Richard's Blog - January 2012

Argentina and the Falkland Islands

In beautiful Argentina on the way to Antarctica with Al Gore and a fascinating group of scientists and experts. It’s 30 years since military dictators in Argentina led by General Galtieri chose to invade the Falklands. Sadly both Britain and Argentina lost many young men in the conflict. The positive outcome of Argentina’s defeat was the overthrow of the dictators' despicable regime in Argentina that had rounded up and killed over 30,000 of their own people (The Disappeared). They …

Necker animals - White Cheeked Pintail

The White Cheeked Pintail is another successful re-establishment of a species that had practically disappeared in the BVI until a few years ago. Numbers on Necker have increased from just a couple of pairs in 2005 to approximately 350-400 pairs in 2012. Along with the Stout Iguana and Red-Footed Tortoise, Necker Island proves to be the perfect sanctuary for Caribbean species once prolific in these islands. Necker animals 3 - Flamingos Necker animals 2 - Stout Iguana Necker animals 1 - Esi…

Preventing cervical cancer

This week is Cervical Cancer Prevention Week, a cause I am very keen to highlight. It is a disease that affects millions, but many people still know very little about it.When I went to Stephen Hawking’s 70th birthday party recently I was talking to Trinity College’s deputy chancellor, who is an expert on cervical cancer. He spoke about the amount of people who die unnecessarily from preventable diseases. He mentioned that cervical cancer alone kills 250,000 girls and women per year. …

Congratulations Virgin Trains staff

Well done to all our staff at Virgin Trains for yet again being voted Britain's favourite rail company by its customers. Virgin Trains won the Favourite Rail Operator award at Globe Travel awards in London this week and was also named the leading long-distance franchise operator in the independent National Passenger Survey.The award is particularly pleasing because it was decided by our customers - readers of Mail Newspapers' TravelMail - rather than a panel of judges. And they beat luxury opera…

How is your country’s drug policy?

Constructive day at the House of Commons yesterday discussing drug policy with the Home Affairs Committee on drug laws.100,000 young people in Britain get prosecuted for possessing small amounts of drugs. More than 70,000 of them get criminal records. A fair number of them end up in prison. It costs the police $350 million per year, and the police use up 20% of their time administering it.Whereas in Portugal nobody gets prosecuted for personal possession, people with drug problems get helped. No…

The Youth Investment Fund

Virgin Media Pioneers is leading the campaign to help young entrepreneurs get the backing they need to succeed in business, through the Youth Investment Fund. After speaking at the House of Commons Select Committee today I met MPs to talk about Virgin Media Pioneers' campaign. There is already government funding for people who go to university but there is no help to encourage people to start businesses. What we are suggesting is if people have good business ideas they should be able to get fun…

Kids say the most wonderful things

Since Holly’s wedding I have been getting asked a lot of questions about grandchildren, and have been thinking of some of the wonderful wisdom kids come out with.Having recently answered some fantastic questions from young people on Virgin Oceanic, we thought it might be quite fun to look for best quotes from young kids.Here’s a few examples of my own, starting with one from a seven-year-old called Bobby: “Love. It’s what’s in the room with you at Christmas when you…

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