Talk:Michael Foot

message: The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. Cite sources. -- Abebenjoe 07:24, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Wikipedia:WikiProject_Biography/Assessment#Class_parameter|Biography assessment rating]] comment 

message: not... a good orator...
This does not do Foot justice - before his election as Leader he had the reputation of being a very effective left-wing orator. The rather different challenges of being Leader of a 'broad church' party did appear to dampen his natural style though. Linuxlad 20:49, 14 Nov 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Comments

message: I've fixed the English of that final paragraph about Foot's reading habits, and also removed the reference to Hazlitt being "lesser known", on account of him being the most important English essayist of the nineteenth centuryBedesboy 21:08, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Reading habits

message: As it stands, there's no explanation of how or why Foot, who was of military age, was not in the armed forces during the war. Was editing a newspaper a reserved occupation? If anyone knows, I think this merits explanation.Bedesboy 21:08, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: QI says Foot was a member of the Auxiliary Units, which were tasked with those operations in the event of an invasion.
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php/10623-British-guerillas-1940-41
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2011/11/scallywags-scouts-and-gay-fascists.html
Halbared (talk) 19:42, 2 January 2021 (UTC)
thread_title: WWII

message: I don't think, 'Among the Labour MPs newly-elected in 1983 in support of this manifesto were Tony Blair and Gordon Brown' is strictly relevant on this page. The views of very minor MPs at the time was very little to do with Foot's leadership. It's an interesting contrast with their views but not here. Ideas?
Also, the reference to the 'donkey jacket' needs to be clarified. It's a well-known political myth. The coat was expensive - Aquascutum I think. The Queen Mother complimented him on it. Perspective, perspective!
Julian —Preceding unsigned comment added by Juliankaufman (talk • contribs) 12:55, 17 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I removed this sentence because it is clearly an attack on Blair and Brown intended to undermine their credibility and is not a neutral comment. It has been made by opponents to their right on occasion. Philip Cross (talk) 12:56, 6 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Relevance of mention of Blair and Brown

message: I have removed the first part of the sentence "Like his father, Foot was president of the Oxford Union", because Isaac Foot never went to university - he left school at 14, worked as a clerk for the Admiralty and then trained as a solicitor in Plymouth. DuncanHill (talk) 11:49, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: However, Michael's brother John was President of the Union in 1931. DuncanHill (talk) 12:52, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Like his father? 

message: "took a strongly pro-interventionist position against socialist Yugoslavia in support of right-wing nationalist and Islamist forces in Croatia and Bosnia."
This statement is extremely POV. It could just as easily be
"took a strongly pro-interventionist position against the Serbian nationalist aggresssion of Slobodan Milosevic, and his genocidal acts against civilian populations in Croatia and Bosnia."
Suggested neutral alternative 
"toook a strongly pro-interventionist position against Serbia during its conflict with Croatia and Bosnia, supporting NATO forces
whilst citing defence of civilian populations in the latter countries".
BG 25.8.09  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.202.161.253 (talk) 22:32, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I have made the suggested change, many thanks for noticing it. DuncanHill (talk) 15:47, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Yugoslavia POV 

message: Does anyone have a free-to-use picture? Editor of http://www.philosofiles.com (talk) 13:51, 3 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: US Government websites may have one hidden away somewhere; alternatively, one may crop up in the next few days, or one could be requested. It would be worth having a good search in the coming weeks- it is certainly too early to be using a non-free image. J Milburn (talk) 17:56, 3 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text:  Hopefully the issue, with regard to this image, will be resolved by User:Stifle before long. --BF 18:40, 3 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Picture? 

message: I would not dare edit this article right now as I imagine with his death it is hit a lot and I will make a mess of it. A couple of light-hearted things, when he became the leader of the CND the Guardian had the headline "FOOT HEADS ARMS BODY". Hard to track that down, but good if true.
The Mirror in the eighties when he lost the election said in comment (leading article) "A good man ruined by politicians".
Orwell comments on him too, somewhere, in his collected essays and journalism, but it is very much a passing remark.
Si Trew (talk) 07:57, 4 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  A couple of things we could add 

message: Should the article mention that he was blind in one eye? (92.14.250.86 (talk) 11:41, 4 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: The Telegraph obituary though says it was due to an attack of shingles in 1976. Philip Cross (talk) 15:05, 4 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Blindness 

