By Lord Ashcroft
Article in Mail on Sunday – 05 May 2019
With his glorious golden mane, magnificent Simba cautiously surveys his new kingdom as he stalks through dense bushes. (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has given his backing to today’s launch of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC’s) “Voices of Liberation” project to mark the 75th anniversary of key events in the Second World War.
As part of the new project, Lord Ashcroft and others were interviewed about their thoughts and experiences on liberation in relation to 1944 and other significant Second World War events. These interviews will form part of an important archive that the CWGC will keep and maintain. (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
First published in the Telegraph Magazine on Saturday, 26 January 2019.
Rainbow leans forward and rests her chin on Peter Dunning’s left leg as he sits on a large discarded rubber tyre. The baby rhinoceros then lunges towards the plastic teat of a litre bottle of powdered milk that Dunning is clutching in his right hand.
It is feeding time under the late-afternoon African sun and Rainbow knows it. ‘Come on, gorgeous,’ Dunning says affectionately, but she needs no encouragement as she guzzles down the milk. Dunning reaches forward and gently rubs the thick hide on her neck with his left hand, slowly bringing it higher to tickle her ears.
By Lord Ashcroft
First published in the Daily Mail on Monday, 05 February 2018.
Today is a landmark occasion for the people of Scotland as their Government launches a national campaign against a “silent killer”: sepsis.
I applaud the Scottish Government’s decision to begin raising awareness of the dangers of sepsis because it will undoubtedly save hundreds of lives in the future.
Furthermore, I congratulate those, particularly the Scottish Daily Mail, who lobbied so passionately and effectively against people who claimed that a new campaign was unnecessary. (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
First published in the Daily Mail Scotland on 13 September 2017
TWO years ago sepsis came within a whisker of claiming my life. It resulted in me spending 19 days in intensive care and throughout that time it was unclear whether I would live or die.
As an international businessman, I travel widely (I have visited more than 150 countries to date) and I consider myself to be wellread (quite apart from the many books I have devoured, I have written 13 of my own). (more…)
By lordashcroft.com
Lord Ashcroft and The UK Sepsis Trust are today launching a £500,000 fund-raising campaign to raise money for the charity.
Their aim is to save lives by making more people aware of the dangers of sepsis and also its symptoms. For every £1 that is donated by others, Lord Ashcroft will match this with an identical donation of his own up to £250,000. This means that the fund-raising target for the campaign #Ashcroft4SepsisUnited is £500,000. (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
A year and a half ago sepsis almost claimed my life. During my 19 days in intensive care, it was repeatedly touch and go whether I lived or died.
When I was taken ill in September 2015, I was one of the vast majority of people who is blissfully unaware both of the symptoms of sepsis or quite how many lives it claims every year.
My road to a full recovery was a long and difficult one after various health complications, but I am glad to say that I eventually made it to my own 70th birthday party in March last year and I have managed to clock up another birthday since then. (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
Speech made by Lord Ashcroft on 13 October 2016 at the Sepsis Unplugged Conference in Brighton.
Ladies and gentlemen, I can’t begin to tell you how delighted I am to be here. And when I say “here”, I don’t just mean at the Hilton Brighton Metropole. I mean “here” more generally, as in still “here” on Planet Earth.
For, just over a year ago, I fell victim to sepsis, the condition that I now know – but did not know then – that claims an estimated 44,000 lives in the UK every year.
I have been asked to share my experiences with you and I am going to do just that – to provide you with a detailed, if somewhat traumatic, account of a desperately unhappy episode that came so close to claiming my life. (more…)
By lordashcroft.com
Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has provided substantial sponsorship for a major project to highlight the merits of the United Kingdom’s Overseas Territories.
The international businessman and philanthropist has supported Stewart McPherson, the naturalist and explorer, who has, over a three-year period, visited all of the Overseas Territories to film and photograph their wildlife, landscapes and cultural heritage for a three-part BBC documentary series.
Lord Ashcroft has specifically provided the funding to enable Britain’s Treasure Islands, a book that accompanies the documentary series, to be donated free of charge to every secondary school in the UK and the Overseas Territories – that’s 5,350 schools in all. (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
With the General Election exactly a week away, I am delighted to report on a new initiative to tackle electoral fraud.
The “Don’t Stand for Electoral Fraud” project from Crimestoppers, the crime-fighting charity, is perfectly timed. It will see a four-pronged attempt to tackle those who intimidate voters, bribe voters, steal postal votes and vote for someone else. (more…)