and given public lectures in Dunedin and Christchurch, New Zealand on "Nuclear Energy for a Green Future". He also led a delegation to Bulgaria and was instrumental in raising the issue of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant in the EU. Since Australia and New Zealand are part of the Cairns Group, campaigning for agriculture reform within the WTO, he was a vice-president of the Parliamentary delegation to these countries. He was the inaugural speaker at the Jean Monet lecture at the university in Christchurch, (followed the next year by Prime Minister Helen Clarke). He has addressed civil servants and politicians in Canberra and Wellington as well as Pretoria and Cape Town on European matters. In November 2006 he gave a public seminar at the Australian National University in Canberra. In March/April 2007 he was "European in Residence" for the EU Centres Network of New Zealand, visiting and speaking at the universities of Auckland, Waikato, Victoria University Wellington, Canterbury and Otago. He was also a keynote speaker at events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Following this he was appointed Adjunct Senior Fellow at the National Centre for Research on Europe at the University of Canterbury. In 1994 he co-authored a booklet "A guide to the Community Budget" published by the UK Local Government International Bureau and also published "The EU Budget – Public Perception and Fact". Prior to being elected as an MEP, he joined the Merchant Navy in 1962 as an engineer apprentice, working for T & J Brocklebank, ACL, Esso and Canadian Pacific and left 12 years later with a Combined Chief Engineers Certificate. Academically he holds a Master of Science degree in industrial relations and manpower studies, from the University of Salford. He is also a Methodist local preacher, author of two books, Onward Christian Socialist and Where Are The Prophets?. both about faith and politics. He was deputy chairman of the board of the trustees for Methodist Church Purposes and was also a trustee for Action for Children, at the time the largest children's charity in the UK. He also chaired the trustees of The Rock Bus Community Project. He served as a board member of the European Parliament's Voluntary pension Scheme and as a member of the European Commission's ethics committee. He has also served on the central finance board of the Methodist