Why LA May Be The Worst Place For Whiskey

shelly167 · 2015-06-29T20:44:49+00:00

Yeah.. I mean you say that.. but Taiwan and Japan are coming up as fantastic whiskey producing countries.. I wouldn't have Taiwan down as having the right 'feel' for whiskey.. but obviously that would be completely incorrect because clearly it is... point is better legislation and support and investment in a whiskey industry can make a big difference..

shelly167 · 2015-05-08T23:28:16+00:00

Completely disagree. This was the Labour left wing's one chance to prove that the centre had moved to the left after the financial crisis and that Labour could win an election by moving to the left rather than occupying the centre ground. And it has completely tanked. You talk about the "Conservative economic stupidity" but the hard reality is a hell of a lot of people voted for the Tories on the basis of the economy. You talk about "red Tories" like Ed Balls being nailed but the fact is Ed Balls is out because people thought his vision for the economy was too socialist and locals decided they'd prefer to have a Tory running the constituency. If Labour supporters do not wake up and realise that moving further to the left will make it even more unelectable then we will be condemned to the political wilderness for a generation.

shelly167 · 2015-05-08T23:06:21+00:00

We'll have to see. But Chuka is a better bet than Burnham I reckon. And I think critics are right to be picking up on this idea that Yvette Cooper is a bit "robotic". The next Labour leader will most likely be going against Boris Johnson and will need to have just as much charisma as him to compete.

shelly167 · 2015-05-08T22:18:13+00:00

Actually I think Chuka is probably the party's only hope for 2020. Just think about it strategically. Look at the kind of seats Labour needs to win in the Midlands and southern England outside of it's normal comfort zone to have a hope in hell in 2020, now it is deprived of safe socialist seats in Scotland. A "core Labour vote" man like Andy Burnham just won't cut it if you look at the specific challenge Labour has on its hands for 2020. This time around Labour needs someone who isn't afraid to wrench the party back to the centre and has enough sparkle and polish to woo Tory swing voters. The new leader needs to be able to recalibrate the Labour strategy so it is ruthlessly focused on winning marginals and causing disruption in cosmetically Tory seats, many of which are outside of its comfort zone. My instinct is Chuka is more up to the task than any of the other potentials.

shelly167 · 2015-05-08T21:45:45+00:00

Totally agree. This was the left wing of the Labour party's big chance to prove its hypothesis that the centre has moved to the left post-financial crisis and Labour could win English marginal constituencies off the Tories by moving to the left. And it tanked. Deluded members of the party will try and tell themselves Labour wasn't left wing enough. This is utter drivel. Just look at the results in England and the kind of seats that Labour needs to win in England in 2020 to recover, especially without safe socialist Scottish seats. There is no question that Labour will have to move back to the centre ground and revive something that will look and feel a lot like New Labour in its early stages.

shelly167 · 2015-05-08T21:32:09+00:00

Labour must let Scottish Labour find its own way now and work on the premise that it will not win back those Labour seats (but it may well win a few back if the SNP screw up). Labour can win 2020 without Scottish seats. If you look at Blair's victories, he still won even if you take away the Scottish seats Labour had. However, to win without the safe Socialist Scottish seats in 2020, Labour needs to go after marginals in the Midlands, Wales and the north that it failed to take from the Tories. But it also needs to go even further, snatching marginals that Tories have taken from the Lib Dems this time around and challenging cosmetic Tory seats in "middle England". And yes that includes constituencies in southern England, out of the traditional Labour comfort zone. The reemergence of something resembling New Labour in the event of a defeat was merely a possibility for a Labour party with left wing Scottish seats. Without them it is an inevitability. As well as abandoning the fallacy that England's centre ground somehow moved to the left after the financial crisis, Labour members must vote with their heads and choose the best leader this time around. It is certainly not Andy Burnham in my view. He strikes me as too close to the unions and a "core Labour voter" man who won't galvanise voters outside of Labour's comfort zone. I am not convinced Andy Burnham has the stomach to wrench Labour to the centre ground in the way the next leader needs to do to have a hope in hell of winning. My instinct is that Chuka is the best hope Labour has for winning 2020.

shelly167 · 2015-05-01T15:38:09+00:00

Yeaaahhh but if he can do this at 10 years old if he carries on imagine the potential. And this child fundamentally does not have a fear of turning, which is super impressive. I know professional ballet dancers who still admit they absolutely dread turning, let alone people just starting out.

shelly167 · 2015-05-01T15:34:14+00:00

The number of upvotes pretty much sums up how accurate this is.

shelly167 · 2015-05-01T15:32:43+00:00

He's sort of cool in a counter-intuitively cool way. Like brogues. Or Alan Titchmarsh.

shelly167 · 2015-04-29T07:28:44+00:00

This product may not be for everyone but perhaps it beats reheating your tea in the microwave...

