Latest news with #Shackleton
ITV News
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ITV News
Antarctica: Following Shackleton's Endurance mission 100 years on
A century after Shackleton's ship Endurance sunk near Elephant Island, ITV News' Martin Stew makes the same journey on board the RRS Sir David Attenborough.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sovereign Capital sells wealth manager Shackleton to Lee Equity Partners
UK-based private equity investor Sovereign Capital Partners has sold Shackleton, an independent financial advisory and wealth management business, to Lee Equity Partners. Shackleton has entered a definitive agreement for a majority investment from funds managed by Lee Equity Partners, pending regulatory approval. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Sovereign Capital Partners initially backed Shackleton, formerly known as Skerritts, in 2021. Over the subsequent four years, the private equity investor collaborated with Shackleton's management on a buy & build programme. This initiative aimed to consolidate the fragmented IFA and wealth management sector, positioning Shackleton as a leading financial adviser in the UK. During this partnership, Shackleton completed 18 acquisitions, expanding from its South East origins into a national entity. Earlier this month, Shackleton IM Asset Management from Irwin Mitchell. The deal also included TWP Wealth, a financial planning business acquired by IMAM in 2022. Sovereign Capital Partners partner James Dargan said: 'The Shackleton transaction perfectly demonstrates our Buy & Build expertise in action. Over four years, we completed 18 strategic acquisitions, each carefully selected to expand Shackleton's geographic footprint and strengthen its service capabilities. 'The quality and pace of our acquisition programme has positioned Shackleton as the clear market leader it is today.' The December 2024 rebrand to Shackleton marked its evolution into a unified platform. Headquartered in London, the company now comprises over 400 professionals, including 100 advisers. Sovereign Capital Partners said it also supported investments in Shackleton's operations, technology, and management team. This included aiding founder Richard Skerritt in transitioning from daily operations by recruiting Paul Feeney, former CEO of FTSE 250 wealth manager Quilter, as his successor. Additionally, Andrew Fisher, former CEO of Coutts & Co and Towry Group, was appointed as Chair, and Grant Hotson, previously CFO of the Openwork Partnership, was appointed as CFO. Feeney said: 'We launched the Shackleton brand late last year with the vision of becoming Britain's Financial Adviser, by providing trusted, fair and affordable financial advice to people right across our nation. We are one step closer to achieving that vision today as we welcome our new private equity partners, Lee Equity. 'With Lee Equity's backing we have secured very significant international investment not just for Shackleton but also for our country. Thank you, Sovereign, you have been great supporters, and welcome Lee Equity. The journey continues.' "Sovereign Capital sells wealth manager Shackleton to Lee Equity Partners " was originally created and published by Private Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Daily Maverick
17-06-2025
- Science
- Daily Maverick
From anti-apartheid to Antarctic rights — the radical legal vision of Cormac Cullinan
The South African lawyer believes the melting continent should be recognised as a legal person. The growing momentum behind the idea — and a major polar award — suggests the world may be ready to listen. When Cormac Cullinan strolled into the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) in London earlier this month, he thought he was there to answer a few questions for a panel of judges. Cullinan, a Cape Town-based lawyer and a figurehead of the international Antarctic Rights initiative, had been shortlisted for the 2025 Shackleton Medal for the Protection of the Polar Regions. He insists he had no reason to expect he would win the £10,000 prize and a hand-struck silver medal. Fellow nominees included polar luminaries — scientists, conservationists and contemporary explorers. Sir Ernest Shackleton's granddaughter, Alexandra, was a judge. 'I was surprised to be shortlisted,' says Cullinan, the environmental lawyer who helped suspend Shell's seismic surveys off South Africa's Wild Coast. Cullinan had let the organisers know he would be passing through London in early June, in case they wanted to meet him. The RGS's official line was that the final decision was yet to be made. When they asked him to meet the executive, he assumed it was just part of the shortlisting process. 'It was a really amazing building,' he says. 'On one corner is a statue of Shackleton, on the other David Livingstone. These great explorers had been members.' He sat at the end of a table, surrounded by the RGS top brass and a publicity team. 