h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A617834

Ok the 'Old Writing Team' (ie the guys who put some articles on the guide before it was really up and running) did an article at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A333 but as you can see it is not really up to spec. Hopefully this new version is a more informative look at one of the UK's major political parties.

Hi, Demon Drawer!
That old entry certainly needs to be replaced! Your entry seems very thorough, but I would make two suggestions:

Put the U.K. into the title to make it clear where the party is.

Give a little background about the old Liberal party: you mention in the footnote that the SDP was a breakaway Labour group, but you don't say anything about the long history behind the Liberal party.


Azara

I'm actually working on a Liberal Party entry it was just that the Lib Dems were a little easier for starters. The main reason that I got started on this was I was looking for an article to link my Gladstone entry to, and found there wasn't one.

But I take the UK point.

Good idea for an Entry, DD! As you say, it is sorely needed. Amazing what garbage got into the original Guide, eh?

I think that without compromising your Gladstone Entry, you could just throw in a a paragraph summarising the 20th Centrury decline of the Liberal Party and how their former place as the main opposition to the Tories had been usurped by Labour.

The 'The low point 1989' header is rather oddly phrased. '1989: the low point' might be better. Just underneath it is an unfortunate typo about a 'romp SDP'! You should also mention that there is still a rump Liberal Party in existence. It fielded a few candidates at the 2001 General Election.

Finally, I wonder if it would be too contentious to point out that many people now consider the Liberal Democrats to be the most radical of the three major UK parties, following Labour's recent lurches to the right? After all, on many issues they are now to the left of Labour. I think that should be OK provided it was phrased so as to make it clear that this was a widespread perception rather than an undisputed fact.

Thanks Ormy, whoops romping instead of Rumping. Silly me. Yeah I should mention the Rump Liberal's as well. I must have edited that bit out at some point.

I'm not sure how to put in the bit about your last paragraph without going beyond the actual official stance of the party. I may haowever get around it by mentioning the penny on Income Tax for education and health which has been a frontline policy for the duration of the 90's and list a few other of the key party issues, such as Parliamentary Reform, Europe etc.

All done I think.

See what you think now.

Hi DD, as stated here before by others, it seems the requirements for an enrty to be elegible for the edited guide have changed somewhat in the last couple of years

Good article, but of course I also have a few remarks:

For the non-Britisch reading audience, you could add a very short bit explaining the dominance of the Labour and Conservative parties in the UK. Also, it may be useful to add something about the electoral system limiting the LibDems chances of really getting *big*. In this respect, I believe that the UK experimented with PR for the European Parliament Elections of 1999. Maybe you can mention this and tell us how the libdems did? Furthermore, check this sentence:

"The result was that with the limited autonomy held by the Scottish Parliament that differences in some legislation between Edinburgh and Westminster, most significantly the abolition of tuition fees for students in Scotland."

That's not quite well constructed I think. Maybe you could also elaborate about the authority of the Scottish and Welsh parliaments (possibly in a footnote): what are they qualified for and what not.

One final point, in accordance to 1989: The low point, you might change the other headers to 1997: She best since Lloyd George and 2001: Slight gains.

Hope this helps! Tell me if you agree or not!

Shrimp

BTW, I'm not British so some of my remarks in this post may just be complete rubbish. Please tell me if so! I'm willing to learn everyday

No Shrimp it helps to have some outside views on this article after all I have had to make a few other articles in the past more accessible to an international audience. I will see what I can do about making this more accessible as well. It is quite hard to do so about something that is so specific to one nation, but it needs to be done.

Points well made. I'll get right to it.

Got to it, made all the ammendments I think you suggested. Go have a nose if there is anything else just shout.

Hello
As a bit of a Lib Dem myself I was interested to see this entry, and I just have a couple of suggestions off the bat as it where:
1) How about a simple to digest list of the leaders in order?
2) How about the lib dem post address or party HQ address?
Just a couple of thoughts before I look in depth into the detail of the article.

Researcher PSG

OK, only 2 more suggestions:
1) Possibly a link to Charles Kennedy's site
2) And possibly mentioning there policy of an up front approach to the economics of Government [you know here is our budget take a look for yourselves]

But apart from that a very good and comprehensive entry well deserving a quick visit from a scout in the very near future.

