socio-economic impact in the region and drastically affected the conservation of the ecological balance. By removing all carrion, vultures had helped decrease pollution, spread of diseases, and suppressed undesirable mammalian scavengers. Without vultures, a large number of animal carcasses were left to rot, posing a serious risk to human health by contaminating water supply and providing a potential breeding ground for infectious germs and proliferation of pests such as rats. The loss of vultures also resulted in a substantial increase in the population of feral dogs, whose bites are the most common cause of human rabies. The feral dog population in India increased by least 5 million, resulting in over 38 million additional dog bites and more than 47,000 extra deaths from rabies, costing $34 billion in economic impact. On average, it was estimated that human mortality rates increased by more than 4% during the period of 2000 to 2005, when vulture population reached the lowest levels.

In March 2006, the government of India announced a ban on the veterinary use of diclofenac. Meloxicam, another NSAID was rapidly metabolized and harmless to vultures was suggested as an acceptable substitute for diclofenac. Nepal banned the manufacture and importation of diclofenac in June 2006 and Pakistan followed suit in September 2006. Pharmaceutical companies were encouraged to the increase in the production of meloxicam aimed at reducing the cost down to diclofenac's own levels to make it more suitable for use. In 2015, the government of India ordered the vial size of the drugs to be reduced to 3ml to reduce the dosage administered to cattle. In 2021, tolfenamic acid was identified as another alternative that is safe for vultures.

After banning the drug in 2006, the vulture population rebounded and with the combined population relatively stable till 2011. But, further decline of vulture populations were reported in some states in India. Despite the banning of diclofenac and reduction in usage by about 50%, the drug was still available for veterinary use. There were other compounds like aceclofenac and ketoprofen which were in use and were harmful. In 2008, the government of India enacted a law declaring the sale of diclofenac as a imprisonable offense. Later surveys found that the population was recovering slowly and the decline has been significantly slowed in India, Pakistan and Nepal following a strict ban on the drug.

Conservation
Captive-breeding programmes for the Indian vulture were started to help recover its numbers. As the vultures are long-lived, slow-breeding and notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, the programmes are expected to take longer. The captive-bred birds will be released to the wild when the environment is clear of diclofenac.

In 2014, Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction programme was announced to start releasing captive-bred birds into the wild by 2016. In 2016, Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore released captive bred vultures into the wild as part of Asia's first vulture re-introduction program. Small numbers of birds have bred across peninsular India, in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Three more breeding centers have been setup in the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam and Madhya Pradesh in addition to four smaller facilities in collaboration with zoos.

In 2020, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of Government of India has launched a Vulture Action Plan 2020-25. It aims to step up conservation measures and set up a mechanism to ensure that toxic drugs other than diclofenac are also banned for veterinary use.

In 2010, a small population of Indian vulture and three other species of vultures were discovered in the Moyar river valley in Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary, where 20 nests were sighted with a population of 40 adults. It was last sighted in the region in the 1970s and the rediscovery is significant to its conservation.

Cultural and economic significance
Indian vultures are often misunderstood, feared and considered as lowly creatures largely due to their eating habits of feeding on carrion. They play a key ecological role as a keystone species and serve as effective scavengers. In the Indian subcontinent, where there is a large population of cattle and few facilities for incineration and carcass processing, vultures effectively clean up the carcasses offering health benefits and save economical costs.

Jatayu is a demigod in the Hindu epic Ramayana, who has the form of either an eagle or a vulture.

The people of Parsi community in India leave the dead bodies exposed in high towers called Tower of Silence in order for the vultures to feed.

title: Indian vulture


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First-rate

In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a first rate was the designation for the largest ships of the line. Originating in the Jacobean era with the designation of Ships Royal capable of carrying at least 400 men, the size and establishment of first-rates evolved over the following 250 years to eventually denote ships of the line carrying at least 80 guns across three gundecks. By the end of the eighteenth century, a first-rate carried no fewer than 100 guns and more than 850 crew, and had a measurement (burthen) tonnage of some 2,000 tons.

Origins
The concept of a rating system for British naval vessels dates to the accession of James I of England, following which the fleet was formally divided into "great", "middling" and "lesser" craft. A 1618 commission of enquiry added a further designation of "Ships Royal" for the largest and most prestigious vessels in the fleet, each capable of carrying at least 400 men.

The first Ships Royal – ENGLISH SHIP Elizabeth Jonas, ENGLISH SHIP Triumph, ENGLISH SHIP White Bear, ENGLISH SHIP Merhonour, ENGLISH SHIP Ark Royal and ENGLISH SHIP Victory – were all converted galleons and included three very old vessels that had fought against the Spanish Armada in 1588. Their condition was generally poor, with Elizabeth Jonas and Triumph already completely unserviceable and White Bear so unseaworthy that she was sold for scrap in 1627.

The Navy's rating system was later modified to differentiate ships considered suitable for various functions within the naval tactics of the age of sail. Lower numbers indicated larger and more capable ships. By the mid-18th century ships suitable for the line of battle were first-rate ships carrying at least 100 guns, second-rate ships carrying 84 to 98 guns, and larger third-rate ships carrying 70 to 80 guns. Smaller third-rate ships carrying about 60–64 guns, and fourth-rate ships of around 50 guns, had earlier been considered suitable, but were being phased out. Fifth-rate and sixth-rate ships were frigates usually maneuvering independently of the line of battle.

Rating
Early first rates had as few as 60 guns, but by the mid-1660s they generally carried between 90 and 100 guns. By the early years of the 18th century, it had become accepted that 100 guns was the standard criterion for a first rate in wartime (while 90 guns, later 98 guns, became the standard wartime ordnance for a second rate). (In peacetime, all ships of the line carried a reduced complement of guns.) Towards the close of the century, ships were built with more than 100 guns, and they too were classed as first rates.

In addition to the rated number of carriage-mounted guns (which included the heaviest calibre available mounted on their lower decks, with smaller guns on the decks above), first rates also carried a number of anti-personnel guns, initially swivel-mounted weapons. From the invention of the slide-mounted carronade in the later 1770s, first rates (like other warships), could mount a number of these weapons on their quarterdecks and forecastles to augment their short-range firepower, but they were not included in the ship's rating until 1817 except where they replaced carriage-mounted guns.

