Talk:John Reid (politician)

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Can someone find a photo of this guy? I would do it myself, but I'm totally ignorant about copyright laws. Palefire 17:00, Nov 15, 2004 (UTC)

Contents 1 Next PM? 2 Links to Serbian war crime indictees 3 Communist History 4 Doctor Title 5 Photo - Hm. 6 Formatting of page

[edit] Next PM?

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)

...which of course the article already mentions. Never mind. :) -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:18, 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!!!

[edit] Links to Serbian war crime indictees

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)

[edit] Communist History

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)

His past is already in the article - "I used to be a Communist. I used to believe in Santa Claus" Catchpole 13:39, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Doctor Title

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

The BBC refers to him as Dr, and so do those setting up the news conferences. 82.3.85.125 22:07, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Photo - Hm.

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)

He is in front of the Union Jack. The US flag is next to it. Catchpole 08:58, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

This problem is likely to arise quite a bit given the difficulty of finding free images of UK politicians. One of the main sources are official photos taken by US Federal Government employees, as these are usually public domain. Backgrounds of such photos are likely to contain US flags! WJBscribe 07:12, 23 November 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?!

See my explanation above. It is simply a result of the fact that official photos of members of the British government from gov websites are subject to Crown Copyright, whereas photos taken by US Federal Departments during official visits are public domain. As the most free image must be used, those US images are likely to domiante for a while. See Ruth Kelly for an exception, where someone kindly uploaded a copyright-free photo they took of her onto Flickr. -WJBscribe ^{(WJB talk)} 16:07, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Formatting of page

• I've reformatted the page so its no longer mostly made up of a disorganised block of text. The sections and subsections allow for detail on the numerous positions John Reid has held.
• I haven't removed any of the old info but have shuffled it around a bit so the order is more logical.
• I thought the closer view of his face used at Cabinet of the UK was clearer for the infobox. The old photo is now used to illustrate the Defence Secretary section.
• I've also checked the references and added dates.
• There were various pieces of info that didn't fit well so have put them in a 'trivia' section. Not ideal, I guess.

Anyway, hope people find it an improvement. WJBscribe 09:02, 23 November 2006 (UTC)