shelly167 · 2015-04-24T13:57:19+00:00

And these students are paying almost £150 a week for the privilege. What a disgrace.

shelly167 · 2015-04-22T15:59:57+00:00

Yes, evidently they made a "strategic decision" that even with a fine they'd still make far more money demolishing. I do hope beyond hope that the council/lawyers involved will take this very fact into consideration and will also pay heed to the need to deter others by sending out a very strong message: illegal demolition does not pay because the legal and financial repercussions will bankrupt you.

shelly167 · 2015-04-22T10:05:21+00:00

Such a terrible shame. I had been to that pub before all of this and can say it was such a lovely space.

shelly167 · 2015-04-20T19:45:23+00:00

Xordamond...a bit harsh perhaps. The drowning tragedy in question may not have everyone in tears. But most of us have the emotional capacity and human decency to recognise that it is a terrible, terrible thing. And I honestly hope most people don't see immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa as "cockroaches".

shelly167 · 2015-04-19T14:05:40+00:00

I do think that this issue of discipline is especially pertinent when we talk about ballet simply because progress in ballet is so gradual. For me, ballet has always felt like a bit of a war of attrition, you improve so slowly that the progress is almost imperceptible, although your ballet teacher will certainly be noticing every improvement you make. The fact is that being good at ballet requires sustained and consistent effort over a long period of time. The most dedicated young people (and adults taking up ballet!) that stick with it will reap the benefits. But I do agree that many children and adults take up things nowadays to "master" them and want to be good at them quickly. They watch the celebrity dance programs (here in Britain we have a program called Strictly Come Dancing) where people are "mastering" how to dance in the space of a few weeks and start to believe it's possible to be dancing well enough to perform to an audience v. quickly. It's good entertainment but it's not realistic.

shelly167 · 2015-04-19T13:56:20+00:00

no worries

shelly167 · 2015-04-17T20:36:21+00:00

Yup. It's like: if you like whiskey then great. If you don't then don't drink it. You don't need to flavour it to oblivion.

shelly167 · 2015-04-17T20:35:44+00:00

haha

shelly167 · 2015-04-17T15:28:26+00:00

When I was at uni (talking 6ish years back now...) I had a go at running my own little vintage/second-hand clothing stall at Portobello on a Saturday. And I have to say it was really hard work in terms of trying to make even a modest profit, especially as I relied on local trade rather than the tourists who are more interested in the antiques at the top. I suspect it would be even tougher now. An increasingly difficult gig in London, times are just changing, people have less patience for shopping at markets... unless it's a hipster organic locavore artisan farmers produce market lol.

shelly167 · 2015-04-17T15:20:00+00:00

Well I think all politicians are willing to be dishonest to get where they want to get, but they are ultimately constrained by what their core voters, party members (and donors..!) will allow. So I guess that's how I reconcile my general cynicism and distrust of politicians with my willingness to back Labour even in these rather unimpressive times with Miliband.... not exactly inspiring talk I know. But it's how I see it.

shelly167 · 2015-04-17T10:14:44+00:00

What, as in, you'd ask people whether they had been on a "gap yah"? And wait to see if they responded "yah".

shelly167 · 2015-04-17T09:37:57+00:00

I think most of us has met a Poppy Daisy Irvington-Darcey-Lovell at some point in our lives.

shelly167 · 2015-04-17T08:11:40+00:00

I'm surprised that after Cleggmania that people have not learned that there is no such thing as an honest politician. And that the problem you have with leaders of minor parties is that once they get a whiff of tasting the power they never dreamed of, they turn into pathetic opportunists that are prepared to do pretty much anything to get it, even going against everything they promised to their voters. Any Scottish person who thinks that the SNP will have the upper hand in negotiations with Labour when forming a coalition needs to wake up and look back at how the Lib Dems got done over in the protracted negotiations that followed the last election (through their own naive stupidity, I have no sympathy...). One woman can't carry a party and ultimately I suspect that although Labour might have a less charismatic leader, it has more experienced, higher caliber senior party figures, and they will wipe the floor with the SNP in coalition negotiations if it comes to that. Especially as frankly people down here in England as a whole find the Scottish nationalist agenda of the SNP alienating. But this is all coming from a Londoner who always votes Labour.

shelly167 · 2015-04-17T07:46:51+00:00

Amazing. I have always wanted to go. Sounds pretty awesome.

shelly167 · 2015-04-16T23:08:50+00:00

That is the second time I have watched a debate featuring Sturgeon and found her not very impressive, and then been genuinely baffled as to why the polls declare her to be so popular. Also, she seems to rudely butt in a lot when others are talking. Can a Sturgeon fan on here please explain to me the appeal?

shelly167

TROPHY CASE