tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72303878090040807362026-10-18T00:52:53.799+01:00I'm a global citizen and anthropologist with a masters in international law and decades of experience in teaching, research, and storytelling to make the social and legal issues that shape our world understandable for everyone. This website was born in 2007, when I kept coming across terrified rainforest creatures in pockets, which my sons had determined were appropriate pets. My work is dedicated to all the young people who ask excellent questions to which I don't always have the answers.Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.comBlogger911125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-25982862960008006432026-10-16T12:20:48.326+01:002026-10-16T12:20:48.327+01:00

‘Neither a free State nor a free world can long endure without adequate safeguards for the rule of law’ - A.N.R. Robinson, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, October 1990 Last week, we looked at the International Court of Justice, which works on disputes between countries. Any country can say ‘we think what they are doing over there is illegal’, and take the case to the ICJ. There

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-28999596931222850632026-10-16T12:17:23.132+01:002026-10-16T12:17:45.570+01:00

The ICJ is one of the world’s most important legal institutions for disputes between nations.The International Court of Justice was founded alongside the United Nations in 1945, to settle disputes between countries. It was originally conceived as a part of the League of Nations after the First World War. This week, we will look at how this works. Let’s not confuse the ICJ - The International

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-64178397329184290362026-10-15T14:33:20.104+01:002026-10-15T14:33:20.104+01:00

Infant formula can be a lifesaving product, if used correctly, but corporate resistance to strong regulation causes the unnecessary deaths of 800,000 infants every yearThe World Health Organization’s International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes (also known as the WHO Code) is a non-binding (this is important, dear readers) health policy framework to regulate the marketing of infant

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-87687011239560951662026-09-27T15:54:00.000+01:002026-09-30T15:54:27.937+01:00

Never in the history of humankind have so many regular people been able to just pop out and get a decent cup of coffee.Our coffee habit is governed by international trade laws, anti-slavery laws, pesticide regulations, environmental treaties, world health regulations, tariffs, human rights laws, environmental and climate laws, and more, which create the social and environmental stability,

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-1370164262694951242026-09-26T15:43:00.000+01:002026-09-30T15:49:22.270+01:00

I can understand why people struggle with international law. What does it mean to have ‘law’, when there is no overarching authority handing out justice and punishments for crimes? What are crimes, when there is so much we can’t agree on? Who are all of these men in suits, using long words and making terribly serious speeches that mean nothing to us? And what has international law done for us,

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-38067937776950611052026-07-24T11:48:30.928+01:002026-07-24T11:48:30.928+01:00

Remember when blogging was new? We overshared our lives and posted embarrassing pictures of ourselves and our small children. In 2007, I had a BlackBerry. Remember those? I would hijinks a patchy internet connection in the middle of the rainforest and type posts on that teeny keyboard, upload a blurry picture and that was blogging. It never occurred to us to monetise anything, and SEO

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-31886903490492337742026-03-23T18:05:00.006+00:002026-07-13T13:54:10.850+01:00

I'm writing a series of international law articles on Substack, come over and say hi! The world seems a bit bananas at the moment, but this isn't the first time, and every time the world has gone bananas before, we have managed to pull through and be better human beings. I know it doesn't feel that way, but we have. One thing that helps us to come together as a human race, is international

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-26231942110572000492026-02-11T21:52:00.001+00:002026-02-11T21:52:18.180+00:00

A few weeks ago, a woman I know died unexpectedly. She was a writer, singer and poet, and crashed a party at my house in December. We sang ‘bye, bye, miss American pie’ in a gazebo at the top of our lungs with a crazy bunch of tipsy guitarists, and had one of those noisy dancing kitchen conversations over a sink full of margarita glasses. She’d been through a rough time, and was so excited about

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-68583253100900373232026-01-30T13:47:00.006+00:002026-07-18T14:11:05.361+01:00

 I've had a ton of training in my current role in digital and corporate services in international procurement for an electronic health record for the NHS. I'm also a member of the NHS England AI network and the NHS England Digital Health Inequalities Network, both of which are instrumental in creating policies around AI, digital and health inequalities policies in the UK. I've worked in

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-66224886041363944042025-11-07T16:36:00.010+00:002026-01-30T14:01:29.849+00:00

I've worked in IT on and off since 1997, and I've seen a lot of changes, but never one so fast or so thorough as the AI revolution. I am currently working in the NHS, where AI technology is seen as one of the best ways to save clinicians' time, so they can focus on patients. We have done a lot of training, in an effort to be as safe and thoughtful as possible about this. I have tried out our

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-68885108047128574472025-05-02T12:31:00.001+01:002026-02-11T16:15:25.880+00:00

It's Spring, and everything is green! I've updated my calendar and blocked out next January to March with 'hibernate and naps', to remind myself not to set deadlines or take on loads of extra work. I'm solar-powered, sometimes I forget that. When I sit down to work, I'm generally focusing on one thing at a time, with specific days blocked out for work, study and down time. Colleagues can see

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-30875902663905683782025-03-18T17:39:00.003+00:002025-05-02T11:18:15.032+01:00

The Child in QuestionWhen my son Chas was little, I lost him in the rainforest. This wasn’t as exciting as you might expect. I asked around and people said ‘nope, haven’t seen him for hours, he’s probably gone up the river’. He turned up later, barefoot, with some biologists he’d befriended. They were looking for a particular type of crayfish, he knew exactly which river pool those crayfish hung