Although very powerful, the Navy's first-rates were of limited utility at sea. For stability their lowest gundeck had to be very close to the waterline and its gunports could not be opened in anything but the calmest of seas. To do otherwise was to risk swamping the entire vessel, as occurred in 1781 when the first-rate HMS Royal George (1756) sank at anchor at Spithead after the lower gunports were opened to air the ship. Early first-rates had little storage space to stow provisions for their large crews on long voyages, and the ships themselves routinely proved unseaworthy in winter weather; as a consequence the first-rates were restricted to summer cruising, and then only in the English Channel and nearby waters. By the mid-1700s, however, improved design had removed these limitations.

Ships of this size were extremely expensive to operate. As a result, the few first rates (the Royal Navy had only five completed in 1794) were typically reserved as commanding admirals' flagships. First rates were typically kept out of commission ("in Ordinary") during peacetime and only activated ("commissioned") during times of conflict. This had the added advantage of preserving them from the wear and tear that smaller ships experienced in spending long periods at sea. Spending time in Ordinary could considerably extend a first rate's lifespan; for instance, by the time she fought in the Battle of Trafalgar, HMS Victory had been in service for 40 years, although a portion of this time was spent in Ordinary.

With first rates being the most powerful ships of the navy, it was common to compare them with the navies of other nations; frequently one sees the largest ships of those navies being referred to as first rates. Other nations had their own rating systems, notably the French Navy with its system of five formal rates or rangs.

Ships
Due to their cost of construction and maintenance, only a small number of first rates could be built and maintained at any one time. Thus over the 250 years (approximately) that the rating system of the Royal Navy was used, only a relatively small number of these ships saw service.

Only one first rate has survived to the present. HMS Victory, Admiral Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, is preserved at HMNB Portsmouth and is in commission. The hull of the 102-gun HMS St Lawrence (1814), which was built and operated entirely in fresh water during the War of 1812, survives intact in shallow water near shore in Kingston, Ontario, and is a popular diving attraction. Two other noted first rates were HMS Royal Sovereign (1786), which was broken up in 1841, and HMS Britannia (1762), which was broken up in 1825. Both these ships had 100 guns. Later first rates such as HMS Caledonia (1808) and its several sisters had 120 guns. Other navies, notably those of France and Spain, also had similar ships with more than 100 guns, the most heavily armed being the Santísima Trinidad which, following a rebuilding in 1802, carried 140 guns.

Other usage
The Royal Navy's use of the term "first-rate" to describe its largest and most powerful vessels is the origin of the modern English-language meaning of "exceptionally good" or "of the highest quality."

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: First-rate


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John Prescott

John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (born 31 May 1938) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull East for 40 years from 1970 to 2010. He was often seen as the political link to the working class in a Labour Party increasingly led by modernising, middle-class professionals such as Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson and developed a reputation as a key conciliator in the often fractious relationship between Blair and Gordon Brown.

Born in Prestatyn, Wales, in his youth Prescott failed the eleven-plus entrance exam for grammar school and worked as a ship's steward and trade union activist. He went on to graduate from Ruskin College and the University of Hull. In the 1994 Labour Party leadership election, he stood for both the leadership and deputy leadership, winning election to the latter office. He was appointed Deputy Prime Minister after Labour's victory in the 1997 election, with an expanded brief as Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions until 2001 then subsequently First Secretary of State until 2007. In June 2007, he resigned as Deputy Prime Minister, coinciding with Blair's resignation as Prime Minister. Following an election within the Labour Party, he was replaced as deputy leader by Harriet Harman.

After retiring as a Member of Parliament at the 2010 general election, Prescott entered the House of Lords as a life peer with the title Baron Prescott, of Kingston upon Hull in the County of East Yorkshire. He stood as the Labour candidate in the 2012 election to be the first Police and crime commissioner for Humberside Police but lost to Conservative Party candidate Matthew Grove. Prescott resigned from the Privy Council in 2013 to protest delays to the introduction of press regulation of which he had become a proponent. In February 2015, he returned to politics as an adviser to Labour leader Ed Miliband. Prescott was removed from the House of Lords in 2024 for non-attendance.

Early life
Prescott was born in Prestatyn, Wales, on 31 May 1938 to John Herbert ("Bert") Prescott (1911-2001)  and Phyllis (c. 1918-2003), née Parrish. Prescott's father was a white-collar railway signalman, justice of the peace, and Labour councillor. When he was a preteen, his family won a competition to find the "most typical British family of 1951". In 2009, he said: "I've always felt very proud of Wales and being Welsh...I was born in Wales, went to school in Wales and my mother was Welsh. I'm Welsh. It's my place of birth, my country." He left Wales in 1942 at the age of four and was brought up initially in Brinsworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. He attended Brinsworth Manor School, where in 1949 he sat but failed the 11-Plus examination to attend Rotherham Grammar School. Shortly afterwards, his family moved to Upton-by-Chester, and he attended Grange Secondary Modern School in nearby Ellesmere Port.

Prescott became a steward and waiter in the Merchant Navy, thus avoiding National service, working for Cunard, and was a popular left-wing union activist. Prescott's time in the Merchant Navy included a cruise from England to New Zealand in 1957. Among the passengers was former British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden, recuperating after his resignation over the Suez Crisis. Prescott reportedly described Eden as a "real gentleman". Apart from serving Eden, who stayed in his cabin much of the time, Prescott also won several boxing contests, at which Eden presented the prizes. He married Pauline "Tilly" Tilston at Upton Church in Chester on 11 November 1961. He then went to Ruskin College, which specialises in courses for union officials, where he gained a diploma in economics and politics in 1965. In 1968, he obtained a BSc degree in economics and economic history from the University of Hull.

Member of Parliament
Prescott returned to the National Union of Seamen as a full-time official before being elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull East in 1970, succeeding Commander Harry Pursey, the retiring Labour MP. The defeated Conservative challenger was Norman Lamont. Previously, he had attempted to become MP for Southport in 1966, but came in second place, approximately 9,500 votes behind the Conservative candidate. From July 1975 to 1979, he concurrently served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and Leader of the Labour Group, when its members were nominated by the national Parliaments. In 1988 Prescott and Eric Heffer challenged Roy Hattersley for the deputy leadership of the party, but Roy Hattersley was reelected as deputy leader. Prescott stood again in the 1992 deputy leadership election, following Hattersley's retirement, but lost to Margaret Beckett.

