On 11^th April 2012 Barry spoke in a debate hosted by The Earth Debates at the Natural History Museum and chaired by BBC Environmental Correspondent, Richard Black.

The debate focused on the issue of managing the supply of food for an ever increasing global population and was part of a series of debates addressing the key issues of encouraging environmental awareness, food management and the green economy, in preparation of the United Nations Rio + 20 Earth Summit.

You can watch the full debate here.

You can find more information about The Earth Debates here and more information about the United Nations Rio +20 Earth Summit here.

Sir Rhodes Boyson served my constituency of Brent North for 23 years as its Member of Parliament. He is still remembered with affection by many people locally as a caring and hardworking constituency MP.

Whilst we differed in our political allegiance our interactions were always characterised by great personal courtesy and respect.

It was with sadness that I heard of his passing on Tuesday and my sympathies and those of many others in Brent go to his surviving family.

On 28^th June 2012 Barry travelled to Azerbaijan to speak at the 23^rd annual Crans Montana Forum on energy policy which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan at the request of the Government of Azerbaijan. Here he is seen exchanging stories with Larry King, the veteran American talk show host, who chaired the conference.

Barry was joined on the platform by Mr Joachim Schwarzer, Executive Director, EBRD, Mr Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, Mr Natig Aliyev, Minister of Energy & Industry, Azerbaijan, Mr Alexander Khetaguri, Minister of Energy & Natural Resources, Georgia, Mr Amadou Boubacar Cisse, Minister of State for Planning, Spatial planning and Community Development, Niger, Mr Abdelhamid Zerguine, Chairman & CEO, Sonatrach, Algeria, Ms Reem Badran, MP, Finance & Energy Committee, Parliament, Jordan, Mr Rachid Bencherif, Head of the Grants Unit, OPEC Fund for International Development and Mr Said Nachet, Consultant, Former Director International Energy Forum.

You can find more information about the Crans Montana Forum here.

On 1^st April 2012 Barry, once again, joined with the congregation at All Saints Church, Queensbury to read the lesson.

As the picture shows it was a dynamic affair with the children putting on a display of fashion made entirely out of garbage.

On 27^th April 2012 Barry took Dr. Mark Chambers, a leading environmental scientist working on bovine TB, into the sixth form at Copland to present a discussion about the interface between Science and Policy making.

They asked the class to choose one student to act as the government minister who had to take the decision about whether to cull badgers in an attempt to reduce TB in cattle – a disease which costs £100million each year. There was a great discussion and some really trenchant questions asked by the students.

Barry and Mark also visited a Year 10 class making a presentation on renewable and non-renewable energy before asking questions of the panel which included Barry Gardiner MP, and Mr. Kevin Alderton, a science teacher at the school.

On 26^th March 2012 Barry took part in a question and answer session at a Fabian/Amnesty International conference on "Climate Justice: Meeting the Fairness Test".

The conference addressed environmental changes and their impact on society. As part of the conference, much research was presented showing who would be most vulnerable to the effects of environmental change and how best to ensure fairness when bringing in policies to encourage such change. Various differing arguments were put forward as to how best to raise awareness of these effects and to ensure discussion on the subject.

You can find more information about Amnesty International here and about the Fabian Society here.