'I thought they were filming it because not all the judges were there.' What happened next blindsided the South African. 'I didn't think my beard was rugged enough' 'They said, 'Before you go, there's just one more thing.' They put a laptop in front of me,' Cullinan recalls. 'It was the Shackleton award video. When it came to the end, it said, 'And the 2025 winner is… ' And this picture of me came up.' The organisers had choreographed the moment to the last detail, complete with a photo shoot and Shackleton expedition-style jersey on hand — modelled after the one worn by the Irish explorer in a famous photograph. 'At least it made me look more … Shackletonian,' Cullinan smiles. 'Even if I didn't think my beard was rugged enough.' Cullinan, the legal pioneer behind the concept of earth jurisprudence, says the award is a collective recognition for the Antarctic Rights initiative. They had just met in Devon, followed by academic discussions in Oxford. 'It was extraordinary synchronicity,' Cullinan says. Cullinan hopes the recognition from the Shackleton Medal will open doors. 'This thing will give us huge leverage,' he says. An inclusive voice for the imperilled region At the core of the initiative is the radical idea that the frozen – but melting — Antarctic continent and surrounding ocean should be recognised as a legal person with its own voice in global governance. The initiative's draft declaration supports human involvement in the region, such as science and activities like controlled tourism and fishing. Even so, Cullinan argues that Antarctica's representative voice 'would be a pure kind of voice for nature and Antarctica'. This probably means refining the Antarctic Treaty System in its present form, he argues, which he describes as secretive and often gridlocked by geopolitics. 'I had to unlearn what my culture had taught me' Cullinan's path to the Shackleton Medal began on Durban's segregated beaches during the final decade of apartheid. 'I cut my teeth as an anti-apartheid activist,' Cullinan says. A 1980 student exchange to New Zealand exposed him to an unflinching external view of his home country. As a founding chair of the Durban Democratic Association, an affiliate of the non-racial United Democratic Front (UDF), Cullinan remembers organising 'street marches to go on to segregated beaches and many different things … 'I had been born into the oppressor class. When the scales fell from my eyes, I had to unlearn a lot of what I had absorbed unconsciously from apartheid society. I ended up leaving the country to avoid conscription, because I wasn't going to fight for that army.' Thomas Berry, the American eco-theologian, gave Cullinan the concept to move from political activism into jurisprudence. That idea of unlearning dominance would become the philosophical heart of what Cullinan later called earth jurisprudence: a radical reimagining of the law and seeing it as intrinsic to the ecological order. 'Berry taught me that the philosophy of law only deals with humans and corporations. But legal philosophy needs to deal with all our relationships — including with beings other than humans,' Cullinan says. A global movement for Antarctica — 'modelled' on the UDF This led to his 2002 book Wild Law, which set out the founding principles of earth jurisprudence. From this grew a movement. In 2010, Cullinan was asked by Bolivian campaigners to lead the drafting of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. Bolivia's legislative assembly passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth that year — around the same time the lawyer helped co-found the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. 'To my mind it was modelled quite closely on the UDF in South Africa,' Cullinan says. 'An alliance of organisations of many kinds, united around a few core principles.' That idea — with nature as a legal subject and ecocide as the crime — neared a possible new frontier when Cullinan was approached by German MEP Carola Rackete in 2021. Rackete asked him: Could rights of nature be applied to Antarctica itself? 'I thought, 'Well, if Antarctica is going to have rights, it has to be a person in the eyes of the law,'' he remarks. 'I realised you're talking for the first time about an ecological entity being a person under international law.' 'Open' for input Cullinan and a working group of academics, lawyers and legal campaigners have set out to draft the Antarctica Rights Declaration, now open for feedback. It proposes rights for the region which would, in theory, enable the Antarctic to hold states or corporations accountable for actions that violate those rights. To represent Antarctica's interests in an international court, Cullinan suggests a kind of parliament may emerge — a representative body that appoints delegates to climate summits and biodiversity talks. Representation, he boldly adds, may even include participation in Antarctic Treaty consultative meetings, the annual governance gathering which this year opens in Milan on June 23. 'What's good for Antarctica,' presses the Shackleton Medal recipient, 'is good for humanity.' DM
