Dame Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern  ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party from 2017 to 2023. She was a Labour member of Parliament (MP) as a list MP from 2008 to 2017, and for Mount Albert from 2017 to 2023.

Born in Hamilton, Ardern grew up in Morrinsville and Murupara. She joined the Labour Party at the age of 17. After graduating from the University of Waikato in 2001, Ardern worked as a researcher in the office of Prime Minister Helen Clark. She later worked in London as an adviser in the Cabinet Office during Tony Blair's premiership. In 2008, Ardern was elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth. Ardern was first elected as an MP in the 2008 general election, when Labour lost power after nine years. She was later elected to represent the Mount Albert electorate in a by-election on 25 February 2017.

Ardern was unanimously elected as deputy leader of the Labour Party on 1 March 2017, after the resignation of Annette King. Exactly five months later, with an election due, Labour's leader Andrew Little resigned after a historically low opinion polling result for the party, with Ardern elected unopposed as leader in his place. Labour's support increased rapidly after Ardern became leader, and she led her party to gain 14 seats at the 2017 general election on 23 September, winning 46 seats to the National Party's 56. After negotiations, New Zealand First chose to enter a minority coalition government with Labour, supported by the Green Party, with Ardern as prime minister. She was sworn in by the governor-general on 26 October 2017. She became the world's youngest female head of government at age 37. Ardern gave birth to her daughter on 21 June 2018, making her the world's second elected head of government to give birth while in office (after Benazir Bhutto).

Ardern describes herself as a social democrat and a progressive. The Sixth Labour Government has faced challenges from the New Zealand housing crisis, child poverty, and social inequality. In March 2019, in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings, Ardern reacted by rapidly introducing strict gun laws, winning her wide recognition. Throughout 2020 she led New Zealand's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, for which she won praise for New Zealand being one of the few Western nations to successfully contain the virus. It is estimated that her government's actions saved as many as 80,000 lives. Ardern moved the Labour Party further to the centre towards the October 2020 general election, promising to cut spending during the remainder of the COVID-19 recession. She led the Labour Party to a landslide victory, gaining an overall majority of 65 seats in Parliament, the first time a majority government had been formed since the introduction of a proportional representation system in 1996.

On 19 January 2023, Ardern announced she would resign as Labour leader, prompting global reactions about her leadership style and policy decisions. Following the unopposed election of Chris Hipkins as her successor, she resigned as leader of the Labour Party on 22 January and submitted her resignation as prime minister to the governor-general on 25 January.

Early life and education
Ardern was born on 26 July 1980 in Hamilton, New Zealand. She grew up in Morrinsville and Murupara, where her father, Ross Ardern, worked as a police officer, and her mother, Laurell Ardern (), worked as a school catering assistant. Ardern was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and her uncle, Ian S. Ardern, is a general authority in the church. She studied at Morrinsville College, where she was the student representative on the school's board of trustees. Whilst still at school she found her first job, working at a local fish-and-chip shop.

She joined the Labour Party at the age of 17. Her aunt, Marie Ardern, a longstanding member of the Labour Party, recruited the teenaged Ardern to help her with campaigning for New Plymouth MP Harry Duynhoven during his re-election campaign at the 1999 general election.

Ardern attended the University of Waikato, graduating in 2001 as a Bachelor of Communication Studies in politics and public relations, a specialist three-year degree. She took a semester abroad at Arizona State University in 2001. After graduating from university, she spent time working in the offices of Phil Goff and of Helen Clark as a researcher. After a period of time in New York City, United States, where she volunteered at a soup kitchen and worked on a workers' rights campaign, Ardern moved to London, England, in 2006, where she became a senior policy adviser in an 80-person policy unit of the United Kingdom Cabinet Office under prime minister Tony Blair. (She did not meet Blair in person while in London, but later at an event in New Zealand in 2011 she questioned him about the 2003 invasion of Iraq.) Ardern was also seconded to the United Kingdom Home Office to help with a review of policing in England and Wales.

Early political career

President of International Union of Socialist Youth
On 30 January 2008, at 27, Ardern was elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) at their world congress in the Dominican Republic for a two-year term until 2010. The role saw her spend time in several countries, including Hungary, Jordan, Israel, Algeria and China. It was mid-way through her presidency term that Ardern became a list MP for the Labour Party. She then continued to manage both roles for the next 15 months.

Member of Parliament

Ahead of the 2008 election, Ardern was ranked 20th on Labour's party list. This was a very high placement for someone who was not already a sitting MP, and virtually assured her of a seat in Parliament. Accordingly, Ardern returned from London to campaign full-time. She also became Labour's candidate for the safe National electorate of Waikato. Ardern was unsuccessful in the electorate vote, but her high placement on Labour's party list allowed her to enter Parliament as a list MP. Upon election, she became the youngest sitting MP in Parliament, succeeding fellow Labour MP Darren Hughes, and remained the youngest MP until the election of Gareth Hughes on 11 February 2010.

Opposition leader Phil Goff promoted Ardern to the front bench, naming her Labour's spokesperson for Youth Affairs and as associate spokesperson for Justice (Youth Affairs).

She made regular appearances on TVNZ's Breakfast programme as part of the "Young Guns" feature, in which she appeared alongside National MP (and future National leader) Simon Bridges.

Ardern contested the seat of  for Labour in the 2011 general election, standing against incumbent National MP Nikki Kaye for National and Greens candidate Denise Roche. She lost to Kaye by 717 votes. However, she returned to Parliament via the party list, on which she was ranked 13th. Ardern maintained an office within the electorate while she was a list MP based in Auckland Central.

After Goff resigned from the Party leadership following his defeat at the 2011 election, Ardern supported David Shearer over David Cunliffe. She was elevated to the fourth-ranking position in his Shadow Cabinet on 19 December 2011, becoming a spokesperson for social development under the new leader.

Ardern stood again in Auckland Central at the 2014 general election. She again finished second though increased her own vote and reduced Kaye's majority from 717 to 600. Ranked 5th on Labour's list, Ardern was still returned to Parliament where she became Shadow spokesperson for Justice, Children, Small Business, and Arts & Culture under new leader Andrew Little.

In 2014 Ardern was also selected, attended and graduated from the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Forum of Young Global Leaders, founded by Klaus Schwab, which takes place in Switzerland. She remains involved publicly as a part of the Young Global Leaders Alumni Community, and speaks at WEF events.

Mount Albert by-election

Ardern put forward her name for the Labour nomination for the Mount Albert by-election to be held in February 2017 following the resignation of David Shearer on 8 December 2016. When nominations for the Labour Party closed on 12 January 2017, Ardern was the only nominee and was selected unopposed. On 21 January, Ardern participated in the 2017 Women's March, a worldwide protest in opposition to Donald Trump, the newly inaugurated president of the United States. She was confirmed as Labour's candidate at a meeting on 22 January. Ardern won a landslide victory, gaining 77 per cent of votes cast in the preliminary results.

Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
Following her win in the by-election, Ardern was unanimously elected as deputy leader of the Labour Party on 7 March 2017, following the resignation of Annette King, who was intending to retire at the next election. Ardern's vacant list seat was taken by Raymond Huo.

Leader of the Opposition

On 1 August 2017, just seven weeks before the 2017 general election, Ardern assumed the position of leader of the Labour Party, and consequently became leader of the Opposition, following the resignation of Andrew Little. Little stood down due to the party's historically low polling. Ardern was unanimously confirmed in an election to choose a new leader at a caucus meeting the same day. At 37, Ardern became the youngest leader of the Labour Party in its history. She is also the second female leader of the party after Helen Clark. According to Ardern, Little had previously approached her on 26 July and said he thought she should take over as Labour leader then, as he was of the opinion he could not turn things around for the party, although Ardern declined and told him to "stick it out".

At her first press conference after her election as leader, she said that the forthcoming election campaign would be one of "relentless positivity". Immediately following her appointment, the party was inundated with donations by the public, reaching NZ$700 per minute at its peak. After Ardern's ascension to the leadership, Labour rose dramatically in opinion polls. By late August, the party had reached 43 per cent in the Colmar Brunton poll (having been 24 per cent under Little's leadership) as well as managing to overtake National in opinion polls for the first time in over a decade. Detractors observed her positions were substantially similar to those of Andrew Little, and suggested that Labour's sudden increase in popularity were due to her youth and good looks.

In mid-August, Ardern stated that a Labour government would establish a tax working group to explore the possibility of introducing a capital gains tax but ruled out taxing family homes. In response to negative publicity, Ardern abandoned plans to introduce a capital gains tax during the first term of a Labour government. Finance spokesperson Grant Robertson later clarified that Labour would not introduce new taxes until after the 2020 election. The policy shift accompanied strident allegations by Minister of Finance Steven Joyce that Labour had an $11.7 billion "hole" in its tax policy.

The Labour and Green parties' proposed water and pollution taxes also generated criticism from farmers. On 18 September 2017, the farming lobby group Federated Farmers staged a protest against the taxes in Ardern's hometown of Morrinsville. New Zealand First leader Winston Peters attended the protest to campaign but was jeered at by the farmers because they suspected he was also in favour of the taxes. During the protest, one farmer displayed a sign calling Ardern a "pretty communist". This was criticised as misogynistic by former prime minister Helen Clark.

In the final days of the general election campaign, the opinion polls narrowed with National taking a slight lead.

2017 general election

During the general election held on 23 September 2017, Ardern retained her Mount Albert electorate seat by a margin of 15,264 votes. Labour increased its vote share to 36.89 per cent while National dropped back to 44.45. Labour gained 14 seats, increasing its parliamentary representation to 46 seats, the best result for the party since losing power in 2008.

The rival Labour and National parties lacked sufficient seats to govern alone and held talks with the Greens and New Zealand First parties about forming a coalition. Under the country's mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system, New Zealand First held the balance of power and chose to be part of a coalition government with Labour.

