Wikipedia:Peer review/Boris Johnson/archive1

Boris Johnson
This peer review discussion has been closed. I'm listing this article for peer review because I'd like to see it given the chance to reach GA status, but believe it has several issues standing in the way of this, and needs an in-depth analysis. I recently failed this as a GA nomination because a significant proportion of it is unreferenced, not to mention there being problems regarding neutrality and undue weight in some sections. Ideally it needs an editor with a lot of experience in both BLPs and British Politics to almost take it apart and examine each section thoroughly. The subject is potentially a future leader of the British Conservative Party, and would either be Prime Minister or Leader of the Opposition at that point, so this should be of GA quality. Cheers, Paul MacDermott (talk) 16:17, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Hey Paul, I am happy to give a few comments and see if I can highlight any areas which need improvement if this is to reach GA! Midnightblueowl (talk) 20:53, 19 January 2013 (UTC)

Basic comments:
 * Check out Ken Livingstone; the first half of that article (up to the elimination of the GLC) has been written by myself. I think that you could compare the two articles for ideas on structure and substance. Don't necessarily look to other British politicians for examples all the time (the David Cameron article is *not* a good example of a GA article), expand to examine the articles devoted to other world political figures; see for instance the pages for Muammar Gaddafi or Fidel Castro, neither are perfect, but both are comprehensive. Avoid a parochial bias – remember that many, if not most of those reading the page will not be British or aquainted with the British political system!
 * In the introduction, it's not enough to simply state which political party Johnson belonged to, but you should also describe his particular ideological position within that party.
 * The whole introduction could be lengthened a little; BoJo is a major figure in British politics after all.
 * Why no mention of his class background in the introduction ? Many historians, and not just those of a Marxist bent, would recognise this as a factor of particular importance.
 * There is also no mention of his policies in the introduction, something which is strange considering that they are arguably the most important thing about him.
 * The use of sources in this article isn't ideal; many books and biographical accounts have been published that discuss BoJo, and yet this article relies almost entirely on magazine and newspaper articles found online (see the Ken Livingstone page for how biographical accounts have been used to flesh that page out in a methodical manner). If you have the free time, I'd really recommend that you obtain a few of these from the library and use them to methodically re-write this article from the top down.
 * Furthermore, the references that are used aren't uniformly formatted of preserved at WebCite.
 * The "Controversy" section isn't really necessary, and acts far too much like a trivia section; major controversies should be incorporated into the main body of the article.

Apologies if I've seemed a little too critical here Paul, but I do hope that these steps would ideally lead to this article reaching GA status; in its current status, it really could not attain that. Midnightblueowl (talk) 21:18, 19 January 2013 (UTC)

As a suggestion for what a future fleshed introduction might look like, may I suggest:
 * Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British Conservative Party politician, who has served as Mayor of London since 2008. Initially coming to public attention as a journalist, he was previously editor of The Spectator (1999–2005) and served as the Member of Parliament for Henley from the 2001 to 2008. A liberal conservative, he considers himself on the One Nationist wing of the Conservative Party.


 * Born to an upper middle-class family in New York City, Johnson was educated at the European School of Brussels, Ashdown House School, Eton College, and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read Classics. Beginning his career in journalism with The Times and then The Daily Telegraph, he became Assistant Editor from 1994 to 1999 before taking editorship of The Spectatpr. Joining the Conservatives, he was elected MP for Henley in 2001; during his period in the House of Commons, Johnson became one of the most conspicuous politicians in the country, authoring books and making regular television appearances. Under Conservative leaders Michael Howard and David Cameron, Johnson served on the opposition front bench, first as Shadow Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries and then for Higher Education.


 * Selected as Conservative candidate for the 2008 London mayoral election, he defeated Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone to become Mayor, resigning his seat in parliament. During his first term, he banned alcohol on public transport, implemented measures to encourage business, and oversaw the 2012 London Olympic Games. In 2012, he was re-elected, again defeating Livingstone.

That's great. Thanks for the feedback, and don't worry about being too critical as the article needs a lot of work. I like the layout of the Livingstone page so I'll definitely consult it for this one. I also think your lead is much better than the one we currently have so I'll replace it. In the short term I should be able to work through the text and at least get it into a more presentable format, and hopefully get a few people from WPUKpolitics interested. Thanks once again for your thoughts on this. Paul MacDermott (talk) 12:14, 21 January 2013 (UTC)