Prescott held various posts in Labour's Shadow Cabinet, but his career was secured by an impassioned closing speech in the debate at the Labour Party Conference in 1993 on the introduction of "one member, one vote" for the selection and reselection of Labour Parliamentary candidates that helped swing the vote in favour of this reform. In 1994 Prescott was a candidate in the party leadership election that followed the death of John Smith, standing for the positions of both leader and deputy leader. Tony Blair won the leadership contest, with Prescott being elected deputy leader.

Deputy Prime Minister

With the formation of a Labour government in 1997, Prescott was made Deputy Prime Minister and given a very large portfolio as the head of the newly created Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions. In the United Kingdom, the title of Deputy Prime Minister is used only occasionally, and confers no constitutional powers (in which it is similar to the pre-20th century usage of Prime Minister). The Deputy Prime Minister stands in when the Prime Minister is unavailable, most visibly at Prime minister's questions, and Prescott had attended various Heads of Government meetings on behalf of then Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Since the position of Deputy Prime Minister draws no salary, Prescott's remuneration was based on his position as Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions until 2001. This "super department" was then broken up, with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Transport established as separate entities. Prescott, still Deputy Prime Minister, was also given the largely honorific title of First Secretary of State. In July 2001 an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) was created to administer the areas remaining under his responsibility. This was originally part of the Cabinet Office, but became a department in its own right in May 2002, when it absorbed some of the responsibilities of the former Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. The ODPM had responsibility for local and regional government, housing, communities and the fire service.

Environment
The UK played a major role in the successful negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and Prescott led the UK delegation at the discussions. In May 2006, in recognition of his work in delivering the Kyoto Treaty, Tony Blair asked him to work with the Foreign Secretary and the Environment Secretary on developing the Government's post-Kyoto agenda.

As minister on 24 August 1999, Prescott made regulations banning the use of Chrysotile Asbestos which resulted in a complete ban on the usage of any Asbestos containing products in the United Kingdom from 24 November 1999.

Integrated transport policy
On coming to office, Prescott pursued an integrated public transport policy. On 6 June 1997, he said: "I will have failed if in five years time there are not...far fewer journeys by car. It's a tall order but I urge you to hold me to it." However, by June 2002, car traffic was up by 7%. This prompted Friends of the Earth's Tony Bosworth to say "By its own test, Government transport policy has failed".

Prescott had success in focusing attention on the role of car usage in the bigger environmental picture and the need for effective public transport alternatives if car volume is to be reduced. The subsequent debate on road pricing evolved from his policy. A contrast was highlighted between Prescott's transport brief and an incident, in 1999, when an official chauffeur-driven car was used to transport Prescott and his wife 250 yd from their hotel to the venue of the Labour Party Conference, where Prescott gave a speech on how to encourage the use of public transport. Prescott explained, "Because of the security reasons for one thing and second, my wife doesn't like to have her hair blown about. Have you got another silly question?" Prescott has been fined for speeding on four occasions.

Rail regulation
Prescott had a stormy relationship with the privatisation of the railway industry. He had vigorously opposed the privatisation of the industry while the Labour Party was in opposition, and disliked the party's policy, established in 1996 just before the flotation of Railtrack on the London Stock Exchange, of committing to renationalise the industry only when resources allowed, which he saw as meaning that it would never be done. Reluctantly, he supported the alternative policy, produced by then shadow transport secretary Clare Short, that the industry should be subjected to closer regulation by the to-be-created Strategic Rail Authority (in the case of the passenger train operators) and the Rail Regulator (in the case of the monopoly and dominant elements in the industry, principally Railtrack). The policy was spelled out in some detail in the Labour Party's statement in the June 1996 prospectus for the sale of Railtrack shares, and was widely regarded as having depressed the price of the shares.

In 1998, Prescott was criticised by Transport Minister John Reid for his statement – at the Labour Party conference that year – that the privatised railway was a "national disgrace", despite receiving a standing ovation from the Labour Party audience. The companies felt that they had had some considerable successes in cutting costs and generating new revenues in the short time since their transfer to private sector hands, and that the criticisms were premature and unfair.

In that speech, Prescott also announced that he would be taking a far tougher line with the companies, and to that end he would be having a "spring clean" of the industry. This meant that the incumbent Director of Passenger Rail Franchising – John O'Brien – and the Rail Regulator John Swift QC – both appointed by the previous Conservative government, would have to make way for new Labour appointees.

In July 1998, Prescott, published a transport White Paper stating that the rail industry needed an element of stability and certainty if it was to plan its activities effectively.

In February 1999, the regulation of the passenger rail operators fell to Sir Alastair Morton, who Prescott announced would be appointed as chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, which would take over from the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising whose office would be wound up. In July 1999, the new Rail Regulator appointed by Prescott was Tom Winsor. They shared Prescott's view that the railway industry needed a considerable shake-up in its institutional, operational, engineering and economic matrix to attract and retain private investment and enable the companies within it to become strong, competent and successful.

Local and regional government
Responsible for local government, Prescott introduced a new system guiding members' conduct after 2001. The new system included a nationally agreed Code of Conduct laid down by Statutory instrument which all local authorities were required to adopt; the Code of Conduct gives guidance on when councillors have an interest in a matter under discussion and when that interest is prejudicial so that the councillor may not speak or vote on the matter. Although on many areas councillors had previously been expected to withdraw where they had declared an interest, the new system made the system more formal and introduced specific sanctions for breaches; it was criticised for preventing councillors from representing the views of their local communities.

Prescott supported regional government in England. Early in his term, he introduced regional assemblies (consisting of delegates from local authorities and other regional stakeholders) to oversee the work of new Regional Development Agencies in the regions of England. Following Labour's second election victory, he pressed for the introduction of elected regional assemblies, which would have seen about 25 to 35 members elected under a similar electoral system to that used for the London Assembly. However, because of opposition, the government was forced to hold regional referendums on the change. The first three were intended to be in the North-East, North-West and Yorkshire and the Humber. The North-East referendum in November 2004 was first (where support was felt to be strongest) but resulted in an overwhelming vote of 78% against. As a consequence, the plan for elected regional assemblies was shelved.