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-70958396796811775982025-03-06T12:38:00.006+00:002026-02-11T16:20:30.711+00:00

Menopause seems to be in the news a lot these days, in a 'have you tried HRT yet' sort of way, and while I'm really pleased that the conversation is happening, I'm not so sure about the focus on 'symptoms'. It feels as though menopause is an illness, which isn't actually how I feel at all - personally, I'm having an adventure: swamps, sweat, dragons, occasional sunshine, and wise old women

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-77096803635558128742025-02-27T10:19:00.001+00:002025-07-19T15:02:30.458+01:00

And two more years whooshed by, with basically the same things in English pockets. Parts of 2023 and 2024 were exciting though, with pockets full of things made from interesting seeds, airline boarding passes, different sorts of shells, rebel chocolate, and more. As you can tell, blogging isn't happening. Instagram is, sometimes. My real musings and thoughts go into

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-33144871003724347522024-10-03T16:22:00.000+01:002025-03-07T10:48:38.818+00:00

Poor adolescents. I was one myself once, and it was not a pretty sight. My own kids weren't too bad... usually... But even they were known to reach astounding heights of toy-throwing to rival the worst toddler. It can be baffling to parents when their child goes through this after the sweet wonder years of primary school, but new advances in neuroscience are giving us a peek into the adolescent

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-89545135050893845012023-01-05T16:08:00.006+00:002025-07-19T15:00:39.584+01:00

Testing... testing... This blog is 14 years old. Have I documented 14 years of things we found in pockets here? Pretty much, yes, give or take a year. Recently I popped over here to check some admin bits and noticed that thousands of people come here every month. This says a lot bout the busy-ness of the internet, for a site that hasn't updated in ages. Some visitors seem to be looking for books,

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-60588312369382136842021-03-24T12:50:00.002+00:002021-03-25T13:17:20.515+00:00

I've come across many wonderful groups of people in the last year of weirdness and lockdowns, doing essential volunteer and charity work in their neighbourhoods. Many of them could use a bit of extra cash, but aren't sure how to go about applying. You can hire a bidwriter (rather expensive) or ask someone to do your bidwriting for free, but they will need some information from you first, and you

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-50251229112080577722020-07-20T21:36:00.002+01:002023-01-04T15:21:07.372+00:00

Today, I swam in the sea. It's definitely colder than the Caribbean here in the English Channel, but it was delicious to float and gaze up into the blue sky and feel grateful for many blessings. We have many beachy things in our pockets - sand as usual, shells, two sweet heart-shaped stones, wrappers from ice cream cones. Money, because cards don't work at the ice cream kiosk on the beach.

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-84166292972682365072020-04-30T16:06:00.001+01:002021-03-24T08:34:06.525+00:00

In these strange times, there are no tickets, coins, bills or interesting oddities in our pockets, which is unusual and this blog is suffering an identity crisis. However, there are things afoot. It's been so interesting to see the outpouring of optimism and community strength everywhere. In a YouGov poll, most Britons don't want things to go back to the 'normal' we once knew. The

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-74555835437521479772020-03-30T15:43:00.002+01:002023-09-08T09:04:54.326+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was working at one university, teaching a group of second year students about globalisation every week, whilst holding down a job at another nearby university in the widening participation department, which helps young people from diverse backgrounds to see the path to higher education. Meanwhile, I was peripherally involved with creating international mass grave

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-47463372162495108142019-11-24T14:19:00.006+00:002025-04-15T15:00:40.332+01:00

Getting my degree and my masters was one of the hardest, most rewarding things I've ever done. There are a few things I learned along the way which made my life easier.  To begin with, visit the university nearest to you. Is it close to support systems and existing flexible work? Can you get around without a car? Go to an open day, mooch around, talk to people. If it seems like a good

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-4463535321136605592019-10-29T17:38:00.001+00:002019-10-29T17:41:07.524+00:00

My BA dissertation was probably the most fun I've had, ever. And people now bring me chocolate from all over the world, because apparently I'm an expert on chocolate? Just to set the record straight, while I LOVE CHOCOLATE, I'm not an expert, alas. Do feel free to continue sending me chocolate, though. Sustainable resistance and structural inequality, though, is my thing. For a downloadable PDF

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-57430534549247894522019-09-21T16:47:00.000+01:002019-09-21T16:47:18.051+01:00

When I started this blog in 2007, it was full of things I found in my sons' pockets, pre-facebook escapades and book reviews. This blog followed us from the rainforests of Trinidad to to beaches of Bournemouth. Not much changed about us, but the things we found in pockets did, from interesting beetles and snakeskins to conkers and bus tickets. Now, those boys do their own laundry, but my

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-49719176329407304292019-09-02T17:35:00.013+01:002025-05-11T09:09:57.471+01:00

Global Human Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility  The international ‘Human Rights’ concept has been part of the UN Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights since 1945, and was built upon in subsequent covenants, with the concept of human rights focused initially on protecting individuals and groups from abuses by states in the aftermath of WWII. The idea that

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-59965087855902312612017-06-17T19:51:00.001+01:002019-05-29T15:33:02.385+01:00

A few months ago, I emailed one of my lecturers and asked if I could please, since I had to do more classroom archaeology next year, despite my degree being sociology and anthropology, for complicated reasons, pretty please would they let me come on the Durotriges Big Dig, three days a week? After some discussion and my reminding them that I'm a star student, they said yes. EAT SLEEP DIG

Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com1