Talk:Matthew Parris

message: "The start of his career was overshadowed by a letter which he had written to a council tenant on behalf of Margaret Thatcher..."
...but what did it say??!! Badgerpatrol 00:06, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I found a comment here  that says he responded to a complaint from a council tenant about the state of their council house by telling her she was "lucky to have a council house to complain about". Ironic, considering it was the Conservative "Right to Buy" policy/bill/act enacted when Thatcher was prime minister that permitted a huge volume of social housing stock to be sold in to private hands. I suppose the money it raised for local councils might have improved the quality of the council tenant he sent the letter to. I couldn't find a reliable source. There might be something about it in his biography if he has one.--Chris (talk) 07:20, 1 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Letter 

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thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Castle in Spain.jpg

message: Why does Matthew Parris' views and actions on hair washing not merit listing on this page?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.42.129.214 (talk) 09:54, 2 May 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Because it's trivial and because its inclusion gives it undue weight.  He probably has views on a whole range of subjects, and some of them may be quite interesting, but that doesn't mean they all have to be included here.  Rossrs (talk) 14:19, 2 May 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: If hair washing itself warrants an entry in Wikipedia, why is it trivial that a notable person repudiates the practice? Mr Parris indeed does have views on a range of subjects, but the fact that he has stated that he never or hardly ever washes his hair is quite interresting, and certainly less trivial than "From a young age, Jackson often punctuated his verses with a sudden exclamation of oooh" (from the Michael Jackson entry). Matt Stan (talk) 22:13, 8 January 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: I remember reading his hair-washing article when it was new and never forgot it.  It's interesting and unusual enough that it should be mentioned here.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dena.walemy (talk • contribs) 13:07, 16 October 2020 (UTC)
thread_title: Hair washing

message: The article mention 'Parris "took the Chiltern Hundreds" and left Parliament...' but he actually became Steward of the Manor of Northstead (see List of Stewards of the Manor of Northstead) so I am going to amend that now.Half Price (talk) 09:57, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Chilterns/Manor of Northstead

message: The quote from Matthew Parris is inconsistent. It starts in the first person, "I believe...", and ends in the third person, "Parris' cowardly attacks...". The Times reference given doesn't include the last three sentences of the para, and the last two sentences concern an attack on Matthew Parris by John Prescott, and have nothing to do with the subject of the section. A brief search on Google didn't reveal any source for the last three sentences, two of which include direct quotes. The third to last sentence makes little sense to me. Howevere, I've moved it to a new para and added "citation needed"; perhaps it should be deleted? I've moved the last two sentences to a separate sub-section, "Estelle Morris Controversy", in section "Radio and television work", again with a "citation needed". Oniscoid (talk) 20:01, 25 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Criticism of Tony Blair

message: "Parris is the eldest of six children (three brothers and two sisters)" appears to be self-contradictory. I'm guessing it means he has three brothers and two sisters, not that the six children comprise three brothers and two sisters. But there isn't a citation. Perhaps someone who knows for sure could clarify?
--Clive Jones (talk) 23:20, 4 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Siblings

message: I do not know huge amounts about Parris, but his "Life & Career" section seems a bit farfetched and looks like it has been, rather comically, vandalised.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.182.187.4 (talk) 04:30, 7 February 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Life & Career Vandalism 

message: Many of the references in this article are from The Times (unsurprising as he writes for it). But they are unavailable except to paid subscribers ever since a "paywall" was put on the site. Is there a way to fix this? 87.113.174.20 (talk) 22:27, 29 May 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: This is not an issue. A source is just as acceptable, whether or not you happen to have access to it. To suggest otherwise would be to exclude most printed books and academic journal articles, along with newspaper articles published prior to around ten years ago from being acceptable sources, which would reject the vast majority of human knowledge and many of the best encyclopaedic sources. Atshal (talk) 19:43, 19 December 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Times Newspaper references. 

