name	Sherwood Smith
birth date	1951
occupation	author, teacher
interests	reading, writing, traveling
nationality	United States
genre	fantasy, science fiction
signature	}}

Sherwood Smith writes fantasy and science fiction for young adult as well as adults. She has participated in and organized writing groups (both on- and off-line) for many years.

Smith's works include the YA novel ''Crown Duel''. Smith also collaborated with Dave Trowbridge in writing the Exordium series and with Andre Norton in writing two of the books in the Solar Queen universe.

In 2001 her short story "Mom and Dad at the Home Front" was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story. Moreover, her children's books have made it on many library Best Books lists, and Wren's War was an Anne Spencer Lindbergh Honor book and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award finalist.

Biography

Sherwood Smith was born in 1951. On her website, Smith describes herself as a middle-aged woman who has been married for thirty years. Besides writing, she taught part-time at a K-8 school. She has "two kids, three dogs, and a house full of books."

Smith began making books out of taped paper towels when she was five years old. When she was 8, she started writing about another world, Sartorias-deles, though she soon switched to making comic books of her stories, which she found to be easier. Although she first tried to send out her novels when she was 13, nothing sold. However, some of the novels Smith first wrote as a teen, including ''Wren to the Rescue'' were sold after she learned to rewrite.

In the years it took her to learn to rewrite, Smith "went to college, lived in Europe, came back to get [her] masters in History, worked in Hollywood, got married, started a family and became a teacher." In 2010 she became a member of Book View Cafe.

Smith currently resides in California.

Partial bibliography

Books Written Under Other Pseudonyms

Smith has written some of the books in the Planet Builders series as Robyn Tallis. She has also written four books in the Nowhere High series as Jesse Maguire and one book in the Horror High series as Nicholas Adams.

Novels

Wren Books

''Wren to the Rescue'' (1990), reissued by Firebird Books (2004)

''Wren's Quest'' (1993), reissued by Firebird Books(2004)

''Wren's War'' (1995), reissued by Firebird Books(2004)

''Wren Journeymage'' (2010) Book View Cafe

Sartorias-deles

''A Stranger to Command'' (2008), prequel to ''Crown Duel'' telling the story of Shevraeth's training

''Crown Duel'' (1997/1998), previously published in two parts as ''Crown Duel'' and ''Court Duel''. Issued in a single volume by Firebird Books in 2002, an e-book in 2010, with additions of scenes from Vidanric point of view

''Inda'' (August 2006) DAW Books

''The Fox'' (August 2007) (sequel to ''Inda'')

''King's Shield'' (July 2008) (sequel to ''The Fox'')

''Treason's Shore'' (July 2009) (sequel to ''King's Shield'')

''Once A Princess'' (June 2008)

''Twice A Prince'' (July 2008), sequel to ''Once a Princess''.

''Senrid'' (May 2007) Norilana Books

''The Trouble With Kings'' (February 2008) Samhain Publishing

''Over the Sea: CJ Notebook One'' (2007) Norilana

''Mearsies Heili Bounces Back'' (2008) Norilana

''A Posse of Princesses'' (March 2008) Norilana Books, e-book (2010)

Other:

''Coronets and Steel'' (September 2010) DAW Books

Exordium

''The Phoenix in Flight'' (1993) (with Dave Trowbridge)

''Ruler of Naught'' (1993) (with Dave Trowbridge)

''A Prison Unsought'' (1994) (with Dave Trowbridge)

''The Rifter's Covenant'' (1995) (with Dave Trowbridge)

''The Thrones of Kronos'' (1996) (with Dave Trowbridge)

Andre Norton's Solar Queen Universe

''Derelict for Trade'' (1997) (with Andre Norton)

''A Mind for Trade'' (1997) (with Andre Norton)

Andre Norton's Time Traders Universe

''Echoes in Time'' (1999)

''Atlantis Endgame'' (2002)

Oz Series

''The Emerald Wand of Oz'' (2005), first in a new continuation of Oz books by L. Frank Baum

