Talk:Daniel Hannan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article must adhere to the policy on biographies of living persons. Controversial material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted or if there are other concerns relative to this policy, report it on the living persons biographies noticeboard.

Contents

[edit] UK referendum

Given the UK has 60m+ people, I doubt the statement "He was the first person in the United Kingdom to call for a referendum on the European Constitution" is true. If he was the first MEP, first UK MEP etc, that would be more likely . If someone want to correct this. Matchrthom 18:57, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps he was the first to "publicly" call for it in a recorded manner? --Wee Jimmy (talk) 14:21, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] POV / Tendentious editing

This article has been the subject of tendentious editing (removal of referenced material on parliamentary group expulsion with background) by 195.152.249.12 which is apparently an IP address of the media group that also hosts MEP Hannan's own blog. Be on the watchout for repeats, as this clearly could be COI, as well as for other POV edits which have been both positive and negative. Tomas e (talk) 11:49, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Update: newly registered User Daniel Hannan has now tried to edit the article in the same vein as 195.152.249.12. Tomas e (talk) 13:14, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
I've left a note on the user's talk page, but they appear to be more interested restoring in their version. I will block that account if it doesn't address the isssue.--Alf melmac 13:25, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Here is the sequence of events:


Daniel Hannan first called for a referendum on 16 December 2001 in his foreign affairs column in the Sunday Telegraph [1]. The Laeken Declaration, which first suggested putting the EU on a constitutional basis, was issued that same day, so I’m pretty sure no one else got there first! He then set out the idea at greater length in The Spectator on 8 June 2002[2].

In 2003, various newspapers ran campaigns for a referendum. The Mail, the Telegraph and the Spectator all claimed to have come up with the idea, and Stephen Glover wrote a couple of articles in his Spectator media column asking who had got there first. Daniel Hannan wrote a very letter, published on 5 July 2003[3]:

"Sir: Stephen Glover returns to the question of who was first to suggest a referendum on the EU Constitution (Media studies, 28 June). I flagged up the idea in these pages on 8 June 2002, having first suggested it in the Sunday Telegraph on 16 December 2001. Any advances on that?

Daniel Hannan MEP"

The only reply was a letter from Edward Macmillan Scott, saying that he had proposed a referendum on Europe in September 2001 (i.e. before anyone had come up with the idea of a constitution) and adding for good measure that he wasn’t in favour of a referendum on the constitution because it wasn’t serious enough! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.152.50.235 (talk) 09:06, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] request sourcing

May we have sourcing on the following points before re-inclusion?

I have moved form the article:


He is married and has two young daughters. NonvocalScream (talk) 04:03, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

And...

In the parliamentary session just before the new rules (or rather, new interpretation of existing rules) were to be presented by the President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pöttering in response to the filibustering tactics by Hannan and other MEPs, Hannan stated that "It is only my affection for you ... that prevents me from likening this to the Ermächtigungsgesetz", thereby comparing the new rules to the Enabling Act of 1933, which was the legal instrument with which the German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler received dictatorial power. President Pöttering is a German national and a member of the same political group (EPP-ED, conservatives and christian democrats) as Hannan. Hannan's Nazi references were seen as outrageous by many MEPs, and the head of EPP-ED Joseph Daul, initiated proceedings to expel Hannan immediately.[1]

May we have multiple reliable sources for this contentious bit according to our biograpy of living persons?

Also...

He is considered to be a strongly eurosceptic conservative.[1]

Many thanks, NonvocalScream (talk) 04:09, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Additional sources - of course, the EP statements were widely reported in media. However, I can't seem to access his blog right now so I will have to add sources for some other things later:
  • Family info ("married and has two young daughters")...
  • EP statements - BBC and International Herald Tribune would hopefully do:
  • Euroscepticism... (It can be worth pointing out that, at least as far as I understand, "euroscepticism" is used as a self-label by some conservatives in the UK, and therefore not necessarily POV to be edited out, in difference to "europhobic", "anti-European" or other terms. The "strongly" word can be omitted, though.)
Tomas e (talk) 17:10, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Another section removed

The source was unreachable, and I have removed this section as unsourced, or poorly sourced according to our BLP standard.


[edit] European Parliament activities

Hannan was first elected as the youngest member of the European Parliament in the 1999 election, when he was in third position on the Conservative ballot, from which five Conservative MEPs were elected in the consituency of South East England. Hannan was re-elected in the 2004 election, when he was in the top position on the ballot, and four Conservative MEPs were elected. From 1999 to 2008, he was affiliated with the group EPP-ED, conservatives and christian democrats, to which UK Conservative Party belongs. Since February 2008, he is a non-attached member of the Parliament.

Hannan has campaigned against the EU's restrictions on higher dose vitamin supplements and herbal remedies, and for the winding up of the South East England Regional Assembly.[citation needed]

Hannan was the first politician in Britain to call for a referendum on the European Constitution, as well as the Treaty of Lisbon which came in its place after the Constitution failed to be ratified by Netherlands and France.[citation needed] In the European Parliament, he has voiced his opposition against the Treaty, and has been part of a group of UK MEPs who in January 2008 started to use the Parliament's procedural rules in a "filibuster-style" move to prolong the handling of all issues in the parliament. In the case of Hannan, this included stating "the Lisbon Treaty must be put to the vote" everytime he voted on any issue in Parliament, taking his cue from Cato the Elder.[4] This was meant to display Hannan's and some other UK MEPs opposition to the Treaty, but also led to significant irritation with the leadership of the European Parliament, which introduced measures to deal with the "filibustering" UK MEPs by amending the procedural rules of the Parliament to give its president more freedom in procedural matters.

[edit] And another

I have also removed this one, as contentious. I request multiple independent sources, if possible. NonvocalScream (talk) 04:28, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Euroscepticism

Hannan is the author of Time for a Fresh Start in Europe (1993) A Guide to the Amsterdam Treaty (1997), The Euro: Bad for Business (1998), The Challenge of the East (1999), What if Britain Votes No? (2002) The Case for EFTA (2004) and a chapter in The Future of the NHS (2006) edited by Dr Michelle Tempest. He also contributed to Treason at Maastricht (1994), by Rodney Atkinson and Norris McWhirter, which claims that the European Union is a fascist conspiracy created by the Bilderberg Group.[5] Based on claims by intelligence and economics affairs writer Christopher Story, whose views on the European Union have been considered conspiracy theorist, the book Hannan contributed to claims that the EU is modelled on a 1942 Nazi German plan called Europäische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft.[6] Hannan also devoted two chapters to attacks on the Conservative Party leadership and Conservative MEPs of the day.[7]

[edit] Page protection

I have fully protected this article for a period of 1 week due to the persistent addition of material in violation of the biographies of living persons policy and the neutral point of view policy. - Mark 04:52, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Please can you list the aforementioned edits which you deem to be biased? Harris Morgan 23:21, 28 February 2008 (UTC).
It was the Nazi stuff and the euroskepticism (communicated to us via OTRS ticket #2008022410005584), but I see that half of it still remained in the article as I protected it, so the protection just perpetuated it. I've unprotected now, and will contact NonvocalScream to pick up where he left off (he is the owner of the OTRS ticket as well). - Mark 03:00, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] political activites

I've removed the political activities, with it included, it causes the article to be largely unbalanced. If its not fixed later on, I'll try to fix it myself. Regards, NonvocalScream (talk) 17:45, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] family

I've removed the section on his wife and children, not sure how this plays into the article, does not seem noteworthy. NonvocalScream (talk) 23:39, 3 March 2008 (UTC)