Talk:Ken Livingstone: Difference between revisions
imported>Tom Morris |
imported>Nick Gardner |
||
| Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
:I concur with this. –[[User:Tom Morris|Tom Morris]] 16:00, 29 October 2010 (UTC) | :I concur with this. –[[User:Tom Morris|Tom Morris]] 16:00, 29 October 2010 (UTC) | ||
:::I accept your criticisms, and I should be content to see the article redrafted or abandoned. I have moved the text around a bit, but I don't believe that I could find the material that would be required to alter its balance. Brief though, it is, I have found the article exceptionally difficult to research. Much of what little there is on record online by, or about, him is too abusive to be suitable for a CZ article, and I have done what I can with the remainder. So I shall have to leave it to others to make a better job of it. [[User:Nick Gardner|Nick Gardner]] 19:11, 29 October 2010 (UTC) | |||
Revision as of 13:11, 29 October 2010
Opening of this article
To me it reads like the opening salvo in an attack piece at the moment. Rather than saying much about Livingstone's background, it opens by simply lists all the controversies:
He has been a supporter of communist regimes in Cuba and Venezuela and an opponent of New Labour, and of Gordon Brown's economic policies (having said in 1998 that "Gordon is not up to his job ... Britain is now heading towards a recession entirely of Gordon's making"). In a 2007 interview, he praised the fundamentalist Islamic cleric, Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He has attacked the policies of Israel's government, and has been suspended from office for comparing a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard. However, his limited powers as Mayor gave him little opportunity to give effect to those views, and his performance as Mayor has been generally regarded as satisfactory.
A reader will conclude the following about CZ from placing this so early and strongly in the article: we are anti-communist; we are anti-Muslim; we are pro-Israel. It even subtly suggests that, given the chance, Livingstone would use his position to advance Communism, Islamic fundamentalism, anti-Semitism, and action against Israel ("...give effect to those views."). It requires considerable re-balancing, with the controversies integrated into a larger piece covering his political career. I would move it down, but a big deletion will considerably alter the scope of the article, so I leave it open for others to comment. John Stephenson 15:49, 29 October 2010 (UTC)
- I concur with this. –Tom Morris 16:00, 29 October 2010 (UTC)
- I accept your criticisms, and I should be content to see the article redrafted or abandoned. I have moved the text around a bit, but I don't believe that I could find the material that would be required to alter its balance. Brief though, it is, I have found the article exceptionally difficult to research. Much of what little there is on record online by, or about, him is too abusive to be suitable for a CZ article, and I have done what I can with the remainder. So I shall have to leave it to others to make a better job of it. Nick Gardner 19:11, 29 October 2010 (UTC)