Kennedy still regularly attends Mass and professes that her Catholicism "remains very much part of who I am", even though she eschews its more traditional values. She went on to study Law at London's Council of Legal Education.[1]
Legal career
Among her many cases, Kennedy acted as junior counsel for child murderer Myra Hindley during the latter's 1974 trial for plotting to escape from Holloway.[2]
Politics
Kennedy rebels against her party whip in the House of Lords more frequently than any other Labour Peer, having a dissent rate of 33.3%.[3] She was Chair of Charter 88 (1992–97) and is closely affiliated to the educational charity Common Purpose.
Academia
Kennedy was elected principal of Mansfield College, Oxford in July 2010 (in which office she has served since September 2011).[4] She is due to retire in 2018.[5]
Personal life
Her first partner was the actor Iain Mitchell, with whom she lived from 1978 until 1984, and by whom she has a son. In 1986, Kennedy married Dr Iain Louis Hutchison (a surgeon), with whom she has a daughter and a son.[1]
Honours
She has received numerous academic awards, including:
Kennedy chaired the Power Commission (November 2005 – March 2006), which examined the problem of democratic disengagement in the United Kingdom. A report was produced which highlighted the "Myth of Apathy" and the lack of political engagement
Patron of SafeHands for Mothers, a UK-based charity whose mission is to improve maternal and newborn health by harnessing the power of the visual, through the production of films.[10]
Chair, Howard League's Commission of Inquiry into Violence in Penal Institutions for Young People (the final report, Banged Up, Beaten Up, Cutting Up, published in 1995)
Chair, Reading Borough Council's Commission of Inquiry into the health, environmental and safety aspects of the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston (final report Secrecy versus Safety, published in 1994)
Chair, Royal Colleges of Pathologists' and of Pædiatrics' Inquiry into Sudden Infant Death (producing a protocol for the investigation of such deaths in 2004)
As Commissioner of the National Commission for Education, she chaired a committee on widening participation in further education and the Commission's report, Learning Works, published in 1997.
Honours
Created a Life Peer, as Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, of Cathcart in the City of Glasgow on 27 October 1997[11]
^"Principal". Mansfield College. University of Oxford. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
^"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2013. ((cite web)): Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)