Prime minister (2017–2023)

First term (2017–2020)

On 19 October 2017, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters agreed to form a coalition with Labour, making Ardern the next prime minister. This coalition received confidence and supply from the Green Party. Ardern named Peters as deputy prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. She also gave New Zealand First five posts in her government, with Peters and three other ministers serving in Cabinet. The next day, Ardern confirmed that she would hold the ministerial portfolios of National Security and Intelligence; Arts, Culture and Heritage; and Vulnerable Children; reflecting the shadow positions she held as Leader of the Opposition. Her position as Minister for Vulnerable Children was later replaced with the role of Minister for Child Poverty Reduction, while New Zealand First MP Tracey Martin took on the role of Minister for Children. She was officially sworn in by Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy on 26 October, alongside her ministry. Upon taking office, Ardern said that her government would be "focused, empathetic and strong".

Ardern is New Zealand's third female prime minister after Jenny Shipley (1997–1999) and Helen Clark (1999–2008). She is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders. Entering office aged 37, Ardern is also the youngest individual to become New Zealand's head of government since Edward Stafford, who became premier in 1856 also aged 37. On 19 January 2018, Ardern announced that she was pregnant, and that Winston Peters would take the role of acting prime minister for six weeks after the birth. Following the birth of a daughter, she took her maternity leave from 21 June to 2 August 2018.

Domestic affairs

Ardern promised to halve child poverty in New Zealand within a decade. In July 2018, Ardern announced the start of her government's flagship Families Package. Among its provisions, the package gradually increased paid parental leave to 26 weeks and introduced a $60 per-week universal BestStart Payment for low and middle-income families with young children. The Family Tax Credit, Orphans Benefit, Accommodation Supplement, and Foster Care Allowance were all substantially increased as well. In 2019, the government began the roll-out of a school lunches pilot programme to assist in reducing child poverty numbers; this was then extended to support 200,000 children (about 25 per cent of school rolls) in low decile schools. Other efforts to reduce poverty have included increases to main welfare benefits, expanding free doctor's visits, providing free menstrual hygiene products in schools and adding to state housing stock.

However, as of 2022 critics say rising housing costs are continuing to cripple families and systemic changes are needed to ensure any gains are lasting.

Economically, Ardern's government has implemented steady increases to the country's minimum wage and introduced the Provincial Growth Fund to invest in rural infrastructure projects. The National Party's planned tax cuts were cancelled, saying instead it would prioritise expenditure on healthcare and education. The first year of post-secondary education was made free from 1 January 2018 and, after industrial action, the government agreed to increase primary teachers' pay by 12.8 (for beginning teachers) and 18.5 per cent (for senior teachers without other responsibilities) by 2021.

Despite the Labour Party campaigning on a capital gains tax for the last three elections, Ardern pledged in April 2019 that the government would not implement a capital gains tax under her leadership. However, since then the period for which capital gain on rental properties sold is taxed has increased from five to ten years since purchase.

Ardern travelled to Waitangi in 2018 for the annual Waitangi Day commemoration; stayed in Waitangi for five days, an unprecedented length. Ardern became the first female prime minister to speak from the top marae. Her visit was largely well-received by Māori leaders, with commentators noting a sharp contrast with the acrimonious responses received by several of her predecessors.

On 24 August 2018, Ardern removed Broadcasting Minister Clare Curran from Cabinet after she failed to disclose a meeting with a broadcaster outside of parliamentary business, which was judged to be a conflict of interest. Curran remained a minister outside Cabinet, and Ardern was criticised by the Opposition for not dismissing Curran from her portfolio. Ardern later accepted Curran's resignation. In 2019, she was criticised for her handling of an allegation of sexual assault against a Labour Party staffer. Ardern said she had been told the allegation did not involve sexual assault or violence before a report about the incident was published in The Spinoff. Media questioned her account, with one journalist stating that Ardern's claim was "hard to swallow".

Ardern opposes criminalising people who use cannabis in New Zealand, and pledged to hold a referendum on the issue. A non-binding referendum to legalise cannabis was held in conjunction with the 2020 general election on 17 October 2020. Ardern admitted to past cannabis use during a televised debate prior to the election. In the referendum, voters rejected the proposed Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill by 51.17 per cent. A retrospective article published in a medical journal suggested that Ardern's refusal to publicly back the 'yes' campaign "may have been a decisive factor in the narrow defeat".

In September 2020, Ardern announced that the government had abandoned plans to make tertiary education tuition-free.

Foreign affairs

On 5 November 2017, Ardern made her first official overseas trip to Australia, where she met Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for the first time. Relations between the two countries had been strained in the preceding months because of Australia's treatment of New Zealanders living in the country, and shortly before taking office, Ardern had spoken of the need to rectify this situation, and to develop a better working relationship with the Australian government. Turnbull described the meeting in cordial terms: "we trust each other...The fact we are from different political traditions is irrelevant". In 2020, Ardern criticised Australia's policy of deporting New Zealanders, many of whom had lived in Australia but had not taken up Australian citizenship, as "corrosive" and damaging to Australia–New Zealand relations.

Ardern attended the 2017 APEC summit in Vietnam, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018 in London (featuring a private audience with Queen Elizabeth II) and a United Nations summit in New York City. After her first formal meeting with Donald Trump she reported that the US President showed "interest" in New Zealand's gun buyback programme. In 2018, Ardern raised the issue of Xinjiang internment camps and human-rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in China. Ardern has also raised concerns over the persecution of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

Ardern travelled to Nauru, where she attended the 2018 Pacific Islands Forum. Media and political opponents criticised her decision to travel separately from the rest of her contingent, costing taxpayers up to NZ$100,000, so that she could spend more time with her daughter. At a 2018 United Nations General Assembly meeting, Ardern became the first female head of government to attend with her infant present. Her address to the General Assembly praised the United Nations for its multilateralism, expressed support for the world's youth, called for immediate attention to the effects and causes of climate change, for the equality of women, and for kindness as the basis for action.

Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Ardern announced that the government would continue participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations despite opposition from the Green Party. New Zealand ratified the revised agreement, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which she described as being better than the original TPP agreement.

Christchurch mosque shootings

On 15 March 2019, 51 people were fatally shot and 49 injured in two mosques in Christchurch. In a statement broadcast on television, Ardern offered condolences and stated that the shootings had been carried out by suspects with "extremist views" that have no place in New Zealand, or anywhere else in the world. She also described it as a well-planned terrorist attack.

Announcing a period of national mourning, Ardern was the first signatory of a national condolence book that she opened in the capital, Wellington. She also travelled to Christchurch to meet first responders and families of the victims. In an address at the Parliament, she declared she would never say the name of the attacker: "Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them ... he will, when I speak, be nameless." Ardern received international praise for her response to the shootings, and a photograph of her hugging a member of the Christchurch Muslim community with the word "peace" in English and Arabic was projected onto the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. A  mural of this photograph was unveiled in May 2019.

In response to the shootings, Ardern announced her government's intention to introduce stronger firearms regulations. She said that the attack had exposed a range of weaknesses in New Zealand's gun law. Less than one month after the attack, the New Zealand Parliament passed a law that bans most semiautomatic weapons and assault rifles, parts that convert guns into semiautomatic guns, and higher capacity magazines. Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron co-chaired the 2019 Christchurch Call summit, which aimed to "bring together countries and tech companies in an attempt to bring to an end the ability to use social media to organise and promote terrorism and violent extremism".

COVID-19 pandemic
On 14 March 2020, Ardern announced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand that the government would be requiring anyone entering the country from midnight 15 March to isolate themselves for 14 days. She said the new rules will mean New Zealand has the "widest ranging and toughest border restrictions of any country in the world". On 19 March, Ardern stated that New Zealand's borders would be closed to all non-citizens and non-permanent residents, after 11:59 pm on 20 March (NZDT). Ardern announced that New Zealand would move to alert level 4, including a nationwide lockdown, at 11:59 pm on 25 March.

National and international media covered the government response led by Ardern, praising her leadership and swift response to the outbreak in New Zealand. The Washington Post Fifield described her regular use of interviews, press conferences and social media as a "masterclass in crisis communication". Alastair Campbell, a journalist and adviser in Tony Blair's British government, commended Ardern for addressing both the human and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

In mid-April 2020, two applicants filed a lawsuit at the Auckland High Court against Ardern and several government officials including Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield, claiming that the lockdown imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic infringed on their freedoms and was made for "political gain". The lawsuit was dismissed by Justice Mary Peters of the Auckland High Court.

On 5 May 2020, Ardern, her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison and several Australian state and territorial leaders agreed that they would collaborate to develop a trans-Tasman COVID-safe travel zone that would allow residents from both countries to travel freely without travel restrictions as part of efforts to ease coronavirus restrictions.

Post-lockdown opinion polls showed the Labour Party with nearly 60 per cent support. In May 2020, Ardern rated 59.5 per cent as 'preferred prime minister' in a Newshub-Reid Research poll—the highest score for any leader in the Reid Research poll's history. The number of lives saved by the response Ardern spearheaded was estimated as up to 80,000 by a team led by Shaun Hendy.

Second term (2020–2023)

In the 2020 general election, Ardern led her party to a landslide victory, winning an overall majority of 65 seats in the 120-seat House of Representatives, and 50 per cent of the nationwide party vote (moreover Labour won the party vote in 71 out of the 72 electorates). She also retained the Mount Albert electorate by a margin of 21,246 votes. Ardern credited her victory to her government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic impacts it has had.

Domestic affairs
On 2 December 2020, Ardern declared a climate change emergency in New Zealand and pledged that the Government would be carbon neutral by 2025 in a parliamentary motion. As part of this commitment towards carbon neutrality, the public sector will be required to buy only electric or hybrid vehicles, the fleet will be reduced over time by 20 per cent, and all 200 coal-fired boilers in public service buildings will be phased out. This motion was supported by the Labour, Green, and Māori parties but was opposed by the opposition National and ACT parties. However, climate activist Greta Thunberg said about Jacinda Ardern: "It's funny that people believe Jacinda Ardern and people like that are climate leaders. That just tells you how little people know about the climate crisis ... the emissions haven't fallen."