Housing
A rising number of households (especially in the south-east) were putting added pressure on housing during Prescott's tenure as the minister responsible. An increase in the housebuilding was proposed, primarily on brownfield sites, but also on some undeveloped greenfield areas and as a result he was accused of undermining the Green Belt. During a radio interview in January 1998, Prescott was asked about housing development on the green belt; intending to convey that the government would enlarge green belt protection, Prescott replied: "It's a Labour achievement, and we mean to build on it". He had not intended to make a joke and was distressed when it prompted laughter.

In the north of England, Prescott approved the demolition of some 200,000 homes that were judged to be in "failing areas" as part of his Pathfinder regeneration scheme. It has been argued that renovating properties, rather than demolishing them, would have made better financial and community sense.

Prescott led the campaign to abolish council housing, which ran out of steam when tenants in Birmingham voted to stay with the council in 2002. A previous attempt to privatise all the council housing in the London Borough of Camden failed in 1997.

Opposition to education reforms
On 17 December 2005, Prescott made public his disapproval of Tony Blair's plans to give state schools the right to govern their finances and admission policies and to increase the number of city academies. It was the first policy stance that Prescott had made against Blair since his election as leader in 1994. Prescott said that the move would create a two-tier educational system that would discriminate against the working class. He added that Labour were "always better fighting class".

Links with the grass roots
Prescott, sometimes described as "an old-school unionist", kept in touch with the views of the traditional Labour voters throughout his career. He became an important figure in Tony Blair's "New Labour" movement, as the representative of 'old Labour' interests in the Shadow cabinet and subsequently around the Cabinet table as Deputy Prime Minister.

However, now a member of the establishment, relationships with the grass roots were not always smooth. Whilst attending the Brit Awards in 1998, Chumbawamba vocalist Danbert Nobacon poured a jug of iced water over Prescott, saying, "This is for the Liverpool Dockers". (Dock workers in Liverpool had been involved in a two-year industrial dispute: a strike that had turned into a lock-out, until a few weeks earlier.) A reporter from the Daily Mirror threw water over Nobacon the following day.

Abolition of department
In a Cabinet reshuffle on 5 May 2006, Prescott's departmental responsibilities were transferred to Ruth Kelly, as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, following revelations about his private life and a poor performance by Labour in that year's local elections. He remained as Deputy Prime Minister, with a seat in the Cabinet, and was given a role as a special envoy to the Far East as well as additional responsibilities chairing cabinet committees. Despite having lost his departmental responsibilities it was announced that he would retain his full salary (£134,000pa) and pension entitlements, along with both his grace-and-favour homes, an announcement which received considerable criticism.

The press speculated in July 2006 that, as a consequence of the continuing problems centred on Prescott, Blair was preparing to replace him as Deputy Prime Minister with David Miliband, whilst possibly retaining Prescott as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, but nothing came of this.

Announcement of retirement
In a speech to the 2006 Labour Party Conference in Manchester, Prescott apologised for the bad press he had caused the party during the previous year. He said: "I know in the last year I let myself down, I let you down. So Conference, I just want to say sorry", and confirmed that he would stand down as deputy leader when Blair resigned the premiership. Prescott subsequently announced in the House of Commons that he was "... in a rather happy demob stage", in January 2007.

Within 30 minutes of Blair announcing the date of his resignation on 10 May 2007, Prescott announced his resignation as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. During the subsequent special Labour Party Conference, Gordon Brown was elected Leader and Harriet Harman succeeded Prescott as Deputy Leader.

Life after government

Following his resignation, it was announced that Prescott would take over from Tony Lloyd as the lead UK Representative in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. In a jocular response to the appointment, Shadow Europe Minister Mark Francois wished the translators good luck. The post is unpaid but has an expenses allowance and allows him to sit on the Assembly of the Western European Union. He has used his role on the council to make his campaign against slave labour a key issue.

On 27 August 2007, Prescott stated that he would stand down as an MP at the next general election. His autobiography, Prezza, My Story: Pulling no Punches was published on 29 May 2008 and ghostwritten by Hunter Davies. During the 2010 general election campaign, Prescott toured the UK in a customised white transit van dubbed his "Battlebus" canvassing support for the Labour Party. Prescott was publicly very supportive of Gordon Brown, and has called him a "global giant".

It was announced on 28 May 2010 that Prescott was to be awarded a life peerage, The peerage was gazetted on 15 June in the 2010 Dissolution Honours. Prescott has stated in interviews that he is not religious. He was introduced into the House on 8 July as Baron Prescott, of Kingston upon Hull in the County of East Yorkshire, and the Letters patent were gazetted on 12 July, dated 7 July.

Prescott is a director of Super League rugby league club Hull Kingston Rovers, who are based in his former constituency of Kingston upon Hull East. Prescott ran for Labour Party Treasurer in September 2010 but was defeated by Diana Holland, who took 68.96% of the total vote.

On 30 July 2010, Prescott appeared before the panel at the Chilcot Inquiry concerning the Iraq War. Prescott stated that he was doubtful about the legality, intelligence and information about Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction. The inquiry was launched by Gordon Brown in the summer of 2009 shortly after operations in the war ended. In 2016, after publication of the resultant Chilcot Report, which was critical of the war but remained neutral on its legality, Prescott declared that the invasion by UK and US forces had been "illegal" and that members of Tony Blair's Cabinet "were given too little paper documentation to make decisions".

In February 2012, Prescott announced he would stand for Labour's nomination in the election to be the first Police and crime commissioner for Humberside Police. In June he was selected as the Labour candidate for the election in November 2012. In the November election Prescott won the most first preference votes but ended up losing to Conservative Matthew Grove in the second count.

In March 2013, Prescott suggested that the Queen, Elizabeth II, should abdicate due to her health. Prescott was criticised for his position by several MPs.

On 6 July 2013, Prescott revealed in a newspaper column that he had resigned from the Privy Council in protest against the delays to the introduction of press regulation. The resignation only became effective on 6 November the same year. The Coalition Government had insisted that the Privy Council must consider a cross-party Royal Charter to underpin a new system of regulation, but that this meant that a final decision would not be taken before 2015.

On 21 February 2015, it was announced Prescott would return to politics as an adviser to Labour leader Ed Miliband.

In October 2015, Prescott was presented with the Shechtman International Leadership Award at the Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit 2015 in Antalya, Turkey, for his contributions to sustainable development in politics.