Researcher PSG

p.s. oh and I'll just mention I am looking for help on my University of Life project on card games, any volunteers wishing to write about card games please drop by the project page at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A597918
It is rather urgent as there is at present only 3 editted card game entrys in the guide whole, and one awaiting editing. Right, advert over.

DD: thanks for considering my suggestions. IMO it's a great article now! Well done!

BTW: are you a LibDem yourself?

Shrimp

One thing, DD - the link to the Liberal Democrat party website doesn't work, because you've left a letter out of the URL. Put an 's' at the end of 'libdem' and all will be well.

(Moderators: please leave this posting alone. That's nothing like a complete URL above, and we are trying to fix a problem here. Thank you).

Good point about the UK. I popped in to the forum, expecting a lively discussion about some of our American politicians who like to tax the rich and give to the poor.

Hi Demon Drawer,

Nice article - you refer to them as the thrid party somewhere in there (paragraph before The Alliance)

The article takes quite a jump from the formation of the Gang of Four to the David Owen-David Steel leadership thingy - something to fill in a bit would be nice - it might only take a sentence or two.
I'd love to see David Steel's 'Return to Your seats and prepare for government' speech referred to.

Turnaround: - Should read - 'a great deal of seats...'. Also 'The party started to establish a local base and in the councils they ran held local area meeting in small two or three ward meetings' It might be worth making this sentence make sense
Again - plural missing in 'it had been decades since the Liberal had held power'

Blimey were the tories really in for 18 years on the trot? - it all seems like ancient history now.

'The 2001 General Election saw only 10 seats changed hands' Lose the d

Perhaps my maths is wonky but with only 10 seats changing hands '. They attained 52 seats up six, while Labour lost five and the Conservatives gained one.'
doesn't scan.

Also it might be nice to point out that the Whigs/Liberals/Liberal Democrats still have had the largest number of Prime Ministers out of any of the three parties in the UK since parliament began

Again though, good article!



Orcus

You guys sure are keeping me on my toes on this one. Anyway it's updated hopefully taking in all your comments. Unless the reason is given below in your personal responses.
PSG:

I don't think mentioning the contact address of the party is going to get into an approved entry I have a link to the Party Website, which thanks for pointing out the wrong URL Ormy, links to all the relevant details. The same thing I think applies to the Charles Kennedy site.

Shrimp:

Ta for the encouragement. BTW Yes. But I think I've been very objective in writing this piece.

Orcus and Ormy as ever thanks for the fine-fine tuning I hope to get those little bits all sorted out.

As for the 10 seats. Yes the Lib Dems gained 5 and Conservatives 1 at Labour's expense. But Labour and PC traded a seat each in Wales, the Conservative regained Tatton, and Labour lost Wyre Valley to the Save Our Hospital Independent. There where also four changes in Northern Ireland so the actual number of changes should be 14 in fact.

Fancy me forgetting the Northern Irish seats Of all the researchers to make that mistake you wouldn't expect me would you? That's what I get for being in Scotland.

Orcus

Hi DD. Greetings from a fellow non-drinker Anyway, some comments...

Structure; the list of leaders might be better at the end of the article. As it is it rather interrupts the narrative.

Police trends; "as the majority of Europe already operates some form of PR the party is not advocating any untested system but something that is satisfactory and workable in a number of differing regimes." Workable yes. Not sure if you could say satisfactory, it rather depends who you ask (e.g. Labour in opposition v.s. Labour in power)

Is Scottish, Welsh etc. legislation really ratified by Westminister? I thought it just went directly for Royal Assent. (Although Westminister can override the regional bodies on anything they feel like, at least theoretically)

It might be worth putting in a link to the BBC LibDem profile at http://news.bbc.co.uk/vote2001/hi/english/parties/newsid_1179000/1179148.stm , as I suspect this will be added by the editors anyway.

Slightly nitpicky stuff I know, but when this is picked it will probably be scrutinised pretty closely for bias.

I have taken a new look at the latest version and I strongly aprove, very good

Right so if a scout could hove into view in the near future I think this is a far better entry than the current one and a great addition to the guide.

Researcher PSG

Well I've already seen Ormy and Orcus on this thread, which is always a good sign.

I hope.