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…)
By lordashcroft.com
The Ashcroft Technology Academy in south-west London has been rated as “outstanding” in a newly-published report from Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills).
Furthermore, the secondary school was given the top “outstanding” assessment for all the specific areas that were scrutinised by inspectors: “Leadership and management”, “Behaviour and safety of pupils”, “Quality of teaching”, “Achievement of pupils” and “Sixth form provision”. It is rare for any school to get a full set of “outstanding” grades. (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
Last night I had the hugely enjoyable task of co-hosting a charity gala dinner at which HRH The Duke of Cambridge was the guest of honour.
Prince William has become a loyal supporter of SkillForce and so it was a real honour to welcome him to the event – in his role as patron of the charity – to mark our tenth anniversary. (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
Anglia Ruskin University’s Veterans and Families Institute (VFI) has been awarded £160,000 to set up a comprehensive online resource for research into all aspects of military veterans and their families.
The proposed Veterans Research Hub (VRH) will bring together UK and international literature and research resources on military veterans and their families. The information will be readily accessible and will be aimed at stimulating research, influencing policy and improving the delivery of services. (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
If I were to ask people to list the biggest threats to our nation’s finances, I would imagine that diabetes, if it appeared at all, would be fairly close to the bottom.
We tend to think of diabetes as a relatively mild condition and so it is unlikely to be something we consider as posing a serious threat to either the health, or wealth, of the country. But while the view that diabetes is a relatively benign problem is widespread, it could not be further from the truth. (more…)