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302:: I've always been interested in politics, largely I think because I was growing up during a decade when the country was undergoing some dramatic changes, and I realised the decisions our politicians were making affected so many aspects of our day-to-day lives. I haven't personally been politically active though. At university I took a degree in business studies, although the course encompassed some aspects of politics as well, and was a student in the years preceding the
549:. Showing floods, a posh new bridge or hospital facilities etc. would be less so as those are of community importance. I often ring constituency offices to ask for MP photographs but have had a lot of problems getting them to understand the real need to return the email necessary to renounce copyright. Maddening! Irrespective of our opinion of an MPs views, we should provide the best photographs available and that means ones that they're happy with.
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603:. I have never lived in a constituency where the candidate has won and even when I moved to a marginal, the boundary commission went and scuppered my plans. However I don't hesitate to write to my MP or visit him if I feel I have a contribution to make. I always assume he will work with me to help his constituents regardless of political differences. Usually if you make that clear they will help.
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721:: I think the important thing to remember with a topic like politics is that it's essential to approach it from a neutral point of view. Often you may find yourself working on articles about people whose opinions you do not share and subjects with which you profoundly disagree, so you need to have a balanced perspective.
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and properly quantify achievements. The main parties assess a candidate by comparing his achievement with that of his party as a whole, e.g. how the swing in his constituency compares with the national average. We need to make sure people know how to do this. Also to define what is notable -every MP
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voting and since 1923 only had a non-Conservative MP in 1997–2005. I have also worked on job creation stints for local government and since 1987 have been continually employed in a central government department (where my
Wikipedian activity is known among my colleagues), which gives me an added
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and several ministers over a period of 5 years and also worked as a volunteer in an MP's office. There I learnt how to avoid letters being intercepted by parliamentary assistants & hence ensure the MP sees my letter. I also learnt of the persuasive power of a local newspaper relative to the
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candidates). To the best of my knowledge, I am unrelated to any past or present MPs, which gives me a freedom from vested interests when working on biographies. I was working on
Knowledge (XXG)'s biographical and constituency articles before I joined the project. What did get me to join was to
555:: An authentic portrait or picture of a sculpture is always welcome. Via talk pages and unbiased by political sympathy I have flagged up a few pictures that I had reason to doubt were of the subject of the article, and urge someone to find a replacement for the cycle-helmeted pic chosen for
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could reads and improve many political articles. I am saddened at the number of new IPs who are clearly interested in politics but who vandalise articles with uncited opinion. I'm now trying to be friendly, asking if they can contribute using a suitable source and offering to
671:: We have a lot of short articles that need expanding, particularly those about members of the UK's various legislative bodies. A good starting point might be to find a subject that interests you then work on improving it. The use of quality sources such as the BBC,
306:. I remember it as an interesting time to be at university. I suppose I saw joining the project as a way of improving our coverage of the topic, and hope I've made a small contribution to that end, as well as expanding my own political knowledge.
518:: I'm not aware of any collaboration. I have a strong interest in Law and believe that lawyers on both sides in the Commons make a disproportionate contribution, particularly on select committees. They are also in contact with ordinary people.
545:: That's made me think! My father was a professional photographer and I always regarded his caption as crucial. A captioned photograph showing inner city deprivation might win a newspaper award but it could be both intrusive and potentially
494:: A large event such as a general election always presents a challenge, but I think we were successful in staying up to speed with it. My own contribution was a couple of biographies about newly-elected MPs, which I'm now working to expand.
277:: I'm a member of a political party with a place on the executive committee of my local constituency. I studied 'British Constitution' at school which started a lifelong interest. I led a local political campaign about lost pensions under
454:(the scientist few people may know was twice an MP). I leave it to others to decide if my contribution to a not-yet FA or GA article leads to it being voted as such. (If any contribution of mine does have a factor, please let me know!)
