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This article is littered with biased, non-wiki language. Here is a small selection
Please can someone change this.
The article also has no criticism of Reid whatsoever. This can't be right. cagliost ( talk) 10:41, 3 June 2010 (UTC)
"Born in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland to RC parents"
To "RC" parents? Whats wrong with putting Catholic? Outside of Glasgow I wouldn't say "RC" is a commonly used term for a Catholic. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.87.17.34 ( talk) 05:35, 24 May 2008 (UTC)
In today's Today programme someone (I think it was John Sergeant) speculated that Reid was being groomed by Blair to be the Blair wing's candidate to replace Blair as PM. I don't propose to add this to the article (one off-the-cuff remark by someone who I'm not sure said it doesn't make the "encyclopedic" cut by a wide margin) but if it's true we'll hear the same rumour bandied around for the next six months. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:06, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
==POV== Removed the sentence on reid's role as 'a tony's henchman' and someone who joins departments fucks them up and then leaves. Aside from poor wording, this is a clear breach of NPOV. It may well be a fair assessment of reid's career of late, but it was not even stated as a reported opinion, let alone given a proper citation.
I think that one problem that we have to consider with references to the BBC is that often people are referencing an opinion. All political commentary is a political opinion and I think that we have to be careful not to discredit personal opinion if it is based on his political performance. I also think that any Guardian citations should be discredited as well!!!
John Reid was a close friend of Karadzic and Mladic . Even after war ravaged the Balkans in the 90s, Reid visited the region and met with them (before he was a Minister). Private Eye recently speculated that if the outstanding indictees are eventually brought before the ICTY, then Reid will be called by far-right genocidal war criminals as a character witness. So don't put money on him as "the next PM". I'll go through my Private Eyes and provide the issue number and date. 86.17.246.75 00:50, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
I don't want to be accused of being a McArthyite but might readers of this article be interested to know that John Reid had a had left background: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk_politics/03/the_cabinet/html/def_sec.stm Also should it not be stated for completeness that his mentioned thesis in economic history was a marxist text: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,659705,00.html Valueofnothing 13:23, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
There seems to be a brewing controversy over whether John Reid should be referred to as "Dr.". The fact of the matter is that, while some might find his research subject trite, anyone with a PhD is entitled to call themselves "Doctor" and it is not only his correct title but the one he prefers to be known by. The fact that "thousands of other" people have PhDs but don't refer to themselves as "Dr." is of little relevant. That is their choice. Shotlandiya
Oops. I've just read the rules on academic titles and realised I was in the wrong about this one. Apologies, and title removed. Shotlandiya
Dont you think that the picture of Mr Reid should be in front of a British flag, or none at all? Not an American flag. It just doesn't seem right. It's a biography of a British politician :P 82.3.85.125 22:07, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
It seems to be quite a trend to use pictures of British politicians in American political surroundings. Minister for Europe, Geoff Hoon, has also been shown at a 'Pentagon press briefing' as his main image. Are the American users showing a liking for our politicians?!
Anyway, hope people find it an improvement. WJBscribe 09:02, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
The section describing his work as Home Secretary looks very biased in light of all the criticism he's attracted recently. 83.67.217.254 10:09, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
"The episode has left some in the media to label John Reid as John Weed." This should have examples from notable media. I already removed editorialising on the subject - David Gerard 14:17, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
Stars & Stripes background to the current photo is a little strange, given that he's a UK politician. Does anyone have an alternative picture? -- Tremolo 01:01, 30 March 2007 (UTC)
Is this blog entry by Iain Dale a suitable source for the paragraph that it references?-- Bookandcoffee 22:12, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
1 link commented - Possibly Radio recording - No clear indication uploader has rights to material or has connection with the production entitites responsible for it. Sfan00 IMG ( talk) 12:59, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
I have rigourously edited this entry today. There were too many comments ascribing superfluous positive slants/opinions on this person - e.g. "....Reid was an obvious choice for", or "...due to his impressive performance he was..." it seems like the entry was compiled by one of John Reid's staff or family members with the intention of over-emphasising his achievements and abilities. Nobody's perfect - let's stick to facts. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.153.125.90 ( talk) 13:29, 20 June 2008 (UTC)
In the last revision I edited, I found duplicate named references, i.e. references sharing the same name, but not having the same content. Please check them, as I am not able to fix them automatically :)
DumZiBoT ( talk) 23:26, 8 August 2008 (UTC)
no Adam4267 ( talk) 21:40, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
He voted for the Iraq aggression. Keith-264 ( talk) 23:13, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
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Reid did not "decide not to go to university" at 16. He could not have gone at that age, and in any case he did not have 3 A-Levels. ( 86.140.123.95 ( talk) 01:43, 1 September 2018 (UTC))
"he was assigned to the tenements in the East End of Glasgow after the city was hit by storms in late-1968 and saw poverty of a kind he did not know existed. Soon after this experience, he joined the Labour Party." However, the article says he didn't join the Labour Party until 1979. He didn't even join the Communist Party until 1972. So unless there's any evidence that he joined Labour in the late 1960s ("soon after"), I would remove the last sentence there. In any case, the reference to the Irish Independent is a dead link. -- TrottieTrue ( talk) 00:27, 10 December 2020 (UTC)
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This article is littered with biased, non-wiki language. Here is a small selection
Please can someone change this.
