Of course the problem with the smug "see I told you to use cash" people is that in a general power cut the tills are off anyway. Same with the "how will you charge your car in a power cut" morons who seem to think that fuel pumps and tills at Shell don't use electricity
But with a fuel pump, we can shoot the locks off the tank covers and syphon what we want out. Then rob the kiosk for candy bars and beer.🤪
Pedant alert: How do you syphon from a tank underground?
Look man, I just watch zombie movies. That's how it's done.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I agree - it reminds me of the time wine got over-oaked - however the key word is surely “some”
America now has such a magnificent variety of beers, you can easily find something to suit your subtler British taste
Travel in Uzbekistan The weirdness of being in a young country: Kyrgyzstan The interface between Technology and kids The state of luxury travel in the Philippines Would we ever consume intoxicants if they weren’t intoxicating Cheese
All of this while flying from Bishkek to London. And knapping an enormous flint
I could imagine people consuming beer or wine purely for the taste. MDMA is less plausible.
Of course the problem with the smug "see I told you to use cash" people is that in a general power cut the tills are off anyway. Same with the "how will you charge your car in a power cut" morons who seem to think that fuel pumps and tills at Shell don't use electricity
I saw some chump suggesting the shops make up paper receipts by hand. Imagine Tesco having to do that? And that doesn't deal with stock control, ordering, or logistics knock on effects.
I actually work on a till. Do you? Not every business is Tescos.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I agree - it reminds me of the time wine got over-oaked - however the key word is surely “some”
America now has such a magnificent variety of beers, you can easily find something to suit your subtler British taste
I agree - it is perfectly possible to get stuff that is not mango flavored or over hopped. Sadly, there is a lot of over hopped and/or mango flavored beer out there.
Of course the problem with the smug "see I told you to use cash" people is that in a general power cut the tills are off anyway. Same with the "how will you charge your car in a power cut" morons who seem to think that fuel pumps and tills at Shell don't use electricity
I saw some chump suggesting the shops make up paper receipts by hand. Imagine Tesco having to do that? And that doesn't deal with stock control, ordering, or logistics knock on effects.
I actually work on a till. Do you? Not every business is Tescos.
I haven't worked a till in a long time, but how do shops do a bill by hand when the prices aren't on the goods and the thing that would tell them the price is the very till that is currently dead? The vast majority of retailers need a working POS system.
Travel in Uzbekistan The weirdness of being in a young country: Kyrgyzstan The interface between Technology and kids The state of luxury travel in the Philippines Would we ever consume intoxicants if they weren’t intoxicating Cheese
All of this while flying from Bishkek to London. And knapping an enormous flint
I could imagine people consuming beer or wine purely for the taste. MDMA is less plausible.
I had this debate with an intoxicant expert tastologist friend of mine, and in the end we concluded that the only intoxicant you would imbibe for the pleasure of the taste is chocolate
I can listen to an argument for coffee or tea, maybe (but I likely disagree), but zero alcohol wine or beer? Nah. It’s a placebo effect. It’s like taking de-heroin-ated heroin, or sniffing cocaine with no high at the end
Only spoke to 80 people, perhaps, so totally unscientific, but I met more people planning to vote Green than Tory.
Essentially zero of the discontent with Labour (of which there is a lot!) is being channeled towards the Tory party….
You can get 125/1 on the Tories winning, which is consistent with Bastani's observation.
I suggest the Tories need to attack Reform UK relentlessly if they want to beat them anywhere.
The starting point for a Tory recovery is them deciding what they are for, not what they are against. Then they need to start explaining how Joe and Jane Average benefit from it.
Incessant moaning about modernity is not policy, and anyway that is Reforms bag now.
The contemporary iteration of the tory part is just being AliExpress Fukkers. I have no idea where they go next nor, I suspect, do they. Some brexit contrition and re-engagement on environmental matters might be a start. Or it might make things even worse. Lol.
I am able to bring this site the unique (actually there are zillions of us) insight of a sickened ex-Tory who believes the party became toxic which believed it could out-Reform Reform only to find, as small children in Hartlepool could have told you, that you can never out-extreme the extremes.
I would like, from the Tories, some "Europe is our closest and largest trading partner, therefore..." and some "we understand the trans issue and then [Nick Herbert's excellent piece]" and some "Party of economic stability" and also some "public sector vital for the nation but shouldn't be immune to reform" and then, ofc, naming me President for Life with a free (as I googled it, tyvm) Toyota Century plus driver.
