


I spent yesterday evening in the company of about fifty of The Scout Association’s young national and county representatives, during their annual conference at Warwick University. They were very kind, listening to a few of my stories, laughing at my jokes and reacting politely to my various challenges to them to transform the Movement. After…
This week, I made my inaugural address to The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Forum, our world conference, which is held every three years. What follows are my speaking notes – and some of the slides that I used as illustrations. We are the world’s leading youth achievement award, bringing together practical experiences…
I was listening to the always wonderful Simon Mayo’s BBC Radio 2 podcast this morning on my way to work. He was talking to the poet Roger McGough. Roger was bemoaning the closure of libraries around the country, particularly those in schools. Computers may give children instant access to information, he argued, but they don’t…
I fell in love with Uganda about twenty years ago. It was the first country in Africa I visited. I was setting up a partnership between the Scouts of the UK, the Uganda Scouts and Unicef that was going to focus on peer education, child immunisation and HIV awareness. Visiting this country I knew almost…
My address to delegates of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Forum 2015 in Toronto, Canada Your Royal Highness, Honourable ministers, Chairman, My Lord, Ladies and Gentlemen Good morning. We are the people we’ve been waiting for. I was in the office of a ‘master of the universe’ the other day. Or at least that’s…
The last day of any Scout World Conference is always spent dealing with the very many resolutions that are created over the course of the week and today was no exception. I sat at the back of the conference hall and listened to our various delegations from around the world set the priorities for World…