The article also has no criticism of Reid whatsoever. This can't be right. cagliost ( talk) 10:41, 3 June 2010 (UTC)
"Born in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland to RC parents"
To "RC" parents? Whats wrong with putting Catholic? Outside of Glasgow I wouldn't say "RC" is a commonly used term for a Catholic. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.87.17.34 ( talk) 05:35, 24 May 2008 (UTC)
In today's Today programme someone (I think it was John Sergeant) speculated that Reid was being groomed by Blair to be the Blair wing's candidate to replace Blair as PM. I don't propose to add this to the article (one off-the-cuff remark by someone who I'm not sure said it doesn't make the "encyclopedic" cut by a wide margin) but if it's true we'll hear the same rumour bandied around for the next six months. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:06, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
==POV== Removed the sentence on reid's role as 'a tony's henchman' and someone who joins departments fucks them up and then leaves. Aside from poor wording, this is a clear breach of NPOV. It may well be a fair assessment of reid's career of late, but it was not even stated as a reported opinion, let alone given a proper citation.
I think that one problem that we have to consider with references to the BBC is that often people are referencing an opinion. All political commentary is a political opinion and I think that we have to be careful not to discredit personal opinion if it is based on his political performance. I also think that any Guardian citations should be discredited as well!!!
John Reid was a close friend of Karadzic and Mladic . Even after war ravaged the Balkans in the 90s, Reid visited the region and met with them (before he was a Minister). Private Eye recently speculated that if the outstanding indictees are eventually brought before the ICTY, then Reid will be called by far-right genocidal war criminals as a character witness. So don't put money on him as "the next PM". I'll go through my Private Eyes and provide the issue number and date. 86.17.246.75 00:50, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
I don't want to be accused of being a McArthyite but might readers of this article be interested to know that John Reid had a had left background: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk_politics/03/the_cabinet/html/def_sec.stm Also should it not be stated for completeness that his mentioned thesis in economic history was a marxist text: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,659705,00.html Valueofnothing 13:23, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
There seems to be a brewing controversy over whether John Reid should be referred to as "Dr.". The fact of the matter is that, while some might find his research subject trite, anyone with a PhD is entitled to call themselves "Doctor" and it is not only his correct title but the one he prefers to be known by. The fact that "thousands of other" people have PhDs but don't refer to themselves as "Dr." is of little relevant. That is their choice. Shotlandiya
Oops. I've just read the rules on academic titles and realised I was in the wrong about this one. Apologies, and title removed. Shotlandiya
Dont you think that the picture of Mr Reid should be in front of a British flag, or none at all? Not an American flag. It just doesn't seem right. It's a biography of a British politician :P 82.3.85.125 22:07, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
It seems to be quite a trend to use pictures of British politicians in American political surroundings. Minister for Europe, Geoff Hoon, has also been shown at a 'Pentagon press briefing' as his main image. Are the American users showing a liking for our politicians?!
Anyway, hope people find it an improvement. WJBscribe 09:02, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
The section describing his work as Home Secretary looks very biased in light of all the criticism he's attracted recently. 83.67.217.254 10:09, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
"The episode has left some in the media to label John Reid as John Weed." This should have examples from notable media. I already removed editorialising on the subject - David Gerard 14:17, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
Stars & Stripes background to the current photo is a little strange, given that he's a UK politician. Does anyone have an alternative picture? -- Tremolo 01:01, 30 March 2007 (UTC)
Is this blog entry by Iain Dale a suitable source for the paragraph that it references?-- Bookandcoffee 22:12, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
1 link commented - Possibly Radio recording - No clear indication uploader has rights to material or has connection with the production entitites responsible for it. Sfan00 IMG ( talk) 12:59, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
I have rigourously edited this entry today. There were too many comments ascribing superfluous positive slants/opinions on this person - e.g. "....Reid was an obvious choice for", or "...due to his impressive performance he was..." it seems like the entry was compiled by one of John Reid's staff or family members with the intention of over-emphasising his achievements and abilities. Nobody's perfect - let's stick to facts. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.153.125.90 ( talk) 13:29, 20 June 2008 (UTC)
In the last revision I edited, I found duplicate named references, i.e. references sharing the same name, but not having the same content. Please check them, as I am not able to fix them automatically :)
DumZiBoT ( talk) 23:26, 8 August 2008 (UTC)
no Adam4267 ( talk) 21:40, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
He voted for the Iraq aggression. Keith-264 ( talk) 23:13, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
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Reid did not "decide not to go to university" at 16. He could not have gone at that age, and in any case he did not have 3 A-Levels. ( 86.140.123.95 ( talk) 01:43, 1 September 2018 (UTC))
"he was assigned to the tenements in the East End of Glasgow after the city was hit by storms in late-1968 and saw poverty of a kind he did not know existed. Soon after this experience, he joined the Labour Party." However, the article says he didn't join the Labour Party until 1979. He didn't even join the Communist Party until 1972. So unless there's any evidence that he joined Labour in the late 1960s ("soon after"), I would remove the last sentence there. In any case, the reference to the Irish Independent is a dead link. -- TrottieTrue ( talk) 00:27, 10 December 2020 (UTC)