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I see your point. There are other people who've never been elected to anything but are referred to on WP as politician. But they're usually people who keep on trying, and failing, and/or are otherwise involved in party politics. Deegan only stood the one time (so far), and he's never been a party man afaik (he couldn't have been and maintain his judicial impartiality). I suspect he's made the point he wanted to make because he's been pretty quiet since then, again afaik. It can be a fine line, but I tend to think that political activist would be a better description in his case. If he ever stands again, we could revisit it then. -- JackofOz (talk) 04:38, 12 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'd suggest simply Brian Deegan (activist), which would be a reasonable catch-all qualifer for people who agitate for political change without actually becoming politicians. We're already defining Activism as intentional action to bring about social or political change. while Politicians more directly relates to people in decision-making roles and those who seek such positions. Deegan did run for Parliament but that appears almost a footnote on his activist activities. Euryalus (talk) 05:16, 12 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There's plenty of Wikipedia precedent for using "(activist)" as a dab description. But unlike most of them, Deegan is not continually an activist. Recent news articles call him a barrister or lawyer (he is no longer a magistrate), and I'm sure that's how Deegan would describe himself, rather than as an activist. So I'm thinking we should call him a lawyer or barrister. I'd prefer "Lawyer" - isn't that a generic term for all sorts of people in the legal profession (except judges/magistrates)? Peter Ballard (talk) 10:50, 12 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