''Trouble Under Oz'' (2006)

TV tie-in Novels

''The Borrowers (1997), novelization of the screenplay by Scott and John Kamps, Harcourt

''Journey to Otherwhere'' (2000), ''Voyage of the Basset'' series, book 3

''Augur's Teacher'' (2001), based on the TV show ''Earth: Final Conflict''

Short stories

"Monster Mash" (1988), in ''Werewolves'' anthology

"Ghost Dancers" (1989), in ''Things That Go Bump In The Night'' anthology

"Faith" (1993), in ''A Wizard's Dozen'' anthology

"Curing the Bozos" (1994), in ''Bruce Coville's Book of Aliens'' anthology

"Echoes of Ancient Danger" (1995), in ''Orphans of the Night'' anthology

"I Was A Teen-Age Superhero" (1995) in ''Starfarer's Dozen'' anthology

"Daria's Window" (1996), in ''Sisters in Fantasy II'' anthology

"What's A Little Fur Among Friends?" (1996), in ''Bruce Coville's Book of Spinetinglers'' anthology

"Visions" (1996), in ''Bruce Coville's Book of Magic'' anthology

"Illumination" (1996), in ''Nightmare's Dozen'' anthology

"And Horses are Born With Eagles' Wings" (1997), in ''Realms of Fantasy Magazine''

"Mastery" (1997), in ''Wizard Fantastic'' anthology

"And Now Abideth These Three..." (1998), in ''Realms of Fantasy Magazine''

"Finding the Way" (1999), in ''Alien Visitors'' anthology

"Mom and Dad at the Home Front" (2000), in ''Realms of Fantasy Magazine'', ''Year's Best Fantasy'' ed. David Hartwell, and ''New Magics'' ed. Patrick Nielsen Hayden

"Excerpts from the Diary of a Henchminion" (2000), in ''Faeries'' magazine (French)

"Beauty" (2003), in ''Firebirds'' anthology

"Court Ship" (2008 expected), in ''Firebirds Soaring'' anthology

Notes and references

External links

Official site

Sherwood Smith's LiveJournal

LibraryThing author profile

Sartorias-deles Wiki

Category:American fantasy writers Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Real people associated with Oz

fr:Sherwood Smith

name	Kay Waldo Barnes
office	Mayor of the City of Kansas City, Missouri
term start	May 1999
term end	May 2007
predecessor	Emanuel Cleaver
successor	Mark Funkhouser
party	Democratic
birth date	March 30, 1938
birth place	St. Joseph, Missouri
alma mater	University of Kansas,University of Missouri–Kansas City
occupation	retired business owner
residence	Kansas City, Missouri
religion	}}

Kay Waldo Barnes (born March 30, 1938) is a former two-term mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. She was the Democratic nominee for (map) of the United States House of Representatives in the 2008 election against Republican incumbent Sam Graves.

Biography

A native of St. Joseph, Missouri, she earned a B.S. degree in secondary education from the University of Kansas and a masters in secondary education from the University of Missouri–Kansas City. She was president of ''Kay Waldo, Inc.'', a human resources development firm until her retirement. She is a cousin of famous journalist Walter Cronkite. Barnes can often be seen power-walking around the Briarcliff subdivision in Kansas City where she resides.

Career

In 1974, she was one of the first two women on the Jackson County Legislature. She was elected to the Kansas City council in 1979.

Barnes was the first female mayor of Kansas City. Mayor Barnes has received the most credit for her work in improving Downtown Kansas City and working for beginning the revitalization of the urban core. She is also credited with the Sprint Center arena in Kansas City that opened on October 10, 2007. She was first elected mayor on her birthday in 1999, and re-elected for a second term in 2003. She was succeeded as mayor of Kansas City on May 1, 2007 when Mark Funkhouser took office.