In response to worsening housing affordability issues, Minister of Housing and Urban Development Megan Woods announced new reforms. These reforms included the removal of the interest rate tax-deduction, lifting Housing Aid for first home buyers, renewed allocation of infrastructure funds (named Housing Acceleration Fund) for district councils, an extension of the Bright Line Test from five to ten years.

On 14 June 2021, Ardern confirmed that the New Zealand Government would formally apologise for the Dawn Raids at the Auckland Town Hall on 26 June 2021. The Dawn Raids were a series of police raids which disproportionately targeted members of the Pasifika diaspora in New Zealand during the 1970s and early 1980s.

In September 2022, Ardern led the nation's tributes following the death of New Zealand's longest-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Ardern described her as an "incredible woman", and a "constant in our lives". She also described the Queen as a "much admired and respected" monarch. Ardern also stated that republicanism was currently not on the agenda but believed that the country would head in that direction in the future.

In mid-December 2022, Ardern was recorded on a hot mic calling the leader of the ACT Party, David Seymour, an "arrogant prick" during Parliament's Question Time. Since New Zealand parliamentary debates are televised, the comment was aired on television during Question Time. Ardern later texted Seymour to apologise for her comment. The two politicians subsequently reconciled and joined forces to raise NZ$60,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation by auctioning a signed and framed copy of the Prime Minister's remark.

COVID-19 and vaccination programme
On 17 June 2020, Prime Minister Ardern met with Bill Gates and Melinda Gates via a teleconference in a meeting requested by Bill Gates. In the meeting, Ardern was asked by Melinda Gates to "speak up" in support of a collective approach to a COVID-19 vaccine. Ardern said she'd be happy to assist, an Official Information Act request response has shown. A month earlier in May, Ardern's Government had pledged $37 million to help find a COVID-19 vaccine, which included $15 million to CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Economic Forum among others, and $7 million to GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation), also founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. During the meeting Gates noted this contribution. Ardern had also met the Gateses the year before in New York.

On 12 December 2020, Ardern and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown announced that a travel bubble between New Zealand and the Cook Islands would be established in 2021, allowing two-way quarantine-free travel between the two countries. On 14 December, Prime Minister Ardern confirmed that the New Zealand and Australian Governments had agreed to establish a travel bubble between the two countries the following year. On 17 December, Ardern also announced that the Government had purchased two more vaccines from the pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Novavax for New Zealand and its Pacific partners in addition to the existing stocks from Pfizer/BioNTech and Janssen Pharmaceutica.

On 26 January 2021, Ardern stated that New Zealand's borders would remain closed to most non-citizens and non-residents until New Zealand citizens have been "vaccinated and protected". The COVID-19 vaccination programme began in February 2021. An outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in August 2021 prompted the government to enact a nationwide lockdown again. By September, the number of new community infections began to fall again; comparisons were made with an outbreak in neighbouring Australia, which was unable to contain a Delta variant outbreak at the same time.

On 29 January 2022, Ardern entered into self-isolation after she was identified as a close contact of a COVID-19 case on an Air New Zealand flight from Kerikeri to Auckland on 22 January. In addition, Governor-General Cindy Kiro and chief press secretary Andrew Campbell, who were aboard the same flight, also went into self-isolation.

On 14 May 2022, Ardern tested positive for COVID-19. Her partner Gayford had tested positive for COVID-19 several days earlier on 8 May.

Foreign affairs

In early December 2020, Ardern expressed support for Australia during a dispute between Canberra and Beijing over Chinese Foreign Ministry official Zhao Lijian's Twitter post alleging that Australia had committed war crimes against Afghans. She described the image as not being factual and incorrect, adding that the New Zealand Government would raise its concerns with the Chinese Government.

On 9 December 2020, Ardern delivered a speech virtually at the Singapore FinTech Festival, applauding the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) among New Zealand, Chile and Singapore as "the first important steps" to achieve the regulatory alignment to facilitate businesses.

On 16 February 2021, Ardern criticised the Australian Government's decision to revoke dual New Zealand–Australian national Suhayra Aden's Australian citizenship. Aden had migrated from New Zealand to Australia at the age of six and acquired Australian citizenship. She subsequently travelled to Syria to live in the Islamic State as a ISIS bride in 2014. On 15 February 2021, Aden and two of her children were detained by Turkish authorities for illegal entry. Ardern accused the Australian Government of abandoning its obligations to its citizens and also offered consular support to Aden and her children. In response, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison defended the decision to revoke Aden's citizenship, citing legislation stripping dual nationals of their Australian citizenship if they were engaged in terrorist activities. Following a phone conversation, the two leaders agreed to work together to address what Ardern described as "quite a complex legal situation".

In response to the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, Ardern stated on 17 May that New Zealand "condemned both the indiscriminate rocket fire we have seen from Hamas and what looks to be a response that has gone well beyond self-defence on both sides." She also stated that Israel had the "right to exist" but Palestinians also had a "right to a peaceful home, a secure home."

In late May 2021, Ardern hosted Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a state visit at Queenstown. The two heads of governments issued a joint statement affirming bilateral cooperation on the issues of COVID-19, bilateral relations, and security issues in the Indo-Pacific. Ardern and Morrison also raised concerns about the South China Sea dispute and human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. In response to the joint statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin criticised the Australian and New Zealand governments for interfering in Chinese domestic affairs.

In early December 2021, Ardern participated in the virtual Summit for Democracy that was hosted by US President Joe Biden. In her address, she talked about bolstering democratic resilience in the age of COVID-19 followed by panel discussions. Ardern also announced that New Zealand would contribute an additional NZ$1 million to supporting Pacific countries' anti-corruption efforts, as well as contributing to UNESCO's Global Media Defence Fund and the International Fund for Public Interest Media.

In April 2022, Ardern was banned from entering Russia along with 129 other parliamentarians and senior government officials after the New Zealand Parliament unanimously imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

In late May 2022, Ardern led a trade and tourism mission to the United States. During her trip, she urged the Biden Administration to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP); the successor to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement which the previous Trump Administration had abandoned in 2017. While attending the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Ardern also condemned the Robb Elementary School shooting and advocated stronger gun control measures, citing New Zealand's ban on semi-automatic firearms following the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. On 27 May, Ardern gave the annual commencement address at Harvard University, speaking about gun reform and democracy. She was also awarded an honorary doctorate in law. On 28 May, Ardern signed a memorandum of understanding with Governor of California Gavin Newsom formalising bilateral cooperation between New Zealand and California in climate change mitigation and research.

On 1 June 2022, Ardern met with US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris to reaffirm bilateral relations between the two countries. The two leaders also issued a joint statement reaffirming bilateral cooperation on various issues including the South China Sea dispute, support for Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion, Chinese tensions with Taiwan, and alleged human-rights violations in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry official Zhao Lijian accused New Zealand and the United States of seeking to spread disinformation about China's engagement with Pacific Islands countries, interfering in Chinese internal affairs, and urged New Zealand to adhere to its stated "independent foreign policy".

On 10 June 2022, Ardern visited the newly elected Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The two leaders discussed a range of issues including Australia's controversial Section 501 deportation policy, Chinese influence in the Pacific region, climate change, and working with Pacific neighbours. In response to Ardern's concerns, Albanese stated that he would explore ways of addressing New Zealand's concerns about the adverse impact of its deportation policies on New Zealanders residing in Australia.

In late June 2022, Ardern attended the NATO's Leader Summit, which marked the first time that New Zealand had formally addressed a NATO event. During her speech, she emphasised New Zealand's commitment to peace and human rights. Ardern also criticised China for challenging international norms and rules in the South Pacific. She also alleged that Russia was conducting a disinformation campaign targeting New Zealand due to its support for Ukraine. In response, the Chinese Embassy defended China's engagement with the South Pacific region, claiming that China was only interested in promoting regional development and did not seek to militarise the region.

On 30 June 2022, Ardern spoke by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Though Zelensky had earlier invited Ardern to visit Ukraine during her European trade mission, Ardern had declined due to scheduling issues. During the conversation, Ardern reassured Zelensky that New Zealand would continue imposing sanctions on Russia. Zelensky also thanked New Zealand for providing aid to Ukraine and called for assistance in rebuilding Ukraine.

In early August 2022, Ardern led a delegation of New Zealand political leaders, officials, civil society leaders, and journalists including National Party and opposition leader Christopher Luxon, Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni and Pacific Peoples Minister William Sio on a state visit to Samoa to marked the 60th anniversary of Samoa's independence. This visit preceded an earlier visit to New Zealand in June 2022 by Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa. On 2 August, Ardern met with Fiame to discuss issues of concern to bilateral relations including climate change, economic resilience, COVID-19, health and Samoan seasonal workers in New Zealand. Ardern also confirmed that New Zealand would commit NZ$15 million in aid to support Samoa's climate change mitigation efforts and NZ$12m to rebuild Apia's historical Savalalo Market.

In September 2022, Ardern along with her fiance Clarke Gayford and their daughter Neve attended Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. During the funeral, she wore a traditional Māori cloak designed by Māori fashion designer Kiri Nathan.

In late October 2022, Ardern and Gayford visited New Zealand's Antarctica base Scott Base to mark the research base's 65th anniversary. The Government had already committed NZ$344 million to the redevelopment of Scott base. After Ardern's C-130 Hercules aircraft of the Royal New Zealand Air Force broke down, she and her entourage returned to Christchurch on an Italian C-130 Hercules aircraft.

In mid-November 2022, Ardern attended the East Asia Summit in Cambodia where she condemned the Myanmar military regime's execution of political prisoners and called for consensus in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the East Asia Summit, she met with US President Biden to discuss New Zealand milk company A2 Milk's efforts to supply infant formula to help address the infant formula milk shortage in the United States.

