Talk:T. Dan Smith

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Untitled[edit]

At no point in the current article does it mention that/when/if he was an MP.

This is because T. Dan Smith was never an MP. David | Talk 19:39, 4 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"While Smith did make many mistakes, including destroying much of the historical fabric of the city centre, some of his projects are now appreciated. These include the A167 Central Motorway, without which the city centre would now almost certainly face gridlock, and the Eldon Square Shopping Centre, which has helped to keep the city's retail offering competitive in the face of stiff competition from Gateshead MetroCentre."

I think this is a little lacking in context. In order to build New Eldon Square, much of Old Eldon Square (2/3rds, iirc - now only a small row of the remaining buildings stand, with their backs to Grey's Monument) was demolished, and replaced by a fifty-foot high, turd-brown toilet block lookalikie, which is to say, the exterior of New Eldon Square. I think the article could do with a little more on the damage Smith, and the wider tendency he represented, did to Newcastle's architectural heritage in the name of 'progress.'

Time[edit]

With time off for good behaviour, he probably did three or four years. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.153.173.208 (talk) 14:20, 10 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It seems to have been three years exactly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.153.173.208 (talk) 14:25, 10 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Apologetic edits[edit]

I've reverted some of the recent edits for adding unsourced information or an overly apologetic tone, though I have retained some aspects of the edits that I don't dispute.

For example, I did find a source that said that there were plans to reconstruct the Royal Arcade. But none support the view that it's the later Conservative administrations who stopped it from being reconstructed (and they were not in power until three years after it was taken down). That edit suggests political POV-pushing.

Likewise, while Eldon Square Shopping Centre wasn't completed until 1977, he was the council leader during the conception and early planning stages of the project. The overall development had his support, and by extension so did the demolition that would have been needed for it. Anywikiuser (talk) 10:01, 10 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I've noticed as well that a more recent edit included Chris Foote Wood's biography of Smith. I wouldn't consider that a reliable source; it is a highly opinionated with Foote Wood's revisionist view of Smith. He claimed that Smith was a scapegoat for everything from the corruption case to the Royal Arcade. His opinions could have their uses, but this article is not an extension of his book.

Also, construction of Swan House started in 1963. Anywikiuser (talk) 14:54, 25 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure why a 3O was requested here (and would have been good to notify of this demand here), as I can't see any conflict. Nevertheless, I agree that apologetic edits such as "unfairly" are not in a neutral encyclopedic style, except if they are quotes from a reliable source. Here this does not seem the case, and the edits you did corrected the style without losing information. --Signimu (talk) 06:31, 29 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Innocence is not the same as guilt[edit]

'Pleaded guilty to corruption charges although he maintained his innocence'. Smith may have equivocated his way through life but we shouldn't. A man who pleads guilty is not maintaining his innocence'. Unraed (talk) 12:34, 12 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]