At Missouri Democratic functions, beginning in April, 2007, Mayor Barnes made it clear that she was seriously considering a run for Congress in 2008, and on May 14, 2007 she officially announced her candidacy. She was endorsed by Emily's List. On August 5, 2008, Barnes won against Ali Allon Sherkat in the Democratic primary with 84.5% of the vote. The election was expected to be competitive.

She is the Distinguished Professor for Public Leadership at Park University.

In late 2007, Barnes announced she would run in the Democratic primary for Missouri's 6th congressional district, held by four-term Republican Sam Graves. She was the strongest Democrat to run in the district since it fell into Republican hands in 2001. Although the race was very hard-fought, Barnes was soundly defeated, taking only 37 percent of the vote. Graves even trounced her in the areas of the district closer to Kansas City.

Legacy

Barnes was a principal architect of Kansas City's deal with private investors to develop the downtown Power and Light District. The terms of the deal essentially require the City to pay for shortfalls in revenue on the servicing of the bonds issued to develop the district. P&L; has been a fiscal disaster for Kansas City with the city perennially paying millions of dollars on the bond obligations. Some have suggested an investigation into Barnes' direct and indirect relationships with developer Cordish Co. and the financing banks should take place.

See also

United States House of Representatives elections in Missouri, 2008#District 6

References

External links

Kay Barnes for U.S. Congress official campaign website

Missouri District 6 campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org

Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia

Category:1938 births Category:Living people Category:People from St. Joseph, Missouri Category:American businesspeople Category:Mayors of Kansas City, Missouri Category:Missouri Democrats Category:University of Kansas alumni Category:American women mayors Category:Women in Missouri politics

de:Kay Waldo Barnes

Birth date	August 02, 1971
Birth place	Flint, Michigan
High school	Flint Northern High School
College	Jackson State
Position	Defensive end
Draftedyear	1994
Draftedround	2
Draftedpick	55
Years	1994-1997, 2000 1998 1999 2000
Teams	Minnesota Vikings Jacksonville Jaguars Baltimore Ravens St. Louis Rams
Stats	Y
Databasefootball	SMITHFER01
Pfr	SmitFe20 }}

Fernando Smith (born August 2, 1971) played 7 seasons at defensive end in the National Football League. He is from Flint, MI and graduated from Flint Northwestern High School and then Jackson State University in 1994.

He was drafted in the second round of the 1994 NFL Draft with the 55th overall pick by the Minnesota Vikings He played 4 seasons for the Minnesota Vikings, and then one season each for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens, St. Louis Rams before retiring in 2001.

External links

''1994 Draft''.

''Player statistics - Fernando Smith''

Category:1971 births Category:living people Category:People from Flint, Michigan Category:American football defensive ends Category:Jackson State Tigers football players Category:Minnesota Vikings players Category:Jacksonville Jaguars players Category:Baltimore Ravens players Category:St. Louis Rams players

James B. Sherwood (born circa 1933 in Pennsylvania) is an American-born, British-based businessman.

Early life

Sherwood grew up in Lexington, Kentucky and earned a degree in economics from Yale University. Sherwood learned about shipping first in the U.S. Navy, spending three years as a cargo officer, and then working for U.S. Lines and CTI for six years.

Business career

In 1965, Sherwood founded Bermuda based, New York Stock Exchange listed, London headquartered shipping company Sea Containers Ltd with initial capital of $100,000. Over forty years Sherwood expanded Sea Containers from a supplier of leased cargo containers, into various shipping companies, as well as expanding the company into luxury hotels and railway trains, including the Venice-Simplon Orient Express and the Great North Eastern Railway franchise from London to Edinburgh.

Although valued with a net worth of £60million in the 2004 Sunday Times Rich List, as Sea Containers hit financial troubles, he resigned from each of his companies in 2006.

Personal life

Sherwood's wife is Dr Shirley Sherwood.