Then I would take a second look.
Yes. A damn good detox. But would the last initiative not risk undoing all the excellent work of the rest?
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I agree - it reminds me of the time wine got over-oaked - however the key word is surely “some”
America now has such a magnificent variety of beers, you can easily find something to suit your subtler British taste
I agree - it is perfectly possible to get stuff that is not mango flavored or over hopped. Sadly, there is a lot of over hopped and/or mango flavored beer out there.
On a parallel note I do wonder about all the hype over the water used to make beer (or come to that spirits, although I know little about spirits).
It seems to be a big thing, yet Surrey Hills Brewery who make excellent beer and have won lots of awards, including Champion Beer (of all types of beer) for Shere Drop use, wait for it, tap water.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I agree - it reminds me of the time wine got over-oaked - however the key word is surely “some”
America now has such a magnificent variety of beers, you can easily find something to suit your subtler British taste
I agree - it is perfectly possible to get stuff that is not mango flavored or over hopped. Sadly, there is a lot of over hopped and/or mango flavored beer out there.
I hope everyone is watching Platonic (one of Seth Rogen's new shows). Set in some trendy micro-brewery in an area of somewhere (LA?) where there are zillions of micro-breweries.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
I did say it exists, but is practically impossible to find. If you ask an American in America about Cask ale they invariably have no idea what you are talking about. But then that is true of most of Europe as well I guess.
Is it pretty unique to the UK and Ireland? Do you get it commonly elsewhere? Love to know.
I found American beer better than I was expecting. I've done several brewery trips, but they only seem to have a handful of varieties of tastes. There were just several common flavours. I got bored pretty quickly and it is too cold and too fizzy.
And twice I had cinnamon sugar put around the rim of my glass. Whoever thought that was a good idea needs shooting.
If you ask most Brits about "Cask ale" they would invariably have no idea what you are talking about.
What is "Cask ale".
Something that appeals to craft beer wankers, of which I was once one.
Only spoke to 80 people, perhaps, so totally unscientific, but I met more people planning to vote Green than Tory.
Essentially zero of the discontent with Labour (of which there is a lot!) is being channeled towards the Tory party….
You can get 125/1 on the Tories winning, which is consistent with Bastani's observation.
I suggest the Tories need to attack Reform UK relentlessly if they want to beat them anywhere.
The starting point for a Tory recovery is them deciding what they are for, not what they are against. Then they need to start explaining how Joe and Jane Average benefit from it.
Incessant moaning about modernity is not policy, and anyway that is Reforms bag now.
The contemporary iteration of the tory part is just being AliExpress Fukkers. I have no idea where they go next nor, I suspect, do they. Some brexit contrition and re-engagement on environmental matters might be a start. Or it might make things even worse. Lol.
I am able to bring this site the unique (actually there are zillions of us) insight of a sickened ex-Tory who believes the party became toxic which believed it could out-Reform Reform only to find, as small children in Hartlepool could have told you, that you can never out-extreme the extremes.
I would like, from the Tories, some "Europe is our closest and largest trading partner, therefore..." and some "we understand the trans issue and then [Nick Herbert's excellent piece]" and some "Party of economic stability" and also some "public sector vital for the nation but shouldn't be immune to reform" and then, ofc, naming me President for Life with a free (as I googled it, tyvm) Toyota Century plus driver.
Then I would take a second look.
Yes. A damn good detox. But would the last initiative not risk undoing all the excellent work of the rest?
Have you seen that baby? Velour seats and wing mirrors on the fenders. Worth the risk of throwing away it all.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I agree - it reminds me of the time wine got over-oaked - however the key word is surely “some”
America now has such a magnificent variety of beers, you can easily find something to suit your subtler British taste
I agree - it is perfectly possible to get stuff that is not mango flavored or over hopped. Sadly, there is a lot of over hopped and/or mango flavored beer out there.
On a parallel note I do wonder about all the hype over the water used to make beer (or come to that spirits, although I know little about spirits).
It seems to be a big thing, yet Surrey Hills Brewery who make excellent beer and have won lots of awards, including Champion Beer (of all types of beer) for Shere Drop use, wait for it, tap water.