On 30 November, Ardern hosted Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, which marked the first visit by a Finnish head of government to New Zealand. During her visit, the two leaders discussed bilateral trade relations, the global economic situation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and human rights in Iran. During the ensuing press conference, Ardern rebuffed a suggestion by a journalist that the two heads of government had met because they were of a similar age and gender.

Resignation

On 19 January 2023, at the Labour Party's summer caucus retreat, Ardern announced she would resign as Labour leader and prime minister by 7 February and leave Parliament by the 2023 general election. She cited a desire to spend more time with her partner and daughter and an inability to commit to another four years. Ardern had indicated in November 2022 that she would seek a third term as prime minister.
Speaking to the press during the caucus retreat as she announced her resignation plan, Ardern said, "I know what this job takes and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It is that simple. We need a fresh set of shoulders for that challenge."

Ardern's announcement prompted reactions from across the New Zealand political establishment. The opposition National and ACT parties' leaders Christopher Luxon and David Seymour thanked Ardern for her service while expressing disagreement with her government's policies. Green Party co-leader James Shaw credited Ardern with fostering a constructive working relationship between their parties while fellow co-leader Marama Davidson praised Ardern for her compassion and determination to promote a "fairer and safer" Aotearoa. Similar sentiments were echoed by the Māori Party's co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, who praised her leadership qualities and contributions to New Zealand society. New Zealand First leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters attributed Ardern's resignation to her government's failure to deliver on promises and targets during the 2020–2023 parliamentary term.

Prominent New Zealanders, including actor Sam Neill, comedian and writer Michèle A'Court, and Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, expressed gratitude for Ardern's service. Overseas, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and several state leaders paid tribute to Ardern.

In several opinion polls, Ardern's domestic popularity had reached all-time lows as of 19 January 2023, although she denied this would affect the Labour Party's chances of winning the next election.

Ardern's final event as prime minister was a birthday celebration for Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, a Māori prophet. At the event, Ardern called her work as the Prime Minister the "greatest privilege" and stated that she loved the country and its people. On 25 January 2023, she was succeeded as prime minister and leader of the New Zealand Labour Party by Chris Hipkins, who had been elected unopposed during the Labour Party leadership election.

Post-prime ministerial career
On 4 April 2023 Ardern was announced as a trustee of the Earthshot Prize. Ardern was selected for the post by Prince William, who stated that Ardern had a life-long commitment to supporting sustainable and environmental solutions. According to the Prince, Ardern was one of the first people to encourage him to establish the prize.

That same day, Prime Minister Hipkins appointed Ardern as Special Envoy for the Christchurch Call, which she had established following the Christchurch mosque shootings to combat online extremist content. During her valedictory speech, Ardern called on political leaders and parties in New Zealand to take the politics out of climate change while highlighting her role in getting cross-party support for the passage of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act.

Ardern accepted dual fellowships at the Harvard Kennedy School for a semester beginning in fall 2023, to serve as the 2023 Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow and as a Hauser Leader at the Center for Public Leadership, where she intends to share and learn leadership and governance skills. She will also work with Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society as its first Knight Tech Governance Leadership Fellow during that period where she will focus on the study of online extremism.

Political views

Ardern has described herself as a social democrat, a progressive, a republican, and a feminist, citing Helen Clark as a political hero. She has described the extent of child poverty and homelessness in New Zealand as a "blatant failure" of capitalism. Asked by reporters to comment on the 2021 Budget, Ardern stated to "have always described myself as a Democratic Socialist", but she does not consider the term to be useful in New Zealand, as it is not commonly used in the political sphere. The leftist magazine Jacobin asserts that, despite identifying as socialist, her government is effectively neoliberal. Referring to New Zealand's distinctive nuclear-free policy, she described taking action on climate change as "my generation's nuclear-free moment".

Ardern has spoken in support of same-sex marriage, and she voted for the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013 which legalised it. In 2018, she became the first New Zealand prime minister to march in a pride parade. Ardern supported the removal of abortion from the Crimes Act 1961. In March 2020, she voted for the Abortion Legislation Act that amends the law to decriminalise abortion.

Ardern voted in favour of legalising cannabis in the 2020 New Zealand cannabis referendum, though she refused to reveal her position on legalisation until after the referendum had concluded.

With regard to the future of the Māori electorates—a contentious topic in New Zealand politics—Ardern believes the retention or abolition of the electorates (seats) should be decided by Māori, stating, "[Māori] have not raised the need for those seats to go, so why would we ask the question?" She supports compulsory study of the Māori language in schools.

In September 2017, Ardern said she wanted New Zealand to debate removing the monarch of New Zealand as head of state. During her announcement on 24 May 2021 of the appointment of Dame Cindy Kiro as the next Governor-General of New Zealand, Ardern said she believed that New Zealand would become a republic within her lifetime. She has, however, met regularly with members of the Royal Family over the years and said that, "My particular views do not change the respect that I have for Her Majesty and for her family and for the work that they've done for New Zealand. I think you can hold both views, and I do." Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Ardern reaffirmed her support for republicanism but stated that official moves towards New Zealand becoming a republic was not "on the agenda anytime soon."

Ardern advocates a lower rate of immigration, suggesting a drop of around 20,000–30,000. Calling it an "infrastructure issue", she argues that "there hasn't been enough planning about population growth, we haven't necessarily targeted our skill shortages properly"; however, she wants to increase the intake of refugees.

In foreign affairs, Ardern has voiced support for a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. She condemned the Israeli killing of Palestinians during protests at the Gaza border.

Following the Supreme Court's landmark Make It 16 Incorporated v Attorney-General ruling in November 2022, Ardern has voiced support for lowering the voting age to 16 years. She announced that the Government would introduce legislation lowering the voting age to 16 years; with such legislation requiring a 75 per cent majority.

Public image

Early on in her tenure, Ardern was frequently described as a celebrity politician. After becoming the Labour Party leader, Ardern received positive coverage from many sections of the media, including international outlets such as CNN, with commentators referring to a "Jacinda effect" and "Jacindamania".

Jacindamania was cited as a factor behind New Zealand gaining global attention and media influence in some reports, including the Soft Power 30 index. In a 2018 overseas trip, Ardern attracted much attention from international media, particularly after delivering a speech at the United Nations in New York. She contrasted with contemporary world leaders, being cast as an "antidote to Trumpism". Writing for Stuff, Tracy Watkins said Ardern made a "cut-through on the world stage" and her reception was as a "torch carrier for progressive politics as a young woman who breaks the mold in a world where the political strongman is on the rise. She is a foil to the muscular diplomacy of the likes of US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin."

A year after Ardern formed her government, The Guardian's Eleanor Ainge Roy reported that Jacindamania was waning in the population, with not enough of the promised change visible. When Toby Manhire, the editor of The Spinoff, reviewed the decade in December 2019, he praised Ardern for her leadership following the Christchurch mosque shootings and the Whakaari / White Island eruption, saying that "Ardern ... revealed an empathy, steel and clarity that in the most appalling circumstances brought New Zealanders together and inspired people the world over. It was a strength of character that showed itself again this week following the tragic eruption at Whakaari."

Whilst towards the end of her tenure Ardern faced decreased levels of popularity domestically and increased levels of criticism from across the political spectrum, she denied that these were factors in her decision to resign as Prime Minister.

Honours
Ardern was one of fifteen women selected to appear on the cover of the September 2019 issue of British Vogue, by guest editor Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Forbes magazine has consistently ranked her among the 100 most powerful women in the world, placing her 34th in 2021. She was included in the 2019 Time 100 list and shortlisted for Time'''s 2019 Person of the Year. The magazine later incorrectly speculated that she might win the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize among a listed six candidates, for her handling of the Christchurch mosque shootings. In 2020, she was listed by Prospect as the second-greatest thinker for the COVID-19 era. On 19 November 2020, Ardern was awarded Harvard University's 2020 Gleitsman International Activist Award; she contributed the US$150,000 (NZ$216,000) prize money to New Zealanders studying at the university.

In 2021, New Zealand zoologist Steven A. Trewick named the flightless wētā species Hemiandrus jacinda in honour of Ardern. A spokesperson for Ardern said that a beetle (Mecodema jacinda), a lichen (Ocellularia jacinda-arderniae), and an ant (Crematogaster jacindae'', found in Saudi Arabia) had also been named after her.

In mid-May 2021, Fortune magazine gave Ardern the top spot on their list of world's 50 greatest leaders, citing her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as her handling of the Christchurch mosque shootings and the 2019 Whakaari / White Island eruption.

On 26 May 2022, Ardern was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Harvard University for contributions that "shape the world".

In the 2023 King's Birthday and Coronation Honours, Ardern was appointed a Dame Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (GNZM), for services to the State.

Personal life

Religious views
Raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New Zealand, Ardern left the church in 2005 at age 25 because, she said, it conflicted with her personal views, in particular her support for gay rights. In January 2017, Ardern identified as agnostic, saying "I can't see myself being a member of an organised religion again". As prime minister in 2019 she met the president of LDS Church, Russell M. Nelson.

Family

Ardern is a second cousin of Hamish McDouall, former mayor of Whanganui. She is also a distant cousin of former National MP for Taranaki-King Country Shane Ardern. Shane Ardern left Parliament in 2014, three years before Jacinda Ardern became prime minister.

Ardern's partner is television presenter Clarke Gayford. The couple first met in 2012 when they were introduced by mutual friend Colin Mathura-Jeffree, a New Zealand television host and model, but they did not spend time together until Gayford contacted Ardern regarding a controversial Government Communications Security Bureau bill. On 3 May 2019, it was reported that Ardern was engaged to marry Gayford. The wedding was scheduled for January 2022 but was postponed due to an outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.