message: I removed a comment which did not seem very relevant, is not neutral and is repetitive:
Foot was one of the best speakers of his generation and the House of Commons used to fill up when it became known that he was speaking [at this point a citation read "recalled by Angus McLeod in Newsweek Scotland, BBC Radio Scotland, 6 March 2010"]. One memorable occasion was when he ridiculed Tory minister Sir Keith Joseph's policies just before the Labour leadership elections in 1980.The link is broken. The extract is here if anyone wishes to review my decision. Philip Cross (talk) 13:15, 6 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: The first eleven words of the deleted text and the word "memorable" can be left out to give it more neutrality and less repetitiveness.  However, I wish to reinsert the rest, with the link unbroken (thanks) since this speech - the one which I at least most remember - was made on 28th October, soon before the leadership elections on 4th and 10th November 1980.  It must have influenced some of the MPs who voted for him. Ragbin (talk) 00:55, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Keith Joseph

message: Is it true that he was once described as "a leg end in his own lifetime"?  --  Jack of Oz  ... speak! ...  09:04, 12 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: And you are a bell-end in your own lunchtime. --OhNoPeedyPeebles (talk) 18:37, 8 June 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Leg end

message: The link contained in the listing of seats held is a link to the constituency formed in 1983, and while Foot held this seat it does NOT cover, and there is no entry for, the seat held from 1960 which was actually called "Ebbw Vale". The current link automatically redirects. It seems if there ever was a page for the prior constituency it has disappeared. On the other hand, it seems only Foot ever held the seat. It would be helpful if a section could be added to the Blaenau_Gwent_(UK_Parliament_constituency) page to clarify. (But I don't have enough information to do this.)
--gobears87 (talk) 16:56, 10 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Constituency link issues 

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) 22:20, 24 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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*Added archive https://web.archive.org/20110708124837/http://cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/03/ap/world/main6261974.shtml to http://cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/03/ap/world/main6261974.shtml
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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: An editor keeps trying to change the following sentence in the lede:
:His strongly left-wing political positions and criticisms of vacillating leadership made him an unpopular leader.
To:
:Intense media disparagement, hostility of the British business establishment to the Labour Party, and criticisms from some of vacillating leadership made him an unpopular leader.
Neither sentence has citations.  There are three citations after the next sentence, but when I checked, they only apply to the next sentence.
The lede is meant to be a summary of what is written in the article.  There is a sentence (unfortunately uncited) "Foot struggled to make an impact, and was widely criticised for his ineffectiveness".  That is not exactly the same as "vacillating", but it might be another way of saying the same thing. Source [26] has a statement that: "The election of Foot as leader represented a dramatic swing to the left".  That would justify the statement that he had strongly left-wing positions.
Are the IP editors claims true that there was "intense media disparagement" true - yes, there was intense media disparagement of Mrs Thatcher at the time.  But I do not see why that would make Foot an unpopular leader.  What about hostility of the British business establishment to the Labour Party in the early 1980s - at the time Foot became leader, Labour had won four out of the last six general elections in Britain - so is it likely that the British business establishment was hostile to Labour? Toddy1 (talk) 22:22, 4 April 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  His strongly left-wing political positions and criticisms of vacillating leadership made him an unpopular leader 

message: "It was suggested in 2011 that he became a member of the secret Auxiliary Units"
I was surprised to read someone claim this in a newspaper comment section today. I've read the linked source twice now, and find nothing of the sort suggested. The only reference I can find is in a Mirror article from 2014 which states the possibility, but it is not sourced. Can anyone enlighten me? Is there a primary source for the claim Foot may have been in an Auxiliary Unit? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Amateur-History1984 (talk • contribs) 13:29, 13 June 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: The claim seems to start with QI, I don't think it's known currently what their primary source is, but as it was claimed, I have returned it. I am trying to find more sources.Halbared (talk) 19:53, 2 January 2021 (UTC)

text: I don't think so. Though I was amused by the coincidence. The auxiliaries filled their ranks with anarchists, communists, extreme political sorts who were the harshest opponents of Hitler. I've emailed the elves at QI to help with the claim.Halbared (talk) 21:01, 15 September 2021 (UTC)

text: Foot was neither a Trotskyist nor a Communist nor an Anarchist. DuncanHill (talk) 18:01, 21 October 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Membership of WW2 Auxillary Unit 

message: The portrait of Foot at the head of the article needs changing. It's inappropriate that he's literally asleep in it and is a negative portrayal of him. A neutral image, where he's awake, needs to be licenced. JjStrawb (talk) 15:52, 19 March 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Portrait should be changed