Talk:David Willetts

He is also now the Chancellor-elect of the University of Leicester — Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.210.95.51 (talk) 11:42, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

Comment
I have added in quite a lot of detail - mostly obtained from the BBC. I thought that for such a major political figure, his biog was a bit poor. --Dave

Added a bit more in - and refs - Mike Ainsley 14:51, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Plain_English
Does anyone else feel this page needs to be sorted out? Some of the sentences are drawn out and the paragraphs don't flow nicely. Also the aesthetics can be improved. I'm going to have a go at it a little later if noone disputes this. The18thDoctor 23:44, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism
I've reverted this because of 'delusional' vandalism. Unsourced comments, POV nonsense and daft speculation. Berezovsky 02:41, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

How can one see "Civic conservatisism?
The article says see "Civic Conservatism" but the wiki-link is in red letters,so how can one see it?ACEOREVIVED (talk) 21:25, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

Science?
Does Mr Willetts have any actual background in his job, science and technology? None is listed in the article - David Gerard (talk) 13:32, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Two Brains
The passage on his nickname currently reads: "Due to his careful intellectual approach, ties to academia, his unusually policy-heavy background and his high hairline, he has acquired the nickname "Two Brains"." The soure provided refers to him once as "Two Brains", it does not discuss reasons. It certainly is the case that he is quite widely referred to as "Two Brains", there are no shortage of sources to support that. However, the reasons for the nickname appear to be a different matter. The passage to me sounds uncomfortably peacock like. The only source that I could get that might support the passage is this New Scientist article. Unfortunately, that source was written after the passage in question was added to this article. That suggests to me that this article might have been used as a source for the New Scientist article. As for other sources, they suggest reasons such as his analyitical skills and intelligence  or his "intellectual theorising on future Conservative policy". Whilst the last confirms intellectual it is perhaps slightly less flattering way than "careful intellectual approach" Pit-yacker (talk) 00:14, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

--- I have a a change I made reverted by a user named Super48paul,Super48paul a user using a bot to spot edits to contentious people. They left an unsigned message on my talk page saying the original "seemed better". No further justification was given. My change ( "due to his .. -> due to a perceived careful intellectual approach". http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=David_Willetts&diff=cur&oldid=589671364) altered a non-NPOV phrasing to something more neutral. The reference to the guardian article where he is named Two Brains, does not make the claim he makes thoughtful intellectual approaches to things, just a claim that he was grammar school "swot". As it is unverifiable and subjective kind of thing I doubt It can be found outside of opinion pieces by his friends or enemies, or only in relation to more bull-in-a china shop politicians not the population at large.

I agree with Pit-yacker above. Furthermore I say that the entire this whole section is flattery. Two Brains as a nick name is not notable. Some politicians and opinion piece writers routinely sling around party political praise or ad-hominem name calling. I see "Red Ed", "Camoron", "Gidiot", "Georgeous George" and "Ginger Rodent" to name some cross party examples don't get any special sections on their relative pages (though for some reason "red ed" redirects to Miliband~ sigh). Considering the top importance of this article in the politics project, I argue this revert should be un-done soon should no one else speak up for or against. The facts about his membership of certain groups and book writing could be in other sections. 86.6.188.253 (talk) 22:37, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

I've deleted this "two brains" reference and renamed the remainder of actual facts to "Other Interests". If and when a minder shows up to correct it we can have their reasons given here or put a watch on them for intentional vandalism / NPOV. I doubt anyone is very interested in all this civic conservatism stuff either.. "an audacious attempt by the Conservative Party's leading intellectual to relate a new Tory narrative". Gimme a break! 2A02:C7F:6C24:0:8DBC:56FF:9CAC:601E (talk) 20:42, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Education
What is David Willett's first class degree in?

The article says that he studied politics, economics, philosphy.

Is his degree the joint degree that was called PPE perhaps?

Createangelos (talk) 13:49, 24 October 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 one external links on David Willetts. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110709221143/http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2007/05/fisking_janet_d_1.html to http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2007/05/fisking_janet_d_1.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110709221149/http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2007/05/are_david_camer.html to http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2007/05/are_david_camer.html
 * Added tag to http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/23081/the-real-father-of-cameronism.thtml

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 15:08, 8 December 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on David Willetts. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100808045304/http://www.henryjacksonsociety.org/signatories.asp?pageid=36 to http://www.henryjacksonsociety.org/signatories.asp?pageid=36
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110131133053/http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2008/02/civic-conservat.html to http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2008/02/civic-conservat.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 09:18, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 4 external links on David Willetts. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100808044933/http://www.henryjacksonsociety.org/content.asp?pageid=35 to http://www.henryjacksonsociety.org/content.asp?pageid=35
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120331005056/http://www.cfofp.co.uk/honorary-members.php to http://www.cfofp.co.uk/honorary-members.php
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101026180023/http://www.davidwilletts.co.uk/ to http://www.davidwilletts.co.uk/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100216161027/http://www.conservatives.com/People/Members_of_Parliament/Willetts_David.aspx to http://www.conservatives.com/People/Members_of_Parliament/Willetts_David.aspx

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 07:07, 11 December 2017 (UTC)