Talk:Gordon Brown - Misplaced Pages

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Template:V0.5

Gordon Brown has been listed as one of the Social sciences and society good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
February 26, 2006	Good article nominee	Listed
July 18, 2009	Good article reassessment	Kept

Current status: Good article

This article is written in British English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, travelled, centre, defence, artefact, analyse) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

Template:Vital article

2010 Election

This section seems to imply the UK had a coalition government in 1974, which is not true. Hung parliament yes but not a coalition. 78.105.158.36 (talk) 23:45, 13 January 2013 (UTC)

Well spotted. The article clearly says "full coalition", which removes any doubt about the meaning of the statement. The post-1974 parliament had a series of pacts and agreements, but no full coalition government. -- Hazhk 00:14, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

Scottish Independence

He has commented on Scottish Independence but I find no mention of this in the article. I think some research should be done on this issue. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Roryfyfesmith (talk • contribs) 12:30, 28 November 2013 (UTC)

I think its probably time to add a section on this, what with the imminence of the referendum and Brown's high profile role. Retroplum (talk) 12:43, 17 September 2014 (UTC)

Mr Brown is now 63

Gordon Brown has turned 63 yesterday. The page should be updated to reflect this.--71.79.43.204 (talk) 08:28, 21 February 2014 (UTC)

Removed section

I've removed this section as it seemed very promotional in tone and not well-sourced. Can it be rewritten and better sourced? If so I wouldn't be against restoring an amended version to the text. As it stood, it is no good. --John (talk) 17:20, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

I've taken it out again pending an agreement here about how to improve it. --John (talk) 17:40, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

Socialism

Brown first thought of himself as being 'Labour' and his sense of social injustice was roused when he accompanied his father on visits around Kirkcaldy seeing the pain of unemployment and the misery of poverty and squalor as the mining and textile industries collapsed. Growing up he discovered Tawney, Tressell, Cole and other socialist texts which inspired him. He also found inspiration in Blake in poetry, Potter in drama, Lawrence in literature and the socialist leader James Maxton in Scottish history. These, he argues, fuelled his passion and activism, reinforcing his own political experience. For Brown the ethical basis of British socialism has several themes: the view that individuals are not primarily self-centered but are co-operative, that people are more likely to thrive in communities in which they play a full role and that people have talents and potential that the free market will not allow them to fully realise. In addition, one of the most enduring of Brown's themes is the commitment to equality.<ref>Gordon Brown (1995) The aim of the rose, The Independent on Sunday, 18 June</ref><ref>Brown, Gordon (ed.); Wright, Tony (ed.) (1995). Values, Visions and Voices: An Anthology of Socialism.</ref>

more brochure - what is this passage above ^ "socialism" for? 86.169.93.166 (talk) 17:49, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Second job

Brown mentioned in the Telegraph, February 2015. Re: MPs who topped up their salaries with second jobs, beside Geoffrey Cox as having an extremely high level of income, besides his salary as an MP. "Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, declared additional income of close to £1 million, followed by Geoffrey Cox, the Conservative MP, who declared earnings of £820,000 — 12 times the annual MP wage." In 2013, Gordon Brown earned far more, besides his job as an MP. The highest figure of any MP, despite hardly attending. May 2013: "The Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, who has only spoken in the Commons on four occasions since May 2010, notched up £1.37 million in earnings outside his day job as a Labour backbencher during the last session of parliament." 86.169.93.166 (talk) 00:34, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

why has nobody stated that this bully is solely responsible for at least 120 billion loss and is the prime reason for our economic crisis — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.202.92.78 (talk) 23:14, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

Style should be changed post-retirement from Parliament

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Please change Dr Brown's style to show that he is no longer an MP following the 2015 general election.

Titles, honours, and awards

Styles

Mr James Gordon Brown (1951–1982)
Dr James Gordon Brown (1982–1983)
Dr James Gordon Brown MP (1983–1996)
The Right Honourable Dr James Gordon Brown MP (1996–2015)
The Right Honourable Dr James Gordon Brown (2015-present)

Micbb (talk) 18:31, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

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Republican views

The Telegraph claims Brown was 'sympathetic' towards republican. Can he be described as a republican? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1346189/Prescott-and-Beckett-fuel-Labour-split-on-monarchy.html I can't find any other source. The Telegraph's so boot licking they're idea of a republican is someone who doesn't bow like a Chinese mandarin every time the Queen comes within 10 yards of them. 98.10.165.90 (talk) 22:58, 19 July 2017 (UTC)

Tax system length and complexity

This sentence "Under Brown the tax system became much more complex and the standard guide to tax doubled in length" has been added to the section regarding his time as chancellor. The initial reference, from the Guardian, mentions only the tax code's length, not its complexity. Now that I have formatted the new ref from the FT, I can see that its title is "Guide to tax code doubles in length under Brown" but it is behind a pay wall so I know only that it, also, discusses length but do not know if it discusses complexity. If a quote from the article that supports the assertion regarding complexity can be added, please do. The third reference is a paper regarding "LENGTH OF TAX LEGISLATION AS A MEASURE OF COMPLEXITY" but as far as I can tell makes no mention of Brown or his period as chancellor. To "combine material from multiple sources to reach or imply a conclusion not explicitly stated by any of the sources" is WP:SYNTHESIS and is no mere "quibble" but something we must fundamentally not do in Misplaced Pages. It may well be a compelling theory but if a source does not explicitly state it, it must not go in.

Also, this matter seems pertinent to the "Taxation and spending" sub-section but not so definitive of the section that it should be included in the lead paragraph. Mutt Lunker (talk) 11:02, 15 August 2016 (UTC)

References

Kearney, Martha (14 March 2005). "Brown seeks out 'British values'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 19 November 2005. Retrieved 23 January 2008. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 3 March 2009 suggested (help)
"Hall of Fame – Gordon Brown". Ps. BBC Wales. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
"Ex-BBC chief and child health professor among life peers", The Guardian, 15 June 1996, p. 6
"Court Circular", The Times, 24 July 1996
Dathan, Matt (26 March 2015). "Gordon Brown: The Nixon of British politics or the man who saved the Union? Twitter reacts to former Prime Minister's Commons farewell". The Independent. Retrieved 27 May 2015.

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Styles section

Is the styles section really necessary? It seems to be a list of different ways Brown's name has been written in different sources, rather than any secondary sources actually about his name.

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China-CEE Fund

According to this link https://bbj.hu/economy/summit-expected-to-speed-up-chinese-investments_142128 Gordon Brown is also an advisor to the China-CEE Fund. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.140.16.29 (talk) 13:44, 28 November 2017 (UTC)

Raith Rovers connection

Is it worth noting his connection to Raith Rovers? According to this article Up the Irons - Barack Obama is West Ham fan, it appears as a footnote but the contents are "And what of the current incumbent, Gordon Brown? The PM has not forgotten his roots and remains dedicated to Scottish outfit Raith Rovers. In fact the former Chancellor made his early pennies by selling programmes for the team in his youth." Govvy (talk) 11:34, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

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