During his lifetime and beyond, Brian Roberts was often thought to be the éminence grise of the UK's Antarctic policy and also of the founding of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. Documentary evidence of his influence has, however, been conspicuously absent, due in part to the closure of relevant files in the UK's National Archives. Using Roberts’ personal files in the archives of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, files in the UK National Archives that remained closed for 50 years but have recently been released, and the recollections of surviving contemporaries of Roberts, it has been possible to establish the extent of his involvement in the evolution of the treaty and to add new elements that may contribute towards a reconstruction of its complex history. From 1956 Roberts developed a productive relationship with the UK Foreign Office's Head of American Department Henry Hankey that enabled them to influence the UK policy on Antarctica and to make a significant contribution towards the political settlement represented by the treaty. For Roberts and his colleagues in the Foreign Office the main purpose of the treaty was not primarily the promotion of international scientific collaboration but was essentially a means of addressing a political situation that had become otherwise intractable.

An 18-strong international team is hard at work in South Georgia, undertaking the final phase of the world's largest rodent eradication project, run by the South Georgia Heritage Trust. Known collectively as ‘Team Rat’, its departure for South Georgia in January coincided with the discovery of a nest of five South Georgia pipit chicks (Fig. 1) in an area overrun with rats before being baited by the trust in 2013. The pipit is the world's most southerly songbird.

The popular narrative of Arctic development continues to dwell on melting sea ice, untapped oil and gas reserves, an icebreaker arms race and the perils and potential of rapid industrialisation. Rarely is the welfare of Arctic populations considered in a holistic sense and with a precise call for policy change. The recently released Arctic human development report II, echoing the more widely distributed human development reports generated by the United Nations, does just this. Unfortunately, despite the laudable efforts of the authors to embrace the more systemic drivers of poverty and marginalisation, the report fails to account for governmental and policy shortcomings which continue to limit health and opportunity, while obscuring tangible pathways to prosperity for Arctic populations. This comment is intended as a call, amongst the fervour of Arctic exploitation, to refocus attention on the unmistakable disparities in public health and well-being that persist in the Arctic regions of otherwise wealthy countries, and to incorporate globally practised perceptions of human development, including the role of social and political marginalisation in explaining health and prosperity discrepancies, which have been largely lacking in Arctic development discourse, and practice.

Ian Whitaker (1928–2016). Dr. Ian (Rice) Whitaker (Fig. 1) died on 19 May 2016 at his home in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada. He was a Professor Emeritus from Simon Fraser University and a key anthropological authority on circumpolar peoples. His wife Martha, daughter Kythe, son Ronan and grandchildren Dana, Brittany and Devon survive him. He was born in Nottingham, United Kingdom on 4 July 1928 to Thomas Rice and Gertrude Whitaker (33rd Baroness de la Ville de Beuge) (Lumley 2007). After his initial education at the University of St. Andrews, he went on to earn a B.A. and M.A. at the University of Cambridge and a Dr. Phil. at the University of Oslo.

President Barrack Obama became, in September 2015, the first US president to travel north of the Arctic Circle. Having started his Alaskan itinerary in Anchorage, attending and speaking at a conference involving Secretary of State John Kerry and invited guests, the president travelled north to the small town of Kotzebue, a community of some 3000 people with the majority of inhabitants identifying as native American. Delivered to an audience in the local high school numbering around 1000, the 41st US president placed his visit within a longer presidential tradition of northern visitation:

Melt ponds are common on the surface of ice floes in the Arctic Ocean during spring and summer. Few studies on melt pond algae communities have been accomplished. These studies have shown that these melt ponds were ultra-oligotrophic, and contribute little to overall productivity. However, during the 6th Chinese Arctic Cruise in the Arctic Ocean in summer 2014, a closed coloured melt pond with a chlorophyll a concentration of 15.32 μg/L was observed on Arctic pack ice in the Canada Basin. The bloom was caused by the chlorophyte Carteria lunzensis at an abundance of 15.49×106 cells/L and biomass of 5.07 mg C/L. Primary production within surface melt ponds may need more attention along with Arctic warming.

Major D.E.L. ‘Roy’ Homard, (Fig. 1) who died aged 94 on 20 May 2015, was an army engineer who played a critical role in two of the most significant British polar expeditions of the post-war era. He was also one of just 45 individuals to be awarded the Polar Medal with both Arctic and Antarctic clasps. (Awards of the Polar Medal include combined clasps. Data supplied by Glenn M. Stein FRGS).