message: I suggest this section be removed. It is a stretch to describe this as a controversy since the only citations suggesting notability are a letter and a followup article in the same publication within a week of publication of the original article (and a blog citation I have already removed). This incident does not seem notable at all. There are certainly many other incidents in Parris's life that could be considered more worthy of inclusion and much writing of his that is more controversial and received wider recognition than this minor piece from six years ago. It seems odd to include this - the sections seems to be have been written by someone who was irritated by the original article he wrote, based on the inappropriate conjectures and poor sources I have already removed. Atshal (talk) 19:38, 19 December 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: I am going to go ahead and remove it since nobody has responded. Leaving a substantial section for this article, which really is not so noteworthy, gives undue weight.  I will also separately remove the Tony Blair quote, since his criticism of Blair is already mentioned, and this quote seems quite random in a way and not particularly notable for an article on Matthew Parris' life and career. Atshal (talk) 21:22, 16 February 2014 (UTC)

text: The changes that have been made to the article about this incident are clearly unencyclopedic and I have removed them. This incident really was not notable in the career of Matthew Paris and there appears to be an agenda to include it. Atshal (talk) 16:22, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

text: Also, a large amount of cited material was removed in this edit as well. Atshal (talk) 16:25, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

text: The same arguments apply as when this came up before. I see no reason to include it now, and have removed the unilateral inclusion. 90.174.2.25 (talk) 13:19, 18 January 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: As per the edit summary this addition was brief, to the point, and, unlike the previous version, well-referenced to good sources. To a lot of people it was the only notable thing that the subject has ever produced. It's clearly important and unless anyone can provide any well-founded disagreement, I propose to re-insert it. Richard Keatinge (talk) 14:46, 18 January 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree. Seems perfectly notable content, with good WP:RS source. An RfC can be opened if necessary. Martinevans123 (talk) 15:31, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

text: Well, here's 576 to choose from, for a start? Martinevans123 (talk) 20:51, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

text: What a relief. Imagine how poor Matthew feels about it all after ten years. Martinevans123 (talk) 23:12, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Again someone has removed the paragraph. I have reinstated an abbreviated version - OK, maybe it was too long. Please achieve consensus here before removing it. Richard Keatinge (talk) 23:48, 23 August 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  2007 Cycling controversy section 

message: === “Parris came out in a late-night debate in the House of Commons in 1984” ===
Is it in the Hansard? I could not find it. If not, it may just be apocryphal though he claims this to be the case. – Kaihsu (talk) 19:40, 20 April 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Book source, from Chris Bryant, added. I don't see what's dubious about this. 109.155.13.110 (talk) 18:33, 18 January 2017 (UTC)
replies: text:  Chris Bryant repeats the story, but gives no details or reference. If it happened, someone should be able to find it in Hansard. cagliost (talk) 06:37, 22 October 2019 (UTC)
thread_title: Dubious

message: Is it in the Hansard? I could not find it. If not, it may just be apocryphal though he claims this to be the case. – Kaihsu (talk) 19:40, 20 April 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Book source, from Chris Bryant, added. I don't see what's dubious about this. 109.155.13.110 (talk) 18:33, 18 January 2017 (UTC)
replies: text:  Chris Bryant repeats the story, but gives no details or reference. If it happened, someone should be able to find it in Hansard. cagliost (talk) 06:37, 22 October 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  “Parris came out in a late-night debate in the House of Commons in 1984” 

message: There is an RfC on the question of using "Religion: None" vs. "Religion: None (atheist)" in the infobox on this and other similar pages. 
The RfC is at Template talk:Infobox person#RfC: Religion infobox entries for individuals that have no religion. 
Please help us determine consensus on this issue. --Guy Macon (talk) 03:56, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Template talk:Infobox person#RfC: Religion infobox entries for individuals that have no religion|Request for Comments]] 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified (January 2018) 

message: "Parris was the Conservative MP for the parliamentary constituency of West Derbyshire from 1979 to 1986. Competing prospective candidates for the seat included Peter Lilley and Michael Howard. He voiced support for gay rights" -- Very ambiguous.  Does it mean (a) that he voiced support for gay rights when competing with the other prospective candidates, in the party meetings where the candidacy was decided, (b) that he voiced support for gay rights in the House of Commons, or otherwise as an MP, (c) both? 22:35, 22 May 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  MP