Prescott ceased to be a member of the House of Lords on 9 July 2024 under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 because of non-attendance in the preceding session of Parliament. He retains his peerage.

Television appearances
In June 2008, Prescott made a cameo appearance, playing a policeman, in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Robert Tressell's The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists. In 2009, he made a brief cameo appearance as himself in the final episode of the BBC Three comedy series Gavin & Stacey (this referred to a running joke in the show regarding a relationship the character Nessa had had with him many years previously). Beginning on 7 January 2011, Prescott appeared in a TV advert for price comparison website moneysupermarket.com, along with comedian Omid Djalili, which gently mocks events in his political career. On 27 February 2011, he appeared on the BBC's Top Gear as the "Star in the Reasonably Priced Car", where he set a lap time of 1.56.7, the second slowest in a Kia Ceed. He also engaged in a discussion with host Jeremy Clarkson regarding his time in Government. He appeared as himself in the 2014 Comic Relief film David Walliams' Exes.

In October and November 2008, Prescott was the subject of a two-part documentary, Prescott: the Class System and Me, on BBC Two, looking at the class system in Britain, and asking whether it still exists. In 2009, he featured in the BBC Wales TV series Coming Home about his Welsh family history, with roots in Prestatyn and Chirk. In October 2009, he was featured in another BBC Two documentary, Prescott: The North/South Divide, in which he and his wife Pauline explored the current state of the North-South Divide from their perspective as Northern Englanders long used to living in the south of the country.

In 2019, Prescott hosted the television series Made in Britain, which explored the manufacturing of some of Britain's favourite foods.

Council tax
In 2003, Prescott gave up a home that he had rented from the RMT Union in Clapham; he had left the union in June 2002. Prescott paid £220 a month for the property – a fifth of its market value. Though he had not declared the flat in the register of members' interests, he was subsequently exonerated by MPs who overruled Elizabeth Filkin, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. On 12 January 2006, Prescott apologised after it was revealed that the council tax for the government flat he occupied at Admiralty House was paid from public money, rather than his private income. He repaid the amount, which came to £3,830.52 over nearly nine years.

Sexual infidelities
Prescott has come under fire for additional controversies over sexual infidelities. On 26 April 2006, he admitted to having had an affair with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple, between 2002 and 2004. This two-year affair is said to have commenced after an office party and, in part, took place during meetings at Prescott's grace-and-favour flat in Whitehall. Conservative MP Andrew Robathan tabled questions in the House of Commons over Prescott's reported entertainment of Temple at Dorneywood, his official residence, which raised questions over the possible misuse of public finances.

He was criticised for maintaining the benefits of Deputy Prime Minister despite losing his department in 2006. He was criticised for visiting the American billionaire Phil Anschutz who was bidding for the government licence to build a super casino in the UK,  and questioned over his involvement in the business of his son Johnathan Prescott. He was photographed playing croquet at Dorneywood, his then "grace and favour" home, when Tony Blair was out of the country on a visit to Washington. Prescott was mocked in the media – in part because the game was so divorced from his working-class roots – and he gave up the use of the house. He later said that it had been his staff's idea to play croquet and that contrary to press reports, he had not been Acting Prime Minister when he had played the game.

Sexual assault allegation
On 7 May 2006, The Sunday Times quoted Linda McDougall, wife of Austin Mitchell, as saying that in 1978 Prescott had pushed her "quite forcefully" against a wall and put his hand up her skirt as she opened the door for him to a meeting in her own house just after her husband became an MP; Prescott had not previously met her.

Expenses claims
On 8 May 2009, The Daily Telegraph began publishing leaked details of MPs' expenses. The Telegraph reported that Prescott had claimed £312 for fitting mock Tudor beams to his constituency home, and for two new toilet seats in as many years. Prescott responded by saying, "Every expense was within the rules of the House of Commons on claiming expenses at the time".

2001 Rhyl incident
On 16 May 2001, when arriving for a rally in Rhyl, Prescott was assaulted by a pro-hunting supporter Craig Evans who is an enforcement officer for Natural Resources Wales. Craig Evans threw an egg at him. Prescott retaliated by punching the protester. A momentary ensuing scuffle was broken up by police and bystanders. This earned Prescott the nickname "Two Jabs".

Public profile
Prescott gained a reputation in the British press for confused speech, mangled syntax and poor grammar. The Guardian columnist Simon Hoggart once commented: "Every time Prescott opens his mouth, it's like someone has flipped open his head and stuck in an egg whisk." An oft-quoted but unverified story in Jeremy Paxman's The Political Animal is that, before being accepted as transcribers to the Parliamentary record Hansard, applicants must listen to one of Prescott's speeches and write down what they think he was trying to say. However, Liz Davies wrote that on the Labour National Executive Committee, Prescott "spoke in clear, concise sentences and his point was always understandable. Contrary to his television and parliamentary image, he appears to choose his words with care."

The media have attached various sobriquets to Prescott during his political career. Originally, Prescott's nickname was "Prezza", but as various misfortunes befell him the sobriquets became more colourful, leading to "Two Jags", which set the template for later nicknames. Prescott owns one Jaguar, and had the use of another as his official ministerial car. A later version of this term was "Two Jabs", following his retaliation against a protester farmer in 2001, and "Two Shacks", referring to his former country house. When he lost his department in a cabinet reshuffle following exposure of his affair, newspapers dubbed him "Two Shags" and "No Jobs". Banned from driving after being convicted of speeding in 1991, Prescott was banned again after a similar conviction in June 2015. This led to him being nicknamed "Two bans".

Prescott has been involved in a number of incidents that have caused widespread media interest. During the 2001 election campaign, Prescott was campaigning in Rhyl, Denbighshire, when one Craig Evans threw an egg at him. Prescott, a former amateur boxer, responded immediately with a straight left to the jaw. The incident, overshadowing the launch of the Labour Party manifesto on that day, was captured by television cameras. Tony Blair responded by stating: "John is John". A National Opinion Polls (NOP) survey found that the incident did no public harm to Prescott, and may even have benefited his standing amongst male voters. Speaking on Top Gear, Prescott stated: "I was against fox-hunting, and he thought I was one of the guys he hated because I wanted to keep fox-hunting". He elaborated:

"When I walked past this guy, and he hit me with the egg, right, I don't know it was an egg, I just feel this very warm thing running down my neck and I think, well I just think somebody's perhaps knifed me or assaulted me, you know, that all happens in a split second, and I see this fellow built like a bloody barn door, and I turned, and I reacted, and when Tony [Blair] asked me, er, what happened I said I was carrying out his orders; he told us to connect with the electorate, so I did."