References

External links

Portrait Sculpture of James Sherwood by John W Mills

Category:1933 births Category:Living people Category:People from Pennsylvania Category:Yale University alumni Category:United States Navy officers Category:American chief executives Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom

Honorific-prefix	The Right Honourable
Name	Iain Duncan Smith
Honorific-suffix	MP
Office	Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Primeminister	David Cameron
Term start	12 May 2010
Predecessor	Yvette Cooper
Office1	Leader of the Opposition
Monarch1	Elizabeth II
Primeminister1	Tony Blair
Term start1	13 September 2001
Term end1	29 October 2003
Predecessor1	William Hague
Successor1	Michael Howard
Office2	Leader of the Conservative Party
Term start2	13 September 2001
Term end2	6 November 2003
Predecessor2	William Hague
Successor2	Michael Howard
Office3	Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
Leader3	William Hague
Term start3	15 June 1999
Term end3	13 September 2001
Predecessor3	John Maples
Successor3	Bernard Jenkin
Office4	Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security
Leader4	William Hague
Term start4	2 June 1997
Term end4	15 June 1999
Predecessor4	Harriet Harman
Successor4	David Willetts
Office5	Member of Parliament for Chingford and Woodford GreenChingford (1992–1997)
Term start5	9 April 1992
Predecessor5	Norman Tebbit
Majority5	12,963 (30.1%)
Birth date	April 09, 1954
Birth place	Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Party	Conservative
Spouse	Betsy Fremantle
Children	4
Alma mater	Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Profession	Politicianbusinessmansoldier
Religion	Roman Catholic Church
Branch	British Army
Serviceyears	1975–1981
Rank	Captain
Unit	Scots Guards }}

George Iain Duncan Smith (born 9 April 1954; often referred to by his initials "IDS") is a British Conservative politician. He is currently the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and was previously leader of the Conservative Party from September 2001 to October 2003. He was first elected to parliament at the 1992 General Election as the MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, a seat which he has held ever since.

Duncan Smith was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and served in the Scots Guard from 1975 to 1981, with service in Northern Ireland and Rhodesia. He joined the Conservative Party in 1981, and was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1992. When William Hague resigned as Conservative Party leader in 2001, Duncan Smith won the subsequent leadership election, bolstered by the support of Margaret Thatcher and his Eurosceptic ideology. Duncan Smith was the first Roman Catholic to serve as Conservative Party leader, and the first born in Scotland since Arthur Balfour.

In 2003, the Conservative Party passed a Vote of No Confidence in Duncan Smith, as many considered him unable to return the party to government. He resigned, and was succeeded as party leader by Michael Howard. As a backbencher, Duncan Smith founded the Centre for Social Justice, a centre-right think tank independent of the Conservative Party and became a published novelist. On May 12, 2010, Conservative leader and Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Duncan Smith to serve in the cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Early life

Duncan-Smith was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1954. He is the son of W. G. G. Duncan Smith, a Royal Air Force Group Captain highly decorated in World War II, and Pamela, a ballerina, who married Iain's father 1946. Pamela's maternal grandmother (Iain's great-grandmother) was Ellen Oshey, a Japanese woman, making Iain one-eighth Japanese (''Yonsei''). Other ancestors and relatives include British Canadian CBC wartime broadcaster Peter Stursberg, whose 2002 book, ''No Foreign Bones in China'', records the story of this uncommon couple, and his son, current CBC vice-president, Richard Stursberg. Through Group Captain Shaw, Duncan Smith is also a distant relative of George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright and socialist.

Education and early career

Duncan Smith was educated at St. Peter's RC Secondary School, Solihull until the age of 14 and was subsequently educated at HMS ''Conway'', a naval training school on the isle of Anglesey (where he allegedly played rugby union in the position of fly-half alongside Clive Woodward at centre) until he was 18. He then also attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

He joined the Scots Guards in 1975, with his six-year service including spells in Northern Ireland and Rhodesia, where he served as ''aide-de-camp'' to Major-General Sir John Acland

On leaving the Guards, Duncan Smith joined the Conservative Party and took up employment at the General Electric Company in 1981. He married Elizabeth "Betsy" Fremantle, daughter of the 5th Baron Cottesloe, in 1982. The couple have four children.

