Talk:Alistair Darling/Archive 1

Untitled
The comments about darling's eyebrows contribute very little to this piece. Also, the unqualified assertion that he's fulfilled his brief to keep transport out of the news seems a bit off - congestion charge? london underground? crossrail? railtrack??? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.153.219.170 (talk • contribs) 14:10, 14 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Three of those are London based and really focus attention of the Mayor of London. And yes Railtrack comes up a bit but you don't see Alistair Darling hauled throughout the media the way Stephen Byers was. Timrollpickering 19:51, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Photo needed
Official government photos of British politicians cannot be used on Wikipedia as Crown Copyright is not a sufficiently free license. Because the subjects are living and make frequent public appearances, they are regarded as readily replaceable with free images. So I guess this is challenge.... If Alistair Darling (or one of his colleagues) is going to be in your area and you have a spare minute, grab your digital photos and get snapping! Hopefully we'll get a new photo soon. All efforts appreciated.WJBscribe 01:11, 23 November 2006 (UTC) (comment revised 16:15, 6 February 2007 (UTC) WJBscribe )

Future Cabinet office
Is it me or does this section read like someone's recommendation to Gordon Brown? Plus there are two potential negatives not mentioned - whether or not Brown will want to risk having too many Scottish MPs in the top posts (it shouldn't matter but polls suggest it is a problem for Brown) and whether or not Brown is going to be a PM who wants to keep a firm hand in the ministry they've specialised in by appointing a day to day minister of limited standing, like Eden and Gladstone who appointed relative lightweights to the Foreign Office and Treasury respectively. Timrollpickering 23:44, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Not a very good photo
A bit fuzzy. Can we do better?  SmokeyTheCat   •TALK•  14:41, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Where was he born?
It seems to me ther's a discrepancy on this entry. It says on the first paragraph that he was born in Glasgow, but then on the bar on the right is says he was born in North London. Which is right? Maszanchi 10:01, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

and how many parents did he have? One? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.128.231.2 (talk) 00:22, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

"Political safe pair of hands" stuff
This is at best unsourced, at worst personal POV. Shouldn't it be removed? 83.199.117.150 18:49, 22 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, I agree and removed it. --John 18:56, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

and he isn't! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.149.63.92 (talk) 22:17, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

10 Downing Street or 11 Downing Street?
According to the Reuters and BBC references listed at Talk:Chief_Mouser_to_the_Cabinet_Office, Gordon Brown is now living at 11 Downing Street, and Alistair Darling at 10 Downing Street, but this article disagrees. Could someone with some actual knowledge of British government residences (or at least a better grasp of what sources are reliable in this area) please check on this and correct whichever articles need correcting? John Darrow (talk) 04:48, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

In need of citations..
since nov 2007! Speech by Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP, Secretary of State for Transport to the National Rail Conference 2006.[] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Off2riorob (talk • contribs) 20:18, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Censure
"Alistair Darling became the first British Chancellor to be censured for the Budget by a media campaign" Really? Censured? Someone certain about that? I'm going to edit that bit, media campaigns cannot censure. Jasonfward (talk) 14:31, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

--Yes they can. You're thinking of "censor", I imagine. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.72.13.172 (talk) 12:26, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Telegraph/The Daily Telegraph
In expenses claims it says about the telegraph revealing the information about the expenses scandal but it links to an article on telegraphy when it SHOULD lead to the article on The Daily Telegraph ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Telegraph )

--Ohlookitskyle (talk) 12:27, 20 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks for pointing that out, it's been corrected. Nev1 (talk) 14:07, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

Early schooling
I have a report from another pupil that ALISTAIR DARLING attended LIBERTON SECONDARY HIGH SCHOOL starting in 1965 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Duckerdiver (talk • contribs) 20:20, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Need an update
It is now December and this has not been updated since November 30 - it should be, as he is in the news at present, and the tag for a "contemporary news event" should head this article. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 00:56, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Chancellor of the Exchequer - Budget 2008
Perhaps it might clarify the reference to the pub ban if the main text spelled out that the publicans objected to the rises in alcohol duties in this Budget? (This is already documented in the links to Note 9).

Also the links to Scottish Television (stv) in Note 9 don't now work as stv appears to have since removed the relevant content.