Family
Prescott and Pauline Tilston married in 1961. They have two sons. The elder, Johnathan Prescott, is a businessman. Their younger son, David Prescott, is active in Labour Party politics and works in the office of former party leader Jeremy Corbyn; he failed to be selected for his father's parliamentary seat in Hull but was the Labour candidate for Gainsborough in 2015. Pauline had a son by an American airman in the 1950s, whom she gave up for adoption.

Health concerns
Prescott was diagnosed with diabetes in 1990, although this was not publicly disclosed until 2002. On 2 June 2007 he was admitted to hospital after being taken ill on a train from his constituency in Hull to London King's Cross. He was later diagnosed with pneumonia and was treated at University College Hospital, London. He was moved to a high-dependency ward on 5 June 2007 so he could be monitored more closely because of his age and the fact he suffers from diabetes. On 6 June 2007 it was reported in the media that his condition was stable and that he was sitting up and "joking" with hospital staff. He was subsequently released from hospital on 10 June 2007 to continue his recovery at home.

In April 2008, Prescott recounted having suffered from the eating disorder bulimia nervosa, which he believed was brought on by stress, from the 1980s until 2007.

Prescott was admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary on 21 June 2019 after suffering a stroke. He subsequently returned to his duties.

title: John Prescott


text:
Kamal Kharazi

Sayyid Kamal Kharazi (, born 1 December 1944) is an Iranian reformist politician and diplomat who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 20 August 1997 to 24 August 2005 as appointed by President Mohammad Khatami serving for eight years. He was replaced by Manouchehr Mottaki who was appointed by the next President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is currently member of the Expediency Discernment Council.

Early life and education
Kharazi was born in Tehran in 1944. He got his Bachelor degree in Arabic language and literature, and after receiving his master's degree in education at the University of Tehran, he spent a year (1975–1976) as teaching fellow at the University of Houston, where he received a PhD in industrial psychology.

Career
Kharazi has been a Professor of Management and Educational Psychology at Tehran University since 1983. Kharazi was a founding member of the Islamic Research Institute in London.

Kharazi has held a number of governmental, diplomatic and academic posts and headed Iranian delegations at numerous international conferences, most importantly at the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. For several years Kharazi presented the official Iranian position on TV and at university campuses in the United States and Europe, and has written extensively on foreign policy issues. He had extensive experience in guiding the media during the early days of Iran's Iranian Revolution.

From July 1980 to September 1989, he was the President of the Islamic Republic News Agency. On 18 September 1980, the Iran–Iraq War broke out, and Kharazi served as a member of the Supreme Defense Council of Iran and headed the War Information Headquarters and served as a military spokesman for most of the war (from September 1980 to September 1988).

During the first months after the Iranian Revolution, Kharazi served as the Vice-President of Iranian National Television (March to August 1979) for the new Islamic state. He then served as the Vice-Minister for Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (from August 1979 to March 1980) and as the Managing Director of the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (from August 1979 to July 1981). Previously, he represented Iran at the United Nations from 1989 to 1997.

title: Kamal Kharazi


text:
Robin Cook

Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook (28 February 1946 – 6 August 2005) was a British Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 when he was replaced by Jack Straw. He then served as Leader of the House of Commons from 2001 until 2003.

Cook studied at the University of Edinburgh before being elected as the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh Central in 1974; he switched to the Livingston constituency in 1983. In Parliament, he was known for his debating ability and rapidly rose through the political ranks and ultimately into the Cabinet. As Foreign Secretary, he oversaw British interventions in Kosovo and Sierra Leone.

Cook resigned from his positions as Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons on 17 March 2003 in protest against the invasion of Iraq. At the time of his death, he was President of the Foreign Policy Centre and a Vice-President of the America All Party Parliamentary Group and the Global Security and Non-Proliferation All Party Parliamentary Group.

Early life
Robin Cook was born in the County Hospital, Bellshill, Scotland, the only son of Peter and Christina Cook (née Lynch) (29 May 1912 – 20 March 2003). His father was a chemistry teacher who grew up in Fraserburgh, and his grandfather was a miner before being blacklisted for being involved in a strike.

Cook was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and, from 1960, the Royal High School in Edinburgh. At first, Cook intended to become a Church of Scotland minister, but lost his faith as he discovered politics. He joined the Labour Party in 1965 and became an atheist. He remained so for the rest of his life.

He then studied English literature at the University of Edinburgh, where he obtained a postgraduate MA with Honours in English Literature. He began studying for a PhD on Charles Dickens and Victorian serial novels, supervised by John Sutherland, but gave it up in 1970.

In 1971, after a period working as a secondary school teacher, Cook became a tutor-organiser of the Workers' Educational Association for Lothian, and a local councillor in Edinburgh. He gave up both posts when he was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) on his twenty-eighth birthday, in February 1974.

Early years in Parliament
Cook unsuccessfully contested the Edinburgh North constituency at the 1970 general election, but was elected to the House of Commons at the February 1974 general election as Member of Parliament for Edinburgh Central, defeating George Foulkes for nomination. In 1981, Cook was a member of the anti-nuclear Labour Party Defence Study Group.

When the constituency boundaries were revised for the 1983 general election, he transferred to the new Livingston constituency after Tony Benn declined to run for the seat. Cook represented Livingston until his death. In parliament, Cook joined the left-wing Tribune Group of the Parliamentary Labour Party and frequently opposed the policies of the Wilson and Callaghan governments. He was an early supporter of constitutional and electoral reform (he opposed devolution in the 1979 referendum but came out in favour on election night in 1983) and of efforts to increase the number of female MPs. In May 2005, one month before he died, Cook said: "My nightmare is that we will have been 12 years in office, with the ability to reform the electoral system, and will fail to do so until we are back in opposition, in perhaps a decade of Conservative government, regretting that we left in place the electoral system that allowed Conservative governments on a minority vote."