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Does WikiProject
Politics of the United Kingdom collaborate with any other WikiProjects, such as WP Law or the politics of another country? Has the project taken advantage of Knowledge (XXG)'s sister projects, like Wikisource or the
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insight into our political system but I do not misuse
Knowledge (XXG) to leak restricted information or to feed comments on contentious current issues – nor do I access Knowledge (XXG) during my working hours, unlike the
619:: I have voted mainly for Labour candidates but I do not let my personal sympathies get in the way of helping to build a good biography of a politician from another party. My home constituency in England is predominately
609:: I support the Labour Party, but a Labour candidate hasn't been elected in my constituency for some years. Sadly though declaring my political allegiance has led to accusations of bias, particularly from the occasional "
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unaware of the rules and writing their own usually uncited opinion of candidates. Also some candidates using what looked like PR men to write their article. In some cases I think I could even recognise the style. The
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through FAC and hope to see that promoted later in the year. On a wider note, with
Scotland taking an increased responsibility for deciding its own affairs I'd like to improve other Scottish politics related
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both published instances of where favourable edits came from within
Parliament and I was one of the editors who updated the pages to show this poor behaviour. IPs, however, did help to get the result out.
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Have you contributed to any of the project's 46 featured articles, 6 featured lists, and 89 good articles? Are you currently working on promoting an article to FA or GA status?
697:: I agree with This is Paul's suggestion about adopting a local legislator, this would spread the burden. I am particularly watchful of articles on Shropshire politicians.
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advertise my interest in biographical facts about MPs and encourage help about potential records. I have flagged up contenders for shortest lived MPs, first
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500:: I agree with This is Paul. I contributed minimally, with adding voting figures for that general election in some of the constituencies in my home county,
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What motivated you to join WikiProject
Politics of the United Kingdom? Are you active on the political scene, even held office, or just interested?
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320:(though I got poor exam results for health reasons) and I grew up in a politically aware paternal family with a propensity to support
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Politics are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.
528:, but I'm also not aware of any collaboration between them. I'm sure there's scope for it to happen though. Sadly the parent
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Is it difficult to find images to illustrate political articles? What topics are most in need of diagrams and photography?
613:" while editing articles about Scottish politics, but I endeavour to be neutral in my contributions to Knowledge (XXG).
587:: I make a point of NOT stating my political party -and have been accused of bias by both main parties when reducing
196:) and has also suggested that this project's scope be expanded, maybe even to the point of renaming the project.
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What are WikiProject
Politics of the United Kingdom's most urgent needs? How can a new member help today?
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Which political party do you vote for, and why? Does that party usually win in your home constituency?
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to support new material is of paramount importance though. Adopting the article about your local MP,
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If you would like your WikiProject featured in the report, please submit a request at the
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Submit your project's news and announcements for next week's WikiProject Report at the
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426:: I have opportunely contributed information on events and firsts/lasts/onlys to the
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332:) and a paternal great uncle were respectively unsuccessful local council Labour and
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MPs, youngest woman MP to die in office, heaviest Prime
Minister, to mention a few.
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in the UK? Was there any co-ordination in updating unfolding results and coverage?
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subject and political history was my major topic of interest when studying at
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and biographical details (not all on political activity) to articles on
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being two), but only have one UK politics featured article at present (
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Some more politics: WikiProject
Politics of the United Kingdom
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got completely carried away in a number of cases during the
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civil servant who got sacked having made comments on the
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and contribute news items on an ad-hoc basis from those.
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403:: I've taken several articles through the GA process (
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847:If your comment has not appeared here, you can try
200:Would appreciate the help of any interested users.
459:How did the project manage when dealing with the
727:: I too avoid editorialising and partisan bias.
691:, etc, might also be a good way to get started.
471:: Unfortunately there was a major problem with
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601:United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal
559:'s article to do his features better justice!
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569:next Labour leader
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72:Some more politics
69:WikiProject report
45:← Back to Contents
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432:Benjamin Disraeli
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