Template:Did you know nominations/European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 21:24, 3 November 2019 (UTC)

European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019

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• ... that Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, may face imprisonment due to his stated refusal to comply with the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019? Source: "A former UK director of public prosecutions (DPP) has said Boris Johnson could face prison if he refuses to delay Brexit in the face of court action."

• Reviewed: Implicature

Created by Thunderstorm008 (talk) and Sceptre (talk). Nominated by Sceptre (talk) at 13:32, 10 September 2019 (UTC).

• Reviewing Best Wishes, Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 07:33, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

• QPQ done, meets requirements, no copyvio or close paraphrasing found. Hook is interesting (although, being a Brit, it's a little scary). Could we quantify Boris somehow to remove WP:SEAOFBLUE? Such as:

• ALT1: ... that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, conservative Boris Johnson may face imprisonment due to his stated refusal to comply with the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019? Source: "A former UK director of public prosecutions (DPP) has said Boris Johnson could face prison if he refuses to delay Brexit in the face of court action." Best Wishes, Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 07:39, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

I take your SEAOFBLUE point. I've edited the hook to break up the sea slightly. Sceptre (talk) 20:45, 13 September 2019 (UTC)

works for me. Best Wishes, Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 21:36, 13 September 2019 (UTC)

• I think we will need to be very careful how we word this hook. The present hooks are inaccurate because he is not going to be sent to prison for stating that he refuses to comply with the act. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 08:57, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

  Yes, you're right. How about either of the following hooks?

  "ALT2...that Boris Johnson may be the first British politician to be impeached in two centuries if he refuses to abide by the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019?"

  ALT3... that Boris Johnson may be the first British Prime Minister to be impeached if he refuses to abide by the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019?

  Both posts are sourced to the BBC article: "No prime minister has ever successfully been impeached […]"; "The last (unsuccessful) attempt at the prosecution of an impeachment was in 1806.". Sceptre (talk) 09:55, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

• Approving ALT3. Strange times!. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 10:45, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

I think that this DYK needs to be reviewed very carefully, as it's a live and an extremely contentious political issue. However it's worded, this DNK's presence on the main page is quite likely to attract major media attention and probable concerted Brexiteer attacks questioning the neutrality of Wikipedia. That's not necessarily a reason not to use it, but does need some very careful editor scrutiny. If it is used, it ought to set out the reason for the stated conclusion. ALT3 simply says that if the PM does something he may be impeached, without saying why anyone would ever expect him to do such a thing. Without detailing his quoted threat not to comply with the law, there is no context. MichaelMaggs (talk) 17:11, 24 September 2019 (UTC)

My concern is that elaborating might make the hook a little bit too long. Regardless of the wider political debate, I'm pretty sure that "if the government breaks the law the government will be impeached" makes sense logically. With that said, How about ALT3a?:

• ALT3a... that Boris Johnson may be the first British Prime Minister to be impeached if he refuses to abide by the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019, which obliges him to seek a delay to Brexit that he campaigned against?

Regards, Sceptre (talk) 01:52, 25 September 2019 (UTC)

• Sceptre, events have overtaken this nomination before it was promoted, and the possibility of impeachment seems to be gone now that Johnson has sent the required letter. In addition, the article has been expanded and revised due to these events. Please propose a new hook, since with the striking of ALT3 and ALT3a, none of the hooks remain. Thank you. BlueMoonset (talk) 22:20, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

• ALT4: ... that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, said he would rather "die in a ditch" than seek an extension to Brexit under the terms of the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019?

• Sceptre (talk) 19:55, 30 October 2019 (UTC)

• Sceptre, the actual quote is "I'd rather be dead in a ditch", and we don't have license to modify quotes in hooks, even if we're up against the length issue. (The hook is 201 characters, which is also a problem, and explains why the hook doesn't mention that he did ultimately seek that extension as legally required, especially as it would make the hook stronger. Here's an alternate wording that uses the quote properly yet comes in at 186 characters (Cwmhiraeth, would you like to review hooks again?):

• ALT4a: ... that the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said he would "rather be dead in a ditch" than seek an extension to Brexit under the terms of the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019? BlueMoonset (talk) 20:25, 3 November 2019 (UTC)

• I think ALT4a is fine. Let's get on and run this soon! Cwmhiraeth (talk) 20:37, 3 November 2019 (UTC)