Cook supported unilateral nuclear disarmament and the abandoning of the Labour Party's euroscepticism of the 1970s and 1980s. During his early years in parliament, Cook championed several liberalising social measures, to mixed effect. He repeatedly (and unsuccessfully) introduced a private member's bill on divorce reform in Scotland, but succeeded in July 1980 – and after three years' trying – with an amendment to bring the Scottish law on homosexuality into line with that in England. After Labour were defeated at the general election in May 1979, Cook supported Michael Foot's leadership bid and joined his campaign committee. When Tony Benn challenged Denis Healey for the party's deputy leadership in September 1981, Cook supported Healey.

In opposition
Cook became known as a brilliant parliamentary debater, and rose through the party ranks, becoming a frontbench spokesman in 1980, and reaching the Shadow Cabinet in June 1983, as spokesperson on European affairs. He was campaign manager for Neil Kinnock's successful 1983 bid to become leader of the Labour Party. A year later he was made party campaign co-ordinator but in October 1986 Cook was surprisingly voted out of the shadow cabinet. He was re-elected in July 1987 and in October 1988 elected to Labour's National Executive Committee. He was one of the key figures in the modernisation of the Labour Party under Kinnock. He was Shadow Health Secretary (1987–92) and Shadow Trade Secretary (1992–94), before taking on foreign affairs in 1994, the post he would become most identified with (Shadow Foreign Secretary 1994–97, Foreign Secretary 1997–2001).

In 1994, following the death of John Smith, he ruled himself out of contention for the Labour leadership, apparently on the grounds that he was "insufficiently attractive" to be an election winner, although two close family bereavements in the week in which the decision had to be made may have contributed.

On 26 February 1996, following the publication of the Scott Report into the 'Arms-to-Iraq' affair, he made a speech in response to the then President of the Board of Trade Ian Lang in which he said: "this is not just a Government which does not know how to accept blame; it is a Government which knows no shame". His parliamentary performance on the occasion of the publication of the five-volume, 2,000-page Scott Report – which he claimed he was given just two hours to read before the relevant debate, thus giving him three seconds to read every page – was widely praised on both sides of the House as one of the best performances the Commons had seen in years and one of Cook's finest hours. The government won the vote by a majority of one.

As Joint Chairman (alongside Liberal Democrat MP Robert Maclennan) of the Labour-Liberal Democrat Joint Consultative Committee on Constitutional Reform, Cook brokered the 'Cook-Maclennan Agreement' that laid the basis for the fundamental reshaping of the British constitution outlined in Labour's 1997 general election manifesto. This led to legislation for major reforms including Scottish and Welsh devolution, the Human Rights Act and removing the majority of hereditary peers from the House of Lords.

Foreign Secretary

With the election of a Labour government led by Tony Blair at the 1997 general election, Cook became Foreign Secretary. He was believed to have coveted the job of Chancellor of the Exchequer, but that job was reportedly promised by Tony Blair to Gordon Brown. He announced, to much scepticism, his intention to add "an ethical dimension" to foreign policy.

His term as Foreign Secretary was marked by British interventions in Kosovo and Sierra Leone. Both of these were controversial, the former because it was not sanctioned by the UN Security Council, and the latter because of allegations that the British company Sandline International had supplied arms to supporters of the deposed president in contravention of a United Nations embargo. Cook was also embarrassed when his apparent offer to mediate in the dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir was rebuffed. The ethical dimension of his policies was subject to inevitable scrutiny, leading to criticism at times.

Cook was responsible for achieving the agreement between the UK and Iran that ended the Iranian death threat against author Salman Rushdie, allowing both nations to normalize diplomatic relations. He is also credited with having helped resolve the eight-year impasse over the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial by getting Libya to agree to hand over the two accused (Megrahi and Fhimah) in 1999, for trial in the Netherlands according to Scots law.

In March 1998, a diplomatic rift ensued with Israel when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a dinner with Cook, while Cook was visiting Israel and had demonstrated opposition to the expansion of Israeli settlements.

Although reported to have had republican sympathies, he and Queen Elizabeth II were said to be on good terms due to their mutual interest in horses.

Leader of the House of Commons
Following the 2001 general election he was moved, against his wishes, from the Foreign Office to be Leader of the House of Commons. This was widely seen as a demotion – although it is a Cabinet post, it is substantially less prestigious than the Foreign Office – and Cook nearly turned it down. In the end he accepted, and looking on the bright side welcomed the chance to spend more time on his favourite stage. According to The Observer, it was Blair's fears over political battles within the Cabinet over Europe, and especially the Euro, which saw him demote the pro-European Cook.

As Leader of the House, he was responsible for reforming the hours and practices of the Commons and for leading the debate on reform of the House of Lords. He also spoke for the Government during the controversy surrounding the membership of Commons Select Committees which arose in 2001, where Government whips were accused of pushing aside the outspoken committee chairs Gwyneth Dunwoody and Donald Anderson. He was President of the Party of European Socialists from May 2001 to April 2004.

In early 2003, during a television appearance on BBC's debating series Question Time, he was inadvertently referred to as "Robin Cock" by David Dimbleby. Cook responded with good humour with "Yes, David Bumblebee", and Dimbleby apologised twice on air for his slip. The episode also saw Cook in the uncomfortable position of defending the Government's stance over the impending invasion of Iraq, weeks before his resignation over the issue.

He documented his time as Leader of the House of Commons in a widely acclaimed memoir The Point of Departure, which discussed in diary form his efforts to reform the House of Lords and to persuade his ministerial colleagues, including Tony Blair, to distance the Labour Government from the foreign policy of the Bush administration. The former political editor of Channel 4 News, Elinor Goodman called the book 'the best insight yet into the workings of the Blair cabinet', the former editor of The Observer, Will Hutton, called it "the political book of the year – a lucid and compelling insider's account of the two years that define the Blair Prime Ministership".

