Microgrants/Operation Barras and Operation Flavius

Overview

Research material for articles I'm planning to write. A modest pile of books and a DVD. Borrowing from a library is not really practical given that the books are on a somewhat niche subject and are unlikely to be held even by a relatively large local library. In addition, given the time it takes me to write something of FA quality and the time it takes to get the article through the review processes, I would want the materials for longer than a normal library would be willing to let me have them, and, ideally, I'd like to have access to them indefinitely in case of any future questions that require consultation of the sources.

For a variety of reasons I'd rather not go into publicly, I'd appreciate if the materials could be purchased by WMUK and delivered to the office so that I can collect them or arrange for them to be forwarded.

NB: I'd be happy to make the materials available to any other Wikimedian who had an interest in them once I've finished using them for research.

Budget

• Zero Hour: SAS Mission Impossible in Sierra Leone (DVD), Discovery Channel, £6.99 on Ebay
• Certain Death in Sierra Leone: The SAS and Operation Barras 2000, Will Fowler, ~£7.00 on Ebay
• Blair's Successful War: British Military Intervention in Sierra Leone, from £36 on Amazon
• Shoot to Kill: Police Accountability, Firearms and Fatal Force, from £12 on Amazon
• Fatal Encounter: The Story of the Gibraltar Killings, from £6 on Amazon

Total: approximately £62

Added:

• "Operation 'Barass'" [sic] in Small Wars & Insurgencies, Richard Connaughton, Summer 2001, £27.60
• Atrocities, Diamonds and Diplomacy by Peter Penfold; £12.79
• Essential Cases for Human Rights ad the Police (~£5)
• Murder on the Rock: How the British Government Got Away with Murder, ~£30 on Amazon

Total: approximately £138

Further added:

• Stone Cold: True Story of Michael Stone and the Milltown Massacre, by Martin Dillon, (ISBN 9781448185139), which is about the aftermath of Operation Flavius in Northern Ireland (£2.81),
• Big Boys' Rules: The SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA, by Mark Urban, (ISBN 9780571266685), which contains some crucial background on SAS operations against the IRA, (£6.99), and
• The Strong Arm of the Law: Armed and Public Order Policing, by PAJ Waddington, (ISBN 9780198273592), which contains useful background information about police use of force and includes a case study of Operation Flavius (£11.33).
• The Windlesham/Rampton Report, a report into "Death on the Rock", £2.81

Total approximately £174

Timeline

Three to six months (give or take, depending on review processes) to deliver an outcome; ideally I would need access to the material indefinitely.

Expected outcomes

Getting w:en:Operation Flavius and w:en:Operation Barras to featured article status. Possible improvements to related articles (eg w:en:History of the SAS, w:en:Police use of firearms in the United Kingdom, and articles related to the Sierra Leone Civil War), but probably not to FA/GA level.

Who I am

I'm Harry Mitchell. You all know who I am, but previous high quality articles I've written can be found on my enwiki userpage, which include the featured article on the w:en:Iranian Embassy siege.

Discussion

• Sounds good, I'm happy to approve this. :-) Please liaise with the office with purchasing the dvd and books, and please return them to the office once you're done with them. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 18:41, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

• Update, 15/12: Operation Barras is now a featured article. British military intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War is well on its way. I'll report back on the latter's progress in the new year. Harry Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 16:33, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
  • Thanks for the update, and congratulations on the FA. :-) Mike Peel (talk) 21:40, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

• Another update: British military intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War is now an FA. I'm taking a brief beak from the topic area to write something else, but I'm expecting to use these resources to write at least another two FAs. Harry Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 18:45, 12 March 2013 (UTC)
  • Final Update: en:Operation Flavius made it to FA status in April, and en:Death on the Rock was promoted last month. I initially promised two featured articles and, albeit over a longer time frame than I had in mind, I've delivered four. I may revisit the Sierra Leone topic area with these sources and others at a later date, but I think this grant request can reasonably be considered to be concluded. Harry Mitchell (talk) 23:59, 23 October 2014 (BST)

• Essential Cases for Human Rights ad the Police was approved by myself by email on 19 April. I'm also happy to approve the addition of Murder on the Rock: How the British Government Got Away with Murder now. These approvals are on the basis that they are books related to the topics of the original microgrant request, were presumably discovered through research around those topics, and that this microgrant remains under the £250 mark. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 20:25, 3 May 2013 (UTC)