On 19 January 2018, Ardern announced that she was expecting her first child in June, making her New Zealand's first prime minister to be pregnant in office. Ardern was admitted to Auckland City Hospital on 21 June 2018, and gave birth to a girl the same day, becoming only the second elected head of government to give birth while in office (after Benazir Bhutto in 1990). Her daughter's given names are Neve Te Aroha. Neve is an anglicised form of the Irish name Niamh, meaning 'bright';  is Māori for 'love', and Te Aroha is a rural town west of the Kaimai Range, near Ardern's former home town of Morrinsville.

After growing rumours that Gayford was under police investigation for criminal offences, in 2018 both Ardern and the Police Commissioner Mike Bush took the unusual step of confirming that Gayford was not, and had not been, under any such investigations.

See also
 List of New Zealand governments
 Politics of New Zealand
 Paddles (cat), Ardern's former pet cat

References

External links

 Jacinda Ardern's  profile on the New Zealand Parliament website
 Jacinda Ardern at the New Zealand Labour Party

1980 births
Living people
21st-century New Zealand politicians
21st-century New Zealand women politicians
Candidates in the 2011 New Zealand general election
Candidates in the 2014 New Zealand general election
Candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election
Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election
Female heads of government in New Zealand
Former Latter Day Saints
Leaders of the Opposition (New Zealand)
Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
New Zealand agnostics
New Zealand feminists
New Zealand former Christians
New Zealand Labour Party leaders
New Zealand Labour Party MPs
New Zealand list MPs
New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates
New Zealand republicans
People from Hamilton, New Zealand
People from Morrinsville
People from Murupara
Prime Ministers of New Zealand
New Zealand socialist feminists
University of Waikato alumni
Women government ministers of New Zealand
Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
Women opposition leaders
21st-century women prime ministers
World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders
New Zealand people of English descent
New Zealand people of Scottish descent
Women deputy opposition leaders
People educated at Morrinsville College
Dames Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Jacinda Ardern


Adam J. Bernard (born 18 November 1988) is a British actor and singer, known for his work on stage.

In 2016 he originated the role of Jimmy Early in the West End theatre production of Dreamgirls. In his review for The Daily Telegraph, critic Dominic Cavendish stated "No one seems to break into a sweat. Adam J Bernard – a Brit – as the disreputable womanising Jimmy Early, a pelvic-thrusting charmer in the James Brown mould, sends his legs into entertainingly electrified spasms and somehow manages to hold a note and attempt the splits at the same time". Lyndsey Winship of The Guardian states he has a "fantastic voice and comic chops".

He won the 2017 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for his performance in Dreamgirls.

His debut in a feature film in a leading role was in Six Rounds, a film about the 2011 London Riots, which was released in April 2017.

His most recent feature film in a leading role is Landa Pictures  Precognition  which was an official selection at Sci Fi London Film Festival 2018 Sci-Fi-London and Other Worlds Austin 2018.
Precognition was released on Amazon Prime in February 2019. In March 2020, he appeared in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors as Adam Baxter.

References

1988 births
British male musical theatre actors
Living people
Laurence Olivier Award winners

Adam J. Bernard


Marilyn Elaine White (born October 17, 1944 in Los Angeles, California) is an American sprinter who specialized in the 100 metres.

She won a silver medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, with teammates Willye White, Wyomia Tyus and Edith McGuire. She also competed in the 100 meter dash, where she finished in fourth place with the same time as the silver and bronze medalists.  She earlier won the Bronze medal at the 1963 Pan Am Games.

Early life

Marilyn White was raised in Los Angeles, CA and is the oldest of four children. She attended a diverse elementary school, Holy Cross, where she mixed with students from various backgrounds and she was exposed to a variety of languages spoken, including Spanish, Hungarian and Mandarin.  She went to high school at Bishop Conaty-Our Lady of Loretto High School graduating in 1962.  She competed for the L.A. Mercurettes track club.  She was recruited to the team out of a dance class while in high school.  Prior to Title IX, high schools did not offer sports for girls.  At the 1963 Los Angeles Invitational she beat Olympic champion Wilma Rudolph and set the meet record.

She attended UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and was elected freshman class vice president in 1963.  She was then offered an athletic scholarship to Pepperdine College, even though Pepperdine did not have a fully developed track program.  Individually she wore her Pepperdine jersey at many high level meets.

References

1944 births
Living people
American female sprinters
Athletes (track and field) at the 1963 Pan American Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field
Track and field athletes from Los Angeles
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States
Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field)
Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games
Olympic female sprinters
21st-century American women
Bishop Conaty-Our Lady of Loretto High School alumni

Marilyn White


Axes of Perun, also called a "hatchet amulets", are archaeological artifacts worn as a pendant and shaped like a battle axe in honor of Perun, the supreme deity of Slavic religion. They are counterparts to Nordic Mjolnir amulets. They are mostly found in modern day Serbia, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and parts of Scandinavia. Connection with the Slavic pre-Christian god Perun was made by V. P. Darkevich, although some authors prefer the association with Norse material culture.

Amulet description

The axes range in length from , and blade width from . Bronze is the most common material of their construction. Most have been dated between the 11th and 12th century, and over 60 specimens have been collected.

Two basic designs of the axe have been found throughout Russia and its boundaries.

Specimens of both designs include a hole in the centre of the blade, and both have been decorated with zigzag lines, representing lightning or more likely imitating inlaid ornamentation patterns of real axes, near the edge of the blade.

Type 1
The first type is a bearded axe (lower side of the blade is elongated) with a flat upper side. It resembles a battle axe. A knob-like protrusion is usually present on the lower side of the axe. These axes have been decorated with circles, believed to represent celestial bodies.

Type 2
The second type is distinguished by its symmetrical shape and broad blade. Similar to the knob of the first type, the second has two horn-like protrusions diametrically opposite on the upper and lower side.

See also
 Slavic Native Faith
 Slavic paganism
 Perun
 Veles (god)

References

Religious symbols
Mythological weapons
Axes
Archaeological artefact types
Slavic paganism

Axe of Perun


Baron Kerry is an ancient title in the Peerage of Ireland, named after County Kerry. It was created circa 1223 for Thomas FitzMaurice, Lord OConnello, son of Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Llanstephan.

In 1325, Maurice FitzMaurice, 4th Baron Kerry, murdered Diarmaid Óg MacCarthy (son of Cormac Mór MacCarthy) in the courtroom at Tralee. For this act, Maurice was tried and attainted by the parliament in Dublin and his lands forfeited, but after his death they were restored to his brother John FitzMaurice, 5th Baron of Kerry.

The title was sometimes given as Baron Lixnaw (after Lixnaw) or Baron Kerry and Lixnaw. In a 1615 dispute with Baron Slane over precedence, it was claimed the title "Baron Lixnaw" was promoted by the rival Earl of Desmond, who wanted "Baron Kerry" to be a a courtesy title for his heir. The Privy Council of Ireland's ruling in the dispute referred to Baron Kerry as both "Lo[rd] of Kierry" and "Baron of Kierry and Licksnawe" .

In 1537, the eleventh Baron was created Baron Odorney and Viscount Kilmaule in the Peerage of Ireland. However, these titles became extinct on his death in 1541 while he was succeeded in the Barony of Kerry by his younger brother.

The twenty-first Baron was created Earl of Kerry in the Peerage of Ireland in 1723. His younger son John Petty Fitzmaurice was created the 1st Earl of Shelbourne in the Peerage of Ireland in 1753 and his son William Petty FitzMaurice, the 2nd Earl of Shelburne, who served as British prime minister from 1782 to 1783, was created Marquess of Lansdowne in 1784. In 1818 the latter's son, the third Marquess, succeeded his cousin as 4th Earl of Kerry and 24th Baron Kerry. Earl of Kerry has subsequently been used as a courtesy title by heirs of the Marquess.

Barons Kerry (1223)
Thomas Fitzmaurice, 1st Baron Kerry (died ) According to John O'Hart, his father was Maurice FitzRaymond, the fourth son of Raymond FitzGerald le Gros and Basilia  de  Clare
Maurice Fitzthomas Fitzmaurice, 2nd Baron Kerry (died 1303)
Nicholas Fitzmaurice, 3rd Baron Kerry (died 1324)
Maurice Fitzmaurice, 4th Baron Kerry (died 1339)
John Fitzmaurice, 5th Baron Kerry (died 1348)
Maurice Fitzmaurice, 6th Baron Kerry (died 1398)
Patrick Fitzmaurice, 7th Baron Kerry (died )
Thomas Fitzmaurice, 8th Baron Kerry (died 1469)
Edmond Fitzmaurice, 9th Baron Kerry (died 1498)
Edmond Fitzmaurice, 10th Baron Kerry (died 1543) resigned his estates to become a lay brother in Ardfert Abbey
Edmond Fitzmaurice, 11th Baron Kerry (died 1541) (created Viscount Kilmaule in 1537)

Viscounts Kilmaule (1537)
Edmond Fitzmaurice, 1st Viscount Kilmaule (died 1541) (extinct)

Barons Kerry (1223; Reverted)
Patrick Fitzmaurice, 12th Baron Kerry (died 1547)
Thomas Fitzmaurice, 13th Baron Kerry (died 1549)
Edmond Fitzmaurice, 14th Baron Kerry (died 1549)
Gerard Fitzmaurice, 15th Baron Kerry (died 1550)
Thomas Fitzmaurice, 16th Baron Kerry (–1590)
Patrick Fitzmaurice, 17th Baron Kerry (c. 1541–1600)
Thomas Fitzmaurice, 18th Baron Kerry (1574–1630)
Patrick Fitzmaurice, 19th Baron Kerry (1595–1661)
William FitzMaurice, 20th Baron Kerry (1633–1697)
Thomas Fitzmaurice, 21st Baron Kerry (1668–1741) (created Earl of Kerry in 1723)

Earls of Kerry (1723)
Thomas FitzMaurice, 1st Earl of Kerry (1668–1741)
William FitzMaurice, 2nd Earl of Kerry (1694–1747)
Francis Thomas-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Earl of Kerry (1740–1818)
Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne, 4th Earl of Kerry (1780–1863)
See Marquess of Lansdowne for further Earls of Kerry.