Parliamentary career

At the 1987 general election, Duncan Smith contested the constituency of Bradford West, where he was defeated by the incumbent Labour Party MP Max Madden. At the 1992 general election, he stood in the constituency of Chingford (where the Conservative MP, Norman Tebbit, was retiring), and was elected to parliament. (Following boundary changes, Duncan Smith's constituency became Chingford and Woodford Green in 1997.)

A committed Eurosceptic, Duncan Smith was a constant thorn in the side of Prime Minister John Major's government in 1992–97, disrupting Major's pro-European agenda at the time (something that would often be raised during his own subsequent leadership when he called for the party to unite behind him).

Duncan Smith remained on the backbenches until 1997, when the new Conservative leader William Hague brought him into the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Social Security Secretary. In 1999, Duncan Smith was moved to replace John Maples as Shadow Defence Secretary.

Leader of the Conservative Party

William Hague resigned after the Labour Party's victory in the 2001 general election. On 13 September 2001, Duncan Smith won the Conservative Party leadership election. He had initially been seen as an outsider candidate, but his support was bolstered when Margaret Thatcher publicly announced her support for him. His victory in the contest was helped by the fact that his opponent in the final vote of party members was Kenneth Clarke, whose strong support for the European Union was at odds with the views of much of the party.

As a mark of respect for the victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, the announcement of Duncan Smith's victory in the leadership contest was delayed until 13 September 2001. In November 2001, he was one of the first politicians to call for an invasion of Iraq and held talks in Washington, DC, with senior US officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz.

In local elections, the only elections in which Duncan Smith led the party, the Conservatives gained over 500 extra seats on local councils, primarily in England.

Problems as leader

In 2002, Michael Crick on the TV programme ''Newsnight'' caused some embarrassment when probing Duncan Smith's ''curriculum vitae'', which had been in circulation for years, for example, being reproduced in the authoritative annual Dod's Parliamentary Companion for the previous ten years. The CV claimed that he had attended the University of Perugia when he had in fact attended the Università per Stranieri, which did not grant any degrees at that time, and a claim that he had attended the prestigious-sounding Dunchurch College of Management turned out to refer to some weekend courses at GEC Marconi's staff college.

Duncan Smith proved not to be a particularly effective public speaker in the rowdy atmosphere of Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons. His seeming troubles with a "frog in his throat" throughout most of his two years as leader prompted ''Private Eye'' to refer to him incessantly as ''"Iain Duncan Cough"''. As well as this, there were continued rumours of discontent among his backbenchers, not dampened by his warning to his party in November 2002: "My message is simple and stark, unite or die".

The 2002 Conservative Party conference saw an attempt to turn Duncan Smith's lack of charisma into a positive attribute, with his much-quoted line, "do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man". The line was as much derided as it was admired. During PMQs, Labour backbenchers would raise their fingers to their lips and say "shush" when he was speaking. The following year, Duncan Smith's conference speech appeared to have abandoned this technique in favour of an aggressive hard-man approach that few found convincing, even if the party members in the hall punctuated the speech with several ovations. The most remembered sound bite from the speech was his, "the quiet man is here to stay, and he's turning up the volume."

Duncan Smith stated in December 2002 that he intended to be party leader for a "very long time to come." This did little to quell the speculation in Westminster regarding his future. On 21 February 2003, ''The Independent'' newspaper published a story saying that a number of MPs were attempting to start the process of petitioning for a vote of no confidence in Duncan Smith, as many Conservative MPs considered him to be unelectable.

These worries came to a head in October 2003. Michael Crick revealed that he had compiled embarrassing evidence, this time of dubious salary claims Duncan Smith made on behalf of his wife that were paid out of the public purse from September 2001 to December 2002. The ensuing scandal, known as "Betsygate" weakened his already tenuous position.