Resignation over Iraq war
In early 2003, he was reported to be one of the cabinet's chief opponents of military action against Iraq, and on 17 March he resigned from the Cabinet. In a statement giving his reasons for resigning, he said, "I can't accept collective responsibility for the decision to commit Britain now to military action in Iraq without international agreement or domestic support." He also praised Blair's "heroic efforts" in pushing for the so-called second resolution regarding the Iraq disarmament crisis, but lamented "The reality is that Britain is being asked to embark on a war without agreement in any of the international bodies of which we are a leading partner – not NATO, not the European Union and, now, not the Security Council". Cook's heartfelt resignation speech in the House of Commons received an unprecedented standing ovation from some fellow MPs, and was described by the BBC's Andrew Marr as "without doubt one of the most effective, brilliant resignation speeches in modern British politics." Most unusually for the British parliament, Cook's speech was met with growing applause from all sides of the House and from the public gallery. According to The Economist's obituary, that was the first speech ever to receive a standing ovation in the history of the House.

Outside the government
Following his 2003 resignation from the Cabinet, Cook remained an active backbench Member of Parliament until his death. After leaving the Government, Cook was a leading analyst of the decision to go to war in Iraq, giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee which was later relevant during the Hutton and Butler inquiries. He was sceptical of the proposals contained in the Government's Higher Education Bill, and abstained on its second reading. He also took strong positions in favour of both the proposed European Constitution, and the reform of the House of Lords to create a majority-elected second chamber, about which he said (while he was Leader of the Commons), "I do not see how [the House of Lords] can be a democratic second Chamber if it is also an election-free zone".

In October 2004, Cook hosted an episode of the long-running BBC panel show Have I Got News for You.

In the years after his exit from the Foreign Office, and particularly following his resignation from the Cabinet, Cook made up with Gordon Brown after decades of personal animosity — an unlikely reconciliation after a mediation attempt by Frank Dobson in the early 1990s had seen Dobson conclude (to John Smith) "You're right. They hate each other." Cook and Brown focused on their common political ground, discussing how to firmly entrench progressive politics after the exit of Tony Blair. Chris Smith said in 2005 that in recent years Cook had been setting out a vision of "libertarian, democratic socialism that was beginning to break the sometimes sterile boundaries of 'old' and 'New' Labour labels". With Blair's popularity waning, Cook campaigned vigorously in the run-up to the 2005 general election to persuade Labour doubters to remain with the party.

In a column for the Guardian four weeks before his death, Cook caused a stir when he described Al-Qaeda as a product of a western intelligence:

"Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by Western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda, literally 'the database', was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians."

Some commentators and senior politicians said that Cook seemed destined for a senior Cabinet post under a Brown premiership.

In the 2005 general election, his first election as a backbencher in over 20 years, he held his Livingston seat with an increased majority of 13,097, where he remained until his death 3 months later.

Personal life
Cook's first wife was Margaret Katherine Whitmore, from Somerset, whom he met at Edinburgh University. They married on 15 September 1969 at St Alban's Church, Westbury Park, Bristol and had two sons.

Shortly after he became Foreign Secretary, Cook ended his relationship with Margaret, revealing that he was having an extramarital affair with one of his staff, Gaynor Regan. He announced his intentions to leave his wife via a press statement made at Heathrow on 2 August 1997. Cook was forced into a decision over his private life following a telephone conversation with Alastair Campbell as he was about to go on holiday with his first wife. Campbell explained that the press was about to break the story of his affair with Regan. His estranged wife subsequently accused him of having had several extramarital affairs and alleged he had a habit of drinking heavily.

Cook married Regan in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on 9 April 1998, four weeks after his divorce was finalised.

Introduced to horse racing by his first wife, Cook was a racing tipster in his spare time. Between 1991 and 1998 Cook wrote a weekly tipster's column for Glasgow's Herald newspaper, a post in which he was succeeded by Alex Salmond.

Death
At the start of August 2005, Cook and his wife, Gaynor, took a two-week holiday in the Scottish Highlands. At around 2:20 pm on 6 August 2005, while he walked down Ben Stack in Sutherland, Cook suddenly suffered a severe heart attack, collapsed, lost consciousness and fell about 8 ft down a ridge. He was assisted after his fall by another hill-walker who refused all publicity and was granted anonymity. A helicopter containing paramedics arrived 30 minutes after a 999 call was made. Cook then was flown to Raigmore Hospital, Inverness.

Gaynor did not get in the helicopter and walked down the mountain. Despite efforts made by the medical team to revive Cook in the helicopter, he was already beyond recovery, and at 4:05 pm, minutes after arrival at the hospital, was pronounced dead. He was 59. Two days later, a post-mortem examination found that Cook had died of hypertensive heart disease.

A funeral was held on 12 August 2005, at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, even though Cook had been an atheist. Gordon Brown gave the eulogy, and German foreign minister Joschka Fischer was one of the mourners. Tony Blair, who was on holiday at the time, did not attend.

A later memorial service at St Margaret's, Westminster, on 5 December 2005, included a reading by Blair and tributes by Brown and Madeleine Albright. On 29 September 2005, Cook's friend and election agent since 1983, Jim Devine, won the resulting by-election with a reduced majority.

In January 2007, a headstone was erected in the Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh where Cook is buried, bearing the epitaph: "I may not have succeeded in halting the war, but I did secure the right of parliament to decide on war." It is a reference to Cook's strong opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the words were reportedly chosen by his widow and two sons from his previous marriage.

in April 2022, Police Scotland were asked by an individual whose name was redacted for seven pieces of unanswered information surrounding Cook's death. The request was initially refused, but the Scottish Information Commissioner ruled the police had breached the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 by doing so. Since this development, controversy has re-emerged around the circumstances of Cook's death.

title: Robin Cook


text:
Talk:Salman Rushdie

Rushdie and Israel
In light of the picture of Rushdie with Pres. Peres, does anybody know anything about Rushdie's political opinions regarding Israel? I think it would be interesting in the article.

Matter of WP:Due and WP:Relevance.
Similar to other aspects, info about his awards is already extensively highlighted in the lead, despite an entire section dedicated to it. Therefore, details of Rushdie's five marriages and divorces have received controversy and are highly relevant due to their media coverage and impact on his public persona and legacy. They provide context to his life, warranting their inclusion upfront. StarkReport (talk) 08:15, 17 July 2024 (UTC)

Nationality
Hi, sorry for my ignorant and silly comments on this. However, I find the current lead sentence pretty distracting, and imo, we should either change the descriptor to "Indian-born" (as what we've already done to Albert Einstein) or omit it (as what we've already done to Elon Musk, Tina Turner, Paulina Porizkova, etc).

Regards, Thedarkknightli (talk) 12:45, 20 July 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Salman Rushdie