Sources

Citations

Earldoms in the Peerage of Ireland

Noble titles created in 1723

Earl of Kerry


The Austrian Research Promotion Agency ( or FFG) is an organization for the promotion of research and innovation in the field of applied and industrial research in Austria and is 100% owned by the Republic of Austria . The aim is to strengthen the business location Austria through targeted programs, especially in research and development. The ownership is represented by the federal government through the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour.

History and Organization

The Austrian Research Promotion Agency was founded in September 2004  as "the central Austrian organisation for promotion of research and innovation". It was a result of consolidating the Industrial Research Promotion Fund (FFF), the Austrian Space Agency (ASA), the Bureau for International Research and Technology Cooperation (BIT), and the Technology Impulse Society (TiG) into one Agency. The Agency moved into the Haus der Forschung in late 2005.

The FFG is divided into four areas today (base programs, structural programs, thematic programs, as well as European and International Programs) and the Agency for Aerospace. A strategy department supports the FFG and relevant ministries in the development of research policies.

The offers of the Research Promotion Agency include funding for research projects of companies and researchers in Austria, advice on choosing the right programs and assisting in the submission to European programs and international cooperation projects for Austrian researchers. The Agency for Aerospace helps to represent the interests of Austrian interests at the European Space Agency (ESA).

Through its activities FFG has broad access to information on research projects and research collaborations and information on technological trends at European level.

Services of FFG have a focus in supporting economically relevant research, however in some programs (such as BRIDGE) it also funds strategic research projects. For the funding of basic research projects its sister organization Austrian Science Fund (FWF) is mainly responsible.

Funding

The priorities of the FFG are divided into the following areas

 Basic programs - funding of bottom-up strategic projects
 Structural programs - structural funding (such as the program COMET )
 Thematic programs - top-down funding as a control element of politics
 European and international programs
 Austrian Space Program

The Austrian Research Promotion Agency promotes a yearly event called the "Austrian Champions in European Research", to award Austrian coordinators of European research projects.

See also
 Austrian Space Agency

References

External links
 The Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) (English version)

Government of Austria
Science and technology in Austria
2004 establishments in Austria
Government agencies established in 2004

Austrian Research Promotion Agency


Isthmus Bay is a body of water in South Eastern Tasmania. It is a bay of Bruny Island

History
Isthmus Bay was discovered on 1 May 1792 by M. de Cretin, of Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux's expedition along the eastern coast of Australia. On 21 May M. de St. Aignon, while searching for an exit from the channel, beached his boat in Isthmus bay, and waded ashore naked holding his gun and his compass.

On 13 February 1793, M. de Well and the geographer M. Beaupre, returned to Isthmus Bay. The French found an abundance of fish in the bay, catching one fish caught weighed 100 lb. and another that weighed 260 lb. The French gave the name "Isthmus Bay+ to the whole of the water now included in the bay of that name, as well as Great Bay. They named the isthmus "St. Aignon" after M. de St. Aignon.

References

Bays of Tasmania
South East Tasmania

Isthmus Bay (Tasmania)


Riddle Box is the third studio album by American Horrorcore band, Insane Clown Posse. It was released on October 10, 1995. The producers of the album were Insane Clown Posse and Mike E. Clark. The album was the third of the "Joker Cards" in the Dark Carnival mythology.

1995 albums
Insane Clown Posse albums

Riddle Box


Tad Mosel (May 1, 1922 – August 24, 2008) was an American playwright and one of the leading dramatists of hour-long teleplay genre for live television during the 1950s. He received the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play All the Way Home.

Biography

Early years
Mosel was born George Ault Mosel, Jr. in Steubenville, Ohio, to George Ault Mosel, Sr. and Margaret Norman. Raised as a Presbyterian, he was eight years old when his father's wholesale grocery business failed following the stock market crash, and the family moved to the suburbs of New York City. In 1931, George, Sr. launched a successful New York advertising company. Remembering his youth in Larchmont, New York, and New Rochelle, New York, Mosel stated:
My brother and I were given a sense of security. My brother is four years older than I am. We had a good, wonderful home. I had a marvelous mother and father... I adored my mother and father. They were both wonderful parents.

Mosel's interest in theater began in 1936 when he saw Katharine Cornell on Broadway in George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan. He went for one year to the Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts, graduating from New Rochelle High School. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mosel dropped out of Amherst College to enlist in the Army Air Force. During World War II, he was a Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force Weather Service (1943–46) as a weather observer, including one year in the South Pacific. In the post-WWII years he finished at Amherst and did graduate studies at the Yale Drama School (BA), followed by a Master's at Columbia University. He was writing plays while auditioning as an actor, and in 1949 he was on Broadway in the scene-stealing, non-speaking role of a confused private in the farce At War with the Army.

Career
His first teleplay was performed on Chevrolet Tele-Theater in 1949. During the early 1950s, he became a leading scriptwriter for live television dramas, contributing six teleplays to Goodyear Television Playhouse (in 1953-1954), two to Medallion Theatre (1953–1954) and four to Playhouse 90 (1957–1959). He also wrote for The Philco Television Playhouse (1954), Producers' Showcase and Studio One. After Eileen Heckart appeared in The Haven (on Philco Television Playhouse), his 1953 play about a troubled marriage,  Mosel and Heckart became friends, and he wrote several scripts especially for her, including the 1953 Other People's Houses (on Goodyear Television Playhouse) about a housekeeper caring for her senile father.

In 1997, Mosel recalled:
Paddy Chayefsky, Horton Foote, Sumner Locke Elliott, JP Miller and all of the group of writers that I knew, we grew up at the same time, and our eyes were on the theater. That was the Emerald City. That was the goal. Now, television came on after World War II, and television was a pauper. It had no money. No "self-respecting writer" would deign to write for television. Even drunken screenwriters wouldn't write for television. So who was there left? It was us. It was kids who would work for 65 cents. And so with a very patronizing attitude you thought, "Well, if I could make a few bucks doing that, it would give me time to write the great American play." It didn't take too much experience to realize that television was a medium all in itself, and that it was a career all in itself, and it was a thrilling one. But we stumbled into it by being snobs if I may say so. They would give anyone a chance. I look back on it, and I think, "Weren't we lucky to be there?" Because it was pure luck that we were there... It was the stillness before you went on the air that was so dramatic because everybody would be in place in plenty of time, but everybody would be silent. Nobody talking, nobody moving--the hands on the keys but not moving. The only thing moving was the second hand on the big clock, and then when it hit the top everybody started to move. It was very dramatic, that peace, that calm before you took the dive into it. It was a great thrilling moment and you suddenly loved every actor, and you just wanted them all to be rich and have children and go to happy graves.

Mosel's All the Way Home premiered in New York November 30, 1960, at the Belasco Theater to critical acclaim. In addition to winning a 1961 Pulitzer Prize, the play was nominated for a Tony Award. A stage adaptation of James Agee's novel A Death in the Family, it dramatizes the reactions of a Tennessee family to the father's accidental death in the summer of 1915. The play was also performed several times on television—in 1963, 1971 and 1981. In Denmark it was known as I havn and directed for Danish television by Clara Østø in 1959.

The movie adaptation of All The Way Home (1963) was filmed in the same Knoxville, Tennessee neighborhood where Agee was raised. Directed by Alex Segal, it starred Robert Preston, Jean Simmons and Pat Hingle.

Mosel wrote screenplays for the films Dear Heart, starring Glenn Ford and Geraldine Page, with Mosel seen in a cameo appearance as the Man in Lobby, and the popular Up the Down Staircase, based on the novel by Bel Kaufman and starring Sandy Dennis.

He was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series for an episode of The Adams Chronicles, a PBS drama series based on the lives of presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams and their families.

Many of Mosel's plays for television are available for viewing at The Paley Center for Media in New York City and Los Angeles.

Personal life
Mosel's death at age 86 of esophageal cancer came after 18 years of residency at Havenwood-Heritage Heights, a retirement community in Concord, New Hampshire, where he often lectured. He was preceded in death in 1995 by Raymond Tatro, McCall's magazine graphic designer; they were partners for more than 40 years.

Legacy
Mosel's $100,000 gift to Havenwood-Heritage Heights was used to finance an auditorium, named Tad's Place, for future speakers to the community.

Bibliography

References

External links

Tad Mosel papers, 1935-1991, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Curtain Up: All the Way Home: review by Elyse Sommer
The Vault: "For the Record: Tad Mosel" (Fall, 1998)
Archive of American Television: Tad Mosel interviewed by Michael Rosen

1922 births
2008 deaths
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American LGBT people
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters
American gay writers
American LGBT dramatists and playwrights
American male dramatists and playwrights
American male screenwriters
Amherst College alumni
Columbia University alumni
Deaths from cancer in New Hampshire
Deaths from esophageal cancer
LGBT people from Ohio
Military personnel from Ohio
New Rochelle High School alumni
Northfield Mount Hermon School alumni
People from Steubenville, Ohio
Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Screenwriters from Ohio
United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
Writers from New Rochelle, New York
David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni

Tad Mosel


The British Columbia Assessment Authority is a publicly owned Crown Corporation in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.
BC Assessment was created in 1974, as a result of a provincial government all-party committee unanimous recommendation that an independent assessment agency be created.

Its mandate is to provide property assessment values for property owners in the province. This information is primarily used in the calculation of property tax payable to the provincial government or relevant municipality in British Columbia. In 2009, some $6 billion (CAD) was raised in B.C. from property tax levies. In 2009, the total value of assessments in the province were $969 billion. By 2010, that number had grown to $1.04 trillion. Most assessments are of the market value of the real property.

In 2009 (for the 2010 roll), assessment appeals remained low, compared to many other property-taxing provinces and states. Some 98.5% of assessments were accepted without appeal.