Vote of no confidence

Under leadership vote of confidence rules, 15 % of Conservative MPs (at this point twenty-five MPs) had to write to the Chairman of the 1922 Committee demanding the vote. On 26 October, amid mounting claims that the threshold of 25 was about to be reached, Duncan Smith made an appearance on television daring his opponents to show their hand by the evening of 29 October or to withdraw their challenge. He also stated that he would not step down if a vote was called. Duncan Smith's demand that the 25 five MPs write to the Chairman by 29 October had no bearing on party regulations. Had the votes not been delivered until later, the vote of no confidence would still have gone ahead. Nevertheless, by 28 October, 25 Conservative MPs had indeed signed on to demand a vote.

After the vote was announced, Duncan Smith made an appearance in front of Conservative Party headquarters in Smith Square, where he stated that he was "absolutely" going to contest the vote, which was held on 29 October. He lost by 90 votes to 75. He stepped down as leader eight days later when Michael Howard was confirmed as his successor (Howard was unopposed for the role and so no election was required).

Duncan Smith followed William Hague as only the second Conservative Party leader since Austen Chamberlain not to have become Prime Minister and was the first since Neville Chamberlain not to have led the party in a general election.

Return to the backbenches

After his term as party leader, Duncan Smith established the Centre for Social Justice in 2004. This organisation is a centre-right think tank which works with small charities with the aim of finding innovative policies for tackling poverty. (Duncan Smith served as the centre's Chairman until he joined the Cabinet in May 2010, and remains its Life Patron.) He also served under Michael Howard on the Conservative Party's advisory council, along with John Major, William Hague and Kenneth Clarke.

On 7 December 2005, Duncan Smith was appointed Chairman of the Social Justice Policy Group, which was facilitated by the Centre for Social Justice. The group's aim was to "study the causes and consequences of poverty in Britain and seek practical ideas to empower the least well-off," and was one of several that were set up by Conservative Party leader David Cameron. Duncan Smith's Deputy Chair was Debbie Scott, the Chief Executive of the charity Tomorrow's People. The group released two major reports, ''"Breakdown Britain"'' and ''"Breakthrough Britain"''. ''"Breakdown Britain"'' was a three hundred thousand word document that analysed what was going wrong in the areas of Economic Dependence and Unemployment, Family Breakdown, Addiction, Educational Failure, Indebtedness, and the Voluntary Sector. ''"Breakthrough Britain"'' recommended almost two hundred policy ideas using broadly the same themes. On their website the group claimed that the Government has so far taken on sixteen of the recommendations, and the Conservatives twenty-nine.

Duncan Smith was re-elected comfortably in Chingford and Woodford Green at the 2005 general election, almost doubling his majority, and remained a backbencher for the Conservative Party. He has been Member of Parliament for Chingford and Woodford Green since 1992, when he succeeded Norman Tebbit.

In September 2006 he was one of fourteen authors of a report concerning Anti-Semitism in Britain. He was also one of the only early supporters of the Iraq surge policy. In September 2007, he called for Britain to withdraw from the war against Afghanistan and to fight in the war in Iraq indefinitely. In his 2009 Conservative Party Conference speech, Conservative Party leader David Cameron signalled that Duncan Smith might serve in his Cabinet, with responsibility for social justice, should he be called upon to form an administration after the next general election.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Following the 2010 general election, the Conservative Party formed coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, with David Cameron as Prime Minister. Cameron appointed Duncan Smith to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with responsibility for seeing through changes to the welfare state.

Outlining the scale of the problem, Duncan Smith said almost five million people were on unemployment benefits, 1.4 million of whom had been receiving support for nine or more of the last 10 years. In addition, 1.4 million under-25s were neither working nor in full-time education. "''This picture is set against a backdrop of 13 years of continuously increasing expenditure, which has outstripped inflation,''" he said. "Worse than the growing expense though, is the fact that the money is not even making the impact we want it to. He continued saying "''A system that was originally designed to support the poorest in society is now trapping them in the very condition it was supposed to alleviate.''"