(Apologies, as a complete beginner, if I've not not followed correct procedures). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Igsevenoaks (talk • contribs) 09:23, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Alistair Darling’s memoirs
Isabel Oakeshott, The Sunday Times, 4 September 2011 Darling's memoirs are absolutely jam packed full of important biographical and historical information, and provide a wealth of material for Wikipedia editors. --Mais oui! (talk) 04:37, 4 September 2011 (UTC)
 * "'Alistair Darling’s memoirs reveal the ‘chaos’ at No 10 when Gordon Brown was prime minister. Gordon Brown was so deluded as prime minister that he was adamant one of the worst economic crises in history would be over in six months, his former chancellor, Alistair Darling, reveals today. The two men, who had once been friends, frequently fought over economic policy during Brown’s premiership, culminating in “very angry exchanges” and an attempt to sack the chancellor. Brown then lied to the public, denying that he had tried to replace Darling with his protégé, Ed Balls. Darling also exposes the “permanent air of chaos and crisis” at the heart of Brown’s government in a devastating account of Labour’s final years in office... paints a damning picture of the former prime minister, accusing him of “sometimes appalling behaviour”. The “Brownite cabal”, he writes, was “a fairly brutal regime, and many of us fell foul of it”. Darling describes how his time at No 11 was characterised by “pitched battles” over budgets. He tells how their relationship eventually broke down completely because of Brown’s refusal to accept the reality of Britain’s dire economic outlook and his failure to rein in the “attack dogs” he unleashed on Darling and other colleagues who dared to question his policies and decisions.Darling also reveals that: He personally initiated the rescue plan for the banks in 2008 and feared Brown’s meddling aides would derail it. He was forced to present a budget forecast that “simply lacked credibility”. He and David Miliband held a secret meeting to discuss “getting rid” of Brown. He refused to be “trashed and sacrificed” by No 10. Their relationship fell apart over Darling’s determination to follow “a credible economic and political path” out of the economic crisis that Brown refused to recognise.'"

Budget criticism
In subsection 3.4, "Chancellor of the Exchequer", the article states "In March 2008, Alistair Darling was criticised in some circles for the Budget by a media campaign spread by a social networking site." What was the nature of this criticism? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.168.190.109 (talk) 12:39, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

*English* Labour Party? He represents Scotland.
I'm not in Britain, but Alistair Darling represents a riding in Scotland. Therefore, I assume he is either in the "Labour Party (UK)" (commonly called the British Labour Party), or the Scottish Labour Party (if the Labour Party is dived up that way).

So one or the other, I don't know which, therefore the first sentence of the article, the sentence saying he is in the English Labour Party, is incorrect. 50.71.203.92 (talk) 08:29, 26 June 2012 (UTC)


 * It doesn't state he is in the "English Labour Party"; it states he is an "English Labour Party politician". But, your understandable misinterpretation of the wording may be shared by others.  I would prefer either "English-born", "British", or some other way of separating the words "English" from "Labour Party".  This edit was unexplained, so I'll revert it to "British".  Ghmyrtle (talk) 08:38, 26 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Since when did Scotland have "ridings"? This isn't Yorkshire. Lance Tyrell 86.14.187.220 (talk) 21:29, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 one external links on Alistair Darling. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20041228101127/http://politics.guardian.co.uk:80/person/biography/0,,-1271,00.html to http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/biography/0,,-1271,00.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20110716151359/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7129175.ece to http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7129175.ece

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Life peerages & infoboxes
Please do come along and discuss at: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Politics of the United Kingdom DBD 18:54, 13 April 2018 (UTC)

Brexit votes
I see the Brexiteer policy of lying has penetrated wikipedia in the last sentence of the introduction: 51.8% of the electorate didn't vote for Brexit, only 37.3% of the electorate voted for Brexit. Since only 72% of the electorate voted at all in that referendum the Brexiteers have to admit that they got less that 40% of the electorate to vote for them, despite their nonsensical promises that the NHS would be paid more every month than could imaginably be saved by Brexit - in fact it is and was clear that Brexit is more likely to make it harder to pay for a decent NHS because of the damage it will do (a) to the UK economy and (b) to NHS staffing, since preventing EU nationals from coming to Britain to work in, for example, the NHS was another promised result of Brexit. Seeing a vlatant repeat of the Johnsonian and Grovish Brexiteer dishonesty and total disregard for the truth repeated now in Wikipedia, which should at least try for accuracty instead of blatant lies, is very disappointing indeed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Michealt (talk • contribs) 17:53, 6 May 2019 (UTC)