BC Assessment has approximately 650 full-time staff positions in 17 offices throughout the province. B.C. Assessment's annual budget is just over $77 million.

External links

British Columbia Municipalities List

Crown corporations of British Columbia
Professional valuation organizations
1974 establishments in British Columbia

BC Assessment Authority


The University of Rochester Arboretum is an arboretum located across the River Campus of the University of Rochester, 612 Wilson Boulevard, Rochester, New York.

The River Campus is located beside the Genesee River on a site previously owned by the Oak Hill Country Club. Famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. had designed a "River Walk" of oak trees along the river; and after the university purchased the site in 1923, his son Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. served as landscape designer and consultant to the campus architects. In 1999 certain areas of the campus were designated as the arboretum.

The River Walk was recently sold to the City of Rochester as public parkland along the river corridor. In a 1 km (¾ mile) area between Elmwood Avenue and Intercampus Drive are 197 oak trees representing 15 species. Trees in the arboretum proper currently include: American Beech (Fagus grandifolia), Amur corktree (Phellodendron amurense), Baldcypress (Taxodium distichum), Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica), Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), Goldenraintree (Koelreuteria paniculata), Hally Jolivette cherry (Prunus 'Hally Jolivette'), Japanese Pagoda Tree (Styphnolobium japonicum), Japanese Zelkova (Zelkova serrata), Katsura Tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus), Kanzan cherry (Prunus serrulata 'Kanzan'), Late Lilac (Syringa villosa), Miyabe's Maple (Acer miyabei), Osage-orange (Maclura pomifera), Paperbark Maple (Acer griseum), Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra), Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea), Wych Elm (Ulmus glabra), Shadblow serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis), Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) and Tulip-tree (Liriodendron tulipifera).

Although not located on the River Campus, the university grounds also contain two state champion trees, a weeping willow and a Ponderosa Pine. They are the largest known examples in the New York state.

See also
 List of botanical gardens in the United States

External links
 University of Rochester Arboretum
University of Rochester Arboretum

Arboreta in New York (state)
University of Rochester
Genesee River
Protected areas of Monroe County, New York
Tourist attractions in Rochester, New York

University of Rochester Arboretum


MOBA is an abbreviation for "Multiplayer Online Battle Arena". League of Legends is an example of a MOBA.

Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a subgenre of strategy video games that has gained immense popularity since the early 2000s. MOBAs are typically team-based games where players control a single character or unit and work together with their team to achieve a common goal.

Gameplay in MOBAs usually involves two opposing teams, each trying to destroy the other team's base while defending their own. Players must work together to defeat computer-controlled enemy units and gain experience and gold, which can be used to purchase upgrades and items for their characters.

One of the most popular MOBAs is League of Legends, which was released in 2009 and has since become one of the most played online games in the world. Other popular MOBAs include Dota 2, Smite, and Heroes of the Storm.

MOBAs require a combination of strategic thinking, quick reflexes, and teamwork to succeed. Players must communicate effectively with their teammates, manage resources, and make split-second decisions in order to gain an advantage over their opponents.

The rise of MOBAs has led to the development of professional esports leagues and tournaments, where teams of players compete for large cash prizes. The popularity of these events has helped to legitimize video gaming as a competitive sport and has brought gaming into the mainstream.

While MOBAs are known for their fast-paced, action-packed gameplay, they can also be complex and difficult to learn. Many MOBAs have extensive tutorials and learning resources to help new players get started, but it can take months or even years to become proficient at the game.

Despite the challenges, MOBAs remain one of the most popular genres in gaming, with millions of players around the world logging on to play each day. With new games and updates being released regularly, the MOBA genre shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Video game genres

Multiplayer online battle arena


Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust based in Memphis, Tennessee that invests in apartments in the Southeastern United States and the Southwestern United States.

As of December 31, 2020, the company owned 300 apartment communities containing 100,490 apartment units. It is the largest owner of apartments in the United States and the 7th largest apartment property manager in the United States.

History
The company was founded in 1977 by George E. Cates.

In 1993, the company was organized as a real estate investment trust.

In February 1994, the company acquired The Cates Company from George E. Cates and became a public company via an initial public offering.

In March 2009, founder George E. Cates retired.

In October 2013, the company acquired Colonial Properties.

In December 2016, the company acquired Post Properties and was added to the S&P 500 Index.

In 2017, the company was ranked 142nd on the "Growth Champions" list published by Forbes.

In November 2018, the company paid $11.3 million to settle a complaint that Post Properties violated the design and construction requirements under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act at 50 properties.

References

External links

Real estate companies established in 1977
1977 establishments in Tennessee
Companies based in Memphis, Tennessee
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Real estate investment trusts of the United States
1994 initial public offerings

Mid-America Apartment Communities


Lourdes Pérez (born Bernardita de Lourdes Pérez Cruz on February 12, 1961) is a prolific Puerto Rican contemporary recording artist, songwriter, composer, arranger, poet, contralto vocalist, oral historian and guitarist.  She is also one of few female decimistas (writer of décima, a specialized form of Spanish poetry). Often conjuring comparisons to the soulful world music genres of cante jonde, morna and fado, Pérez' body of music has been characterized as folk opera ("opera of the people") that honors her jíbara (Puerto Rican mountain) roots and the legacy of Spanish/pan-Latin American nueva trova or nueva cancion.

Life and work
Pérez was born in Hato Arriba, San Sebastián, Puerto Rico.  Considered by many to be "among the great Latin American female vocalists" and songwriters, Lourdes Pérez has performed duets with numerous legendary and diverse artists, from Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa and Mexican master decimista Guillermo Velázquez to Canadian pop artist Jane Siberry. Acclaimed for her "ability to transcend language...with her achingly beautiful contralto voice," she has devoted her work to promoting human rights around the globe. Pérez is one of 1000 performers in the world profiled in the MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide (2000) and she is featured in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States (Oxford University Press, 2005).

Her discography includes 13 CDs, a full-length film score, a short film score, 2 modern dance scores, a theater score and numerous individual tributes, while her songs appear in films, CD compilations and anthologies. A concert at a Palestinian refugee camp prompted her Spanish translation of the Arabic song by Ahmad Kaabour/Tawfeeq Zayad, "Unadeekum (Te llamo)", which was later released on her CD, Este Filo. A song that Pérez wrote for the people of Sierra Blanca, Texas was read into the U.S. Congressional record by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (Texas) as part of a successful campaign against dumping nuclear waste inside a low-income Mexican American community on the Texas-Mexico border.  References to her strong support for the independence of Puerto Rico can be found in several of her songs.  In November 2006, her song, "Paloma Urbana" (Urban Dove) won Best Latin Song in the Just Plain Folks Music Awards.  Over the years, she has been asked to write or improvise tributes to other artists, human rights leaders and elders, such as Chicana scholar Gloria Anzaldúa, Puerto Rican nationalist centenarian Isabel Rosado and disappeared Mayan resistance leader Efraín Bámaca Velásquez ("Comandante Everardo"). Pérez recently provided contextual information on Puerto Rican poetry for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's memoir, My Beloved World (2013).

Lourdes Pérez was honored, alongside Ali Akbar Khan, as one of the country's "finest living artists" and was awarded a 2006 United States Artists unrestricted fellowship for her contribution to music.

The contemporary Puerto Rican trova group, Somos Tres, and the Lebanese singer, May Nasr, have recorded and interpreted Pérez's work.

Pérez is openly lesbian, and has written songs about lesbian experience. "Yo Pari Una Luchadora" (I Gave Birth to a Fighter) is a song dedicated to the mother of a lesbian human rights activist. Perez has lived and traveled with her partner and collaborator, Annette D'Armata, since 1991.

Published work
 Tengo la Vida: Lourdes Pérez in concerto, live from Rome (Block Nota Records, 2018)
 Still Here: Homenaje al Westside de San Antonio, Oral history book and music CD, Lourdes Pérez composer, multiple artists (Chee Wee Records/Esperanza Press, 2018)
 Al Caer la Tarde, Lourdes Pérez and Eva Ybarra, 6 track EP (Chee Wee Records, 2016)
 Written in Water, Lourdes Pérez and May Nasr (duet CD in Spanish and Arabic) with special guest Ahmad Kaabour (Chee Wee Records, 2016)
 Dulce Vigilante: Remembranzas de la Región Oeste de Puerto Rico, Illustrated book and music CD, (Chee Wee House, 2015)
 20 Años, Boxed collection of works from 1994 -2014, includes 8 CDs (Chee Wee Records, 2014)
 Te Llamo * Ounadikum, 3-track CD single recorded in Spanish and Arabic with May Nasr and special guest Ahmad Kaabour  (Chee Wee Records 2011)
 En Vivo, Lourdes Perez con Miriam Perez, live duet concert with younger sister, Miriam Perez (Chee Wee, 2007)
 Este Filo, solo CD  (Chee Wee, 2005)
 Azúl y Serena, commissioned work, recorded with the Dama de Noche Orchestra (Chee Wee, 2003)
 Pájaros de otro canto, commissioned soundtrack for the film, ¿Adónde Fue Juan José? (Chee Wee, 2003)
 Selections from Tres Oraciones (Chee Wee, 2002)
 Vestigios (Vivavoce Records, 1997)
 Recuerdate Por Mi (Chee Wee, 1994)

Full-length scores
 Azul y Serena (multimedia tribute concert)
 Santuarios (modern/folkloric dance)
 conflama (word opera, theater)
 Adonde Fue Juan Jose (feature film)
 Marejada (multimedia, oral history)

See also

List of Puerto Ricans

References

External links
lourdesperez.com

1961 births
Living people
Women guitarists
Puerto Rican lesbian musicians
Puerto Rican lesbian writers
Puerto Rican LGBT singers
Puerto Rican LGBT poets
Puerto Rican LGBT songwriters
Puerto Rican LGBT composers
People from San Sebastián, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican activists
Puerto Rican women composers
20th-century Puerto Rican women singers
20th-century Puerto Rican singers
Puerto Rican guitarists
Puerto Rican women singer-songwriters
Lesbian singers
Lesbian poets
Lesbian songwriters
Lesbian composers
21st-century Puerto Rican women singers
21st-century Puerto Rican singers
20th-century Puerto Rican LGBT people
21st-century Puerto Rican LGBT people

Lourdes Pérez


Herbert Akroyd-Stuart (28 January 1864 – 19 February 1927) was an English inventor who is noted for his invention of the hot bulb engine, or heavy oil engine.