It was also announed that Duncan Smith will chair a new Cabinet Committee, involving Cabinet members from the Treasury, Home Office, Health, and Communities and Local Government departments, to tackle the underlying causes of poverty.

In June 2010, Duncan Smith said that the Government will encourage people to work for longer by making it illegal for companies to force staff to give up work at 65. At the same time, the age at which employees can claim the state pension will rise to 66 as soon as 2016 for men – 10 years earlier than the last government had decreed. Life expectancy is currently 77.4 for men and 81.6 for women. At present rates, there will be three people in their nineties for every newborn by 2050. Duncan Smith told ''The Daily Telegraph'' that the radical pension reform he will oversee was designed to “''reinvigorate retirement''”. “''People are living longer and healthier lives than ever, and the last thing we want is to lose their skills and experience from the workplace due to an arbitrary age limit,''” he said. “Now is absolutely the right time to live up to our responsibility to reform our outdated pension system and to take action where the previous government failed to do so. If Britain is to have a stable, affordable pension system, people need to work longer, but we will reward their hard work with a decent state pension that will enable them to enjoy quality of life in their retirement. He continued saying, “''That is why we are issuing a call for evidence on moving the state pension age to 66, and thereafter plan to take a frank look at the relationship between state pension age and life expectancy.''” The announcement coincides with John Hutton, the former Labour minister, beginning a review of public sector pensions which is expected to recommend that staff contributions increase substantially as soon as 2011.

In July 2010, Duncan Smith said that more workers will have to wait until they are 68 to claim their state pension as the Government speeds up plans to raise the retirement age saying the move would save billions of pounds. Labour set out plans to increase the retirement age to 66 by 2024 and 68 by 2046 to reflect growing life expectancy. Before the election, the Tories suggested that it should rise to 66 sooner – by 2016. Duncan Smith said workers would have to accept even quicker increases as Britain tightens its belt. The Government's timetable suggests that the retirement age is likely to reach 68 by 2038, meaning millions more will be forced to wait for their pension.

On 30 July 2010, Duncan Smith announced a series of reforms that are intended to ensure that low earners will always be better off in employment. They are in a document that will form the basis of a White Paper to be published this autumn and herald the end of Labour’s complicated tax credits system, with many benefits being rolled into one. "''After years of piecemeal reform the current welfare system is complex and unfair,''" said Duncan Smith. One example cited by Duncan Smith involves the case of a lone parent with three school-age children earning £7.50 an hour as an office administrator. Working 23 hours a week, he says, she would have a net weekly income (including benefits and tax credits) of £345 after paying rent and council tax. However, if she were to increase her hours to 34 a week she would get only about £10 more due to a loss of benefits. The new system will be called the Universal Credit.

In November 2010, as Work and Pensions Secretary, Duncan Smith said a major shake-up in the welfare system would benefit all those who "play by the rules". The plan, which will see people who refuse to take up job opportunities stripped of benefits for up to three years, is part of a "contract" with the unemployed. Duncan Smith said simplifying the welfare system would ensure "work always pays more" than relying on the state by easing the rate at which benefits are withdrawn as income rises.

In a Commons statement on 11 November 2010, he said: "This is our contract: we make work pay and support you through the Work Programme to find a job. "''But in return, if we do that, we also expect co-operation from those who are seeking work. "That is why we are developing a regime of sanctions for those who refuse to play by the rules as well as targeted work activity for those who need to get used to the habits of work''".

Views on marriage

In December 2010 Duncan Smith studied a state-sponsored relationship education programme in Norway, under which couples are forced to “think again” and confront the reality of divorce before formally separating. The policy has been credited with reversing Norway’s trend for rising divorce rates and halting the decline of marriage in the country over the past 15 years. Duncan Smith said he was keen to explore ways in which similar approaches could be encouraged in Britain. Officials point out that such a programme would be expensive but an approach could reduce the long-term cost of family breakdown, which has been estimated at up to £100 billion. Duncan Smith said couples in Norway were able to “work through what is going to happen with their children”, which has “a very big effect on their thinking”. “Many of them think again about what they are going to embark on once they really understand the consequences of their actions subsequently,” he said.