Telegraph
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Royal Ascot Day 2 tips: ITV Racing selections
Day two of Royal Ascot features the Group 1 Prince of Wales's Stakes, plus three Group 2 contests and we have verdicts and tips for all seven races. The action is on ITV1 (1.30-6pm) and ITV4 (5.50-6.30), as well as Sky Sports Racing. If you're thinking of placing a multiple bet, check out these Lucky 15 and each-way suggestions for day two. If you already have a William Hill account and are looking for a new bookmaker to use for this week's racing, check out more free bets from the best betting sites, reviewed by our experts Royal Ascot Day 2 tips – Ron Wood's selections NAP: Shackleton (3.05, Ascot) @ 3/1 with William Hill ⭐⭐⭐ Next best: Old Is Gold (6.10, Ascot) @ 11/2 with William Hill ⭐⭐⭐ Others: Lennilu (2.30, Ascot) @ 15/2 with William Hill ⭐⭐⭐ Cinderella's Dream (3.40, Ascot) @ 7/4 with William Hill ⭐⭐⭐ Ombudsman (4.20, Ascot) @ 9/2 with William Hill ⭐⭐ Silawi (5.00, Ascot) @ 20/1 with William Hill ⭐⭐ Julia Augusta (5.35, Ascot) @ 22/1 with William Hill ⭐⭐ Odds provided by William Hill and correct at the time of writing. Stars denote strength of selection (maximum five). 2.30 Ascot – Queen Mary Stakes (Group 2, 5f) This big-field two-year-old fillies' contest could go to the US-trained LENNILU, who has won both of her starts in the States, most recently a turf race at Gulfstream Park that was won two years ago by Crimson Advocate, who then landed this event. 3.05 Ascot – Queen's Vase (Group 2, 1m 6f) A low draw is handy in this race, so SHACKLETON (NAP) looks well berthed in stall three, and he's a likely improver for Aidan O'Brien, who has trained five of the past 10 winners of this race. Shackleton was a beaten favourite in a Group 3 race over 1m 2f at the Curragh on his reappearance, but this step up in trip is in his favour. 3.40 Ascot – Duke of Cambridge Stakes (Group 2, 1m) CINDERELLA'S DREAM has strong claims even under a 3lb penalty. She steps down in trip but has a good change of pace and most of her main rivals ideally want further. This Charlie Appleby-trained filly was as good as ever in winning the Group 2 Dahlia Stakes over 1m 1f at Newmarket on her previous start. 4.20 Ascot – Prince of Wales's Stakes (Group 1, 1m 2f) There's not much to choose between a few of these, but maybe OMBUDSMAN is the answer for John and Thady Gosden. He won his first four starts last year and the form of the last two of those victories, gained in France, is good. Indeed, when he won a Longchamp Group 3 in September he had Map Of Stars behind him in fourth and that horse is about the same price as him for this race. Ombudsman was beaten into second place in the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown on his reappearance, but he was conceding 3lb to a good winner and the first two pulled clear. He should be better for that outing. 5.00 Ascot – Royal Hunt Cup (Heritage Handicap, 1m) SILAWI won well at Windsor on his recent stable debut – when returning from five months off – and he's still well weighted under his penalty. He's dropping down from 1m 2f, but his proven stamina is no bad thing in this big-field contest up the stiff straight track and this well-bred five-year-old, who is by Dubawi and out of a dual Group 1 winner in Silasol, may be capable of his best performance yet. 5.35 Ascot – Kensington Palace Stakes (Class 2 Handicap, 1m) JULIA AUGUSTA, who finished sixth in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes at this meeting last year, faces a lesser assignment now and she shaped well enough at Epsom on her reappearance to think she could be the answer in an open fillies' handicap. 6.10 Ascot – Windsor Castle Stakes (Listed, 5f) OLD IS GOLD (NB) shaped well on his debut when third over course and distance and he confirmed that promise when winning a decent race at Beverley in a sharp time, going half a second quicker than a fillies' race over the same trip. The runner-up from the Beverley race is in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes here on Thursday and the third horse was a respectable seventh in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes on Tuesday. Last year's winner of the Beverley race went on to win the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes. In addition, Old Is Gold's trainer Andrew Balding saddled the winner of the Beverley event in 2022, Chateau, who went on to finish fourth in the Windsor Castle Stakes, and there's a fair chance this selection can go a few places better. Star ratings explained ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - confident selection ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - strong fancy ⭐⭐⭐ - fair claims ⭐⭐ - tentative choice ⭐ - minimum confidence If you want to find more odds and offers, take a look at our list of the best betting sites and free bets Check out our list of the best casino bonuses in the UK