Life
Akroyd-Stuart was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, but lived in Australia for a period in his early years. He was educated at Newbury Grammar School (now St. Bartholomew's School) and Finsbury Technical College in London. He was the son of Charles Stuart, founder of the Bletchley Iron and Tinplate Works, joining his father in the business in 1887.

Oil engines
In 1885, Akroyd Stuart accidentally spilt paraffin oil (kerosene) into a pot of molten tin. The paraffin oil vaporised and caught fire when in contact with a paraffin lamp. This gave him an idea to pursue the possibility of using paraffin oil (very similar to modern-day diesel) for an engine, which unlike petrol proved difficult to vaporise in a carburettor because its volatility is insufficient.

His first prototype engines were built in 1886. In 1890, in collaboration with Charles Richard Binney,  he filed Patent 7146 for Richard Hornsby and Sons of Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. The patent was entitled: "Improvements in Engines Operated by the Explosion of Mixtures of Combustible Vapour or Gas and Air". One such engine was sold to Newport Sanitary Authority, but the compression ratio was too low to get it started from cold, and it needed a heat poultice to get it going.

Hornsby-Akroyd engine

Akroyd-Stuart's engines were built from 26 June 1891 by Richard Hornsby and Sons as the Hornsby Akroyd Patent Oil Engine under licence and were first sold commercially on 8 July 1892. It was the first internal combustion engine to use a pressurised fuel injection system.

The Hornsby-Akroyd engine used a comparatively low compression ratio, so that the temperature of the air compressed in the combustion chamber at the end of the compression stroke was not high enough to initiate combustion. Combustion instead took place in a separated combustion chamber, the "vaporizer" (also called the "hot bulb") mounted on the cylinder head, into which fuel was sprayed. It was connected to the cylinder by a narrow passage and was heated either by the cylinder's coolant or by exhaust gases while running; an external flame such as a blowtorch was used for starting. Self-ignition occurred from contact between the fuel-air mixture and the hot walls of the vaporizer. By contracting the bulb to a very narrow neck where it attached to the cylinder, a high degree of turbulence was set up as the ignited gases flashed through the neck into the cylinder, where combustion was completed. As the engine's load increased, so did the temperature of the bulb, causing the ignition period to advance; to counteract pre-ignition, water was dripped into the air intake.

Hot bulb engines were produced until the late 1920s, often being called "semi-diesels", even though they were not as efficient as compression ignition engines. They had the advantage of comparative simplicity, since they did not require the air compressor used by early Diesel engines; fuel was injected mechanically (solid injection) near the start of the compression stroke, at a much lower pressure than that of Diesel engines.

Oil-engined locomotive
Richard Hornsby and Sons built the world's first oil-engined railway locomotive LACHESIS for the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, England, in 1896. They also built the first compression-ignition powered automobile.

Oil engines outside the UK
Sweden
Similar engines were built by Bolinder in Sweden and some of these still survive in canal boats.

United States
Hot bulb engines were built in the USA by the De La Vergne Company of New York City, later the New York Refrigerating Company – inventing the modern refrigerator in 1930, who purchased a licence in 1893.

Akroyd engine and Diesel engine

Both the Diesel engine, and the Akroyd engine run the same kind of fuel, petroleum oil, which has led to a dispute about whether or not the Diesel engine is based upon the Akroyd engine. The fact that the Diesel engine's operating principle differs from the operating principle Rudolf Diesel describes in his essay Theory and Construction of a Rational Heat Motor further contributed to this. The Akroyd engine was the first functional internal combustion engine that could use petroleum oil as fuel. It was operational in 1891, six years before the Diesel engine first ran. However, after the Diesel engine had proven successful, "Diesel engine" became the synonym for an engine that ran on any sort of petroleum oil. "Oil engines" that used the Akroyd operating principle were called "Semi-Diesel", and the name "Akroyd", which had been associated with oil engines, fell out of use. Therefore, Herbert Akroyd Stuart sought to replace the term Diesel engine with Akroyd engine in the early 20th century.

Herbert Akroyd Stuart had two patents, No. 7146 Improvements in Engines Operated by the Explosion of Mixtures of Combustible Vapour or Gas and Air, and No. 15994. In the former, the Akroyd engine's operating principle is described as follows: "... at the desired part of this compression stroke, the supply of liquid hydrocarbon is forced, in a spray form, on to the heated vaporiser, which almost instantly changes it into a gas...". Early Akroyd engines indeed operated on this principle. Rudolf Diesel had a patent on the combustion process described in his essay (DRP 67207). The Diesel engine neither operates on the process described in the Akroyd patent, nor on the process described in the DRP 67207 patent. It operates instead on a different operating principle, also invented by Rudolf Diesel (patented in 1893, DRP 82168), which is why Diesel is in fact the Diesel engine's inventor. However, Diesel never admitted that his engine operated on a "secret" operating principle, and claimed that the Diesel engine operates on the (impossible) operating process described in the DRP 67207 patent.

The key difference between the Akroyd and Diesel engines is the ignition: In an Akroyd engine, an ignition device – the so-called "hot bulb" or "vaporiser" – ignites the fuel, because the compression is too low for compression ignition (<300 kPa). A Diesel engine on the other hand has no discrete ignition devices. The fuel instead ignites due to high heat caused solely by piston compression inside the cylinder (>3000 kPa). Since higher compression leads to better efficiency, the lower-pressure Akroyd engine consumes ~ 80% more fuel than a Diesel engine doing the same work.

Death
In 1900, he moved to Australia and set up a company Sanders & Stuart with his brother Charles, late in life moving back to Yorkshire, England. He died on 19 February 1927 in Halifax of throat cancer, and was buried in All Souls church in Boothtown, Halifax.

The University of Nottingham has hosted the Akroyd-Stuart Memorial Lecture on occasional years in his memory since 1928. One was presented by Sir Frank Whittle in 1946. Akroyd Stuart had worked with Professor William Robinson in the late 19th century, who was professor of engineering from 1890 to 1924 at University College Nottingham.

Akroyd-Stuart also left money to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Royal Aeronautical Society and Institute of Marine Engineering, which provided for their respective bi-annual Akroyd-Stuart Prizes.

See also
History of the internal combustion engine

Notes

External links
 Biography
 Relation to the Ruston and Hornsby history.
 History of his Oil Engine at the Anson Engine Museum
 De La Vergne Oil Engine used for Marconi's first broadcast
 IMechE Herbert Akroyd Prize (sic)
 Immortalised by naming a range of bollards after him
 All Souls Church, Halifax

Patents

 US Patent 845140 Combustion Engine, dated 26 February 1907.
 US Patent 502837 Engine operated by the explosion of mixtures of gas or hydrocarbon vapor and air, dated 8 August 1893.
 US Patent 439702 Petroleum Engine or Motor, dated 4 November 1890.

1864 births
1927 deaths
British mechanical engineers
Stationary engines
People associated with the internal combustion engine
People from Halifax, West Yorkshire
Academics of the University of Nottingham
People educated at St. Bartholomew's School
British people in colonial Australia

Herbert Akroyd Stuart


Ivan Noble (June 1967 – 31 January 2005) was a British journalist who worked for BBC News Online, and became well known for his diary documenting his fight against cancer.

Born in Leeds, he lived in East Germany working as a translator between 1988 and 1990. He then joined the BBC, originally working for them as a translator, then as a sub-editor in Nairobi. He later worked in the Science and Technology section of the BBC News website, where he was known for his love of complicated gadgetry.

He was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme on 29 August 2002, and wrote about his battle against the cancer on the BBC News website in a series entitled Tumour Diary. Noble continued to write stories for the series until 30 January 2005, the day before he died. The tumor left him with serious visual impairments on the right side. In December 2004, having completed several courses of chemotherapy, and after a brief remission, his tumor started to grow again.  Noble enjoyed a huge amount of public support during this period.

His final comment before his death ended with the statement "I will end with a plea. I still have no idea why I ended up with a cancer, but plenty of other cancer patients know what made them ill...If two or three people stop smoking as a result of anything I have ever written then the one of them who would have got cancer will live and all my scribblings [sic] will have been worthwhile."

Noble died in a London hospice aged 37. He was survived by his wife, Almut, and two children (a son and daughter).

Legacy
A book entitled Like a Hole in the Head (), which chronicles Noble's fight with cancer, was released in May 2005. A bursary was established by the BBC in Noble's memory; it will provide annual funding for a newly qualified journalist to work at the science and technology desk of the BBC News website for six months. The first recipient of this bursary was Rebecca Morelle.

See also
List of notable brain tumor patients

References

External links
Tumour Diary.
BBC writer Ivan Noble dies at 37, includes a link to a 2004 videotaped interview
Ivan Noble: An appreciation
After Ivan, reflections from his wife
Bursary memorial for Ivan Noble

1967 births
2005 deaths
Deaths from brain cancer in England
British male journalists
Writers from Leeds

Ivan Noble


Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjić were the defending champions. They were both present but did not compete together.
Santoro partnered with Richard Gasquet, but lost in the quarterfinals to Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle.
Zimonjic partnered with Daniel Nestor, but lost in the semifinals to Martin Damm and Pavel Vízner.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles won in the final 7–5, 7–6(9–7), against Martin Damm and Pavel Vízner.

Seeds

Draw

Draw

External links
 Draw

2008 Dubai Tennis Championships
Dubai Tennis Championships

2008 Dubai Tennis Championships – Men's doubles