Duncan Smith said in February 2011 that it is "absurd and damaging" for ministers not to extol the benefits of marriage for fear of stigmatising those who choose not to marry. Duncan Smith said: "''We do a disservice to society if we ignore the evidence which shows that stable families tend to be associated with better outcomes for children.''" He added: "''There are few more powerful tools for promoting stability than the institution of marriage.''" He added that "''The financial costs of family breakdown are incredibly high. But what is most painful to see is the human cost – the wasted potential, the anti-social behaviour, and the low self-esteem.''"

Views on immigration

In July 2011 Duncan Smith said that tighter immigration controls are vital if Britain is to avoid “losing another generation to dependency and hopelessness”. In a speech delivered in Spain he said that only immigrants with “something to offer” should be allowed into the country and that too often foreign workers purporting to be skilled take low-skilled jobs that could be occupied by British school leavers. According to the ''Daily Telegraph'''s analysis, the speech contained a warning to David Cameron "that a 'slack' attitude to immigration will result in the Coalition repeating the mistakes made under Labour, when the vast majority of new jobs generated before the recession were taken by immigrants". However, the published text of the speech does not refer to the prime minister in its comments on "seeing the situation repeat itself, with more than half of the rise in employment in the past year accounted for by foreign nationals".

Mr Duncan Smith believes that some companies are using immigration as “an excuse to import labour to take up posts which could be filled by people already in Britain”. He says Britain needs an immigration system that gives the unemployed “a level playing field”. “If we do not get this right then we risk leaving more British citizens out of work, and the most vulnerable group who will be the most affected are young people,” he said.

Personal life

Football

Duncan Smith has been reported to support both Tottenham Hotspur where he holds a season ticket and Aston Villa. Gareth Southgate cited Duncan Smith when he remarked after England's 2002 World Cup quarter-final defeat against Brazil that "we were expecting Winston Churchill and instead we got Iain Duncan Smith." This comparison was seen as being a scathing criticism of the then England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson's quiet and understated approach to management.

Family

Duncan Smith has been married to Betsy since 1982; they have two sons and two daughters.

Wealth

His wealth is estimated at £1 million.

Novel

On 6 November 2003, Duncan Smith's novel ''The Devil's Tune'' was released, less than a fortnight after his removal from the party leadership. The book received heavily critical reviews such as, "Really, it's terrible ... Terrible, terrible, terrible.", by Sam Leith in the ''Daily Telegraph''. The book was never published in paperback.

References

External links

Iain Duncan Smith MP ''official constituency website''

Profile at the Conservative Party

Article archive at ''The Guardian''

|- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- ! colspan="3" style="background:#cfc;" | Order of precedence in Northern Ireland

Category:1954 births Category:21st-century Roman Catholics Category:British people of Japanese descent Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism Category:Leaders of the Conservative Party (UK) Category:Leaders of the Opposition (United Kingdom) Category:Living people Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies Category:People from Edinburgh Category:Politicians of Japanese descent Category:Scots Guards officers Category:UK MPs 1992–1997 Category:UK MPs 1997–2001 Category:UK MPs 2001–2005 Category:UK MPs 2005–2010 Category:UK MPs 2010– cy:Iain Duncan Smith da:Iain Duncan Smith de:Iain Duncan Smith fr:Iain Duncan Smith it:Iain Duncan Smith la:Ioannes Duncan Smith nl:Iain Duncan Smith ja:イアン・ダンカン・スミス no:Iain Duncan Smith pl:Iain Duncan Smith ru:Дункан Смит, Иан simple:Iain Duncan Smith fi:Iain Duncan Smith sv:Iain Duncan Smith