ITV News
08-06-2025
- Science
- ITV News
Antarctica: A journey to the end of the earth to find answers about our planet's future
ITV News Science Correspondent Martin Stew reports from deep within the Antarctic Circle. I'm the only journalist on board the RRS Sir David Attenborough, deep within the Antarctic Circle. No British research ship has ventured this far south, this late in the winter, since Shackleton's ill-fated Endurance expedition. History buffs will know that story didn't end well. Shackleton's ship was crushed by ice in the Weddell Sea, leaving his crew stranded for nearly two years, surviving on the ice and living off seal meat. The fact that our journey south has been plain sailing through waters that, by rights, should be frozen solid is a stark warning of how rapidly our climate is changing. Staring out into this frozen wilderness feels a world away from the UK's summer, but the scientists I'm travelling with insist we're far more connected than you might think. The Southern Ocean captures vast quantities of carbon and heat, and it helps drive global currents, including the Gulf Stream. Meanwhile, the sea ice surrounding Antarctica acts like a giant mirror, reflecting the sun's heat. And then there's the very real issue of rising sea levels. Antarctica holds two-thirds of the world's fresh water. For years, it was considered relatively stable — a vast, ancient ice sheet that wouldn't melt for millennia. But in recent decades, both landscapes and scientific opinions have shifted dramatically. The Antarctic Peninsula, which stretches towards Chile, is now warming faster than anywhere else in the Southern Hemisphere. The fear is that this alarming trend will spread across the entire continent — a land mass nearly twice the size of Europe. You might know the RRS Sir David Attenborough better by its famously suggested nickname, Boaty McBoatface — the humorous moniker voted for by the public. But this £200 million icebreaker is no joke. It's a serious piece of engineering, carrying some of the world's leading scientists aboard the UK's largest floating research lab. Their mission: to better understand how Antarctica's climate is changing, and what it means for the rest of the planet. Six years ago, British Antarctic Survey scientists Professor Mike Meredith and Dr Rhiannon Jones watched as three million tonnes of ice broke away from a glacier before their eyes. Now, they've returned to study how underwater tidal waves — triggered by collapses on that scale — alter the ocean and accelerate warming. Incredibly, while monitoring the same glacier, it happens again. This time, the collapse isn't as massive, but the fact it's happening in the depths of winter is even more alarming. "To stand there and see it directly in front of us was incredible," said Dr Rhiannon Jones. "It was all really unexpected, it really hit home that we're seeing some rapid changes to the region and we don't know what the consequences will be." Professor Mike Meredith said humans are to blame. "The retreat in sea ice is linked to the warming of the ocean and that's something that we know us humans are doing," he said. "The implications of this are climatic in that it effects how reflective the surface of the planet is, so the planet's now absorbing more heat from the sun than it used to. "It also removes a protective barrier from around Antarctica that can actually contribute to the destabilisation of the ice sheets." Releasing vast quantities of ice into the ocean on this scale can directly impact global sea levels. The latest models from researchers at the University of Durham suggest the amount of ice lost from polar ice sheets has quadrupled since the 1990s. We're currently losing around 270 billion tonnes of ice every year. Even if we managed to limit global warming to 1.5°C — which, at present, we're not on track to do — sea levels will still be rising at a rate that will be difficult to manage by the end of the century. According to Professor Chris Stokes: 'People need to be aware that sea level rise is likely to accelerate to rates that will be very difficult to adapt to — rates of one centimetre per year are not out of the question within the lifetime of our young people.' Over the next fortnight, I'll be reporting live from Antarctica — bringing you not just the latest discoveries from the world of climate science, but also the personal stories of those who endure the cold, the darkness, and the isolation to study this remote, frozen continent. From the wildlife to the wilderness, I'll do my best to share with you the stark beauty of this extraordinary place. Please join me on the journey if you can.