Of course the problem with the smug "see I told you to use cash" people is that in a general power cut the tills are off anyway. Same with the "how will you charge your car in a power cut" morons who seem to think that fuel pumps and tills at Shell don't use electricity
I saw some chump suggesting the shops make up paper receipts by hand. Imagine Tesco having to do that? And that doesn't deal with stock control, ordering, or logistics knock on effects.
I actually work on a till. Do you? Not every business is Tescos.
A small independent store can do it, no question.
But the *vast majority* cannot.
Some years we were in Honolulu, and there was an earthquake. Not bad, just enough to take out the electricity, so there were no restaurants, EXCEPT one run by a Vietnamese, with a gas ring and a bag of cash for change. The queue was round the block!
Of course the problem with the smug "see I told you to use cash" people is that in a general power cut the tills are off anyway. Same with the "how will you charge your car in a power cut" morons who seem to think that fuel pumps and tills at Shell don't use electricity
But with a fuel pump, we can shoot the locks off the tank covers and syphon what we want out. Then rob the kiosk for candy bars and beer.🤪
Pedant alert: How do you syphon from a tank underground?
Look man, I just watch zombie movies. That's how it's done.
Liked, but wanted to point out I laughed out loud.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
I did say it exists, but is practically impossible to find. If you ask an American in America about Cask ale they invariably have no idea what you are talking about. But then that is true of most of Europe as well I guess.
Is it pretty unique to the UK and Ireland? Do you get it commonly elsewhere? Love to know.
I found American beer better than I was expecting. I've done several brewery trips, but they only seem to have a handful of varieties of tastes. There were just several common flavours. I got bored pretty quickly and it is too cold and too fizzy.
And twice I had cinnamon sugar put around the rim of my glass. Whoever thought that was a good idea needs shooting.
If you ask most Brits about "Cask ale" they would invariably have no idea what you are talking about.
What is "Cask ale".
Fair point. I'm in my own echo chamber I see.
The beer is live in the barrel. The limited amount of CO2 is generated from fermentation in the barrel. No CO2 is added and it is pumped up from the barrel (handpump for instance). Keg is dead pressurised by adding CO2.
Keg is easy to look after and lasts. Cask takes skill and will go off. Hence the move to keg and then back with the campaign for real ale.
As a real ale friend pointed out after a pint or two "It's a growing orgasm"
Travel in Uzbekistan The weirdness of being in a young country: Kyrgyzstan The interface between Technology and kids The state of luxury travel in the Philippines Would we ever consume intoxicants if they weren’t intoxicating Cheese
All of this while flying from Bishkek to London. And knapping an enormous flint
I could imagine people consuming beer or wine purely for the taste. MDMA is less plausible.
I had this debate with an intoxicant expert tastologist friend of mine, and in the end we concluded that the only intoxicant you would imbibe for the pleasure of the taste is chocolate
I can listen to an argument for coffee or tea, maybe (but I likely disagree), but zero alcohol wine or beer? Nah. It’s a placebo effect. It’s like taking de-heroin-ated heroin, or sniffing cocaine with no high at the end
I think people drink to get a buzz on. Taste is important but secondary to that.
And as a tart little aside I'd say some people pretend it's mainly about the taste when in fact they're drinking to get a buzz on.
Of course what constitutes a buzz (and how much is needed to create it) can differ wildly between people.
Travel in Uzbekistan The weirdness of being in a young country: Kyrgyzstan The interface between Technology and kids The state of luxury travel in the Philippines Would we ever consume intoxicants if they weren’t intoxicating Cheese
All of this while flying from Bishkek to London. And knapping an enormous flint
I could imagine people consuming beer or wine purely for the taste. MDMA is less plausible.
I had this debate with an intoxicant expert tastologist friend of mine, and in the end we concluded that the only intoxicant you would imbibe for the pleasure of the taste is chocolate
I can listen to an argument for coffee or tea, maybe (but I likely disagree), but zero alcohol wine or beer? Nah. It’s a placebo effect. It’s like taking de-heroin-ated heroin, or sniffing cocaine with no high at the end
Beer, and by that I mean lager (including zero - Peroni for preference) is just about the only drink I can think of that has the body, when cold and I mean cold, of satisfying your thirst if you have been working out, or exercising, or in some other way have become hot and bothered.
Water, juices, what have you, just don't have that substance to them.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I agree - it reminds me of the time wine got over-oaked - however the key word is surely “some”
America now has such a magnificent variety of beers, you can easily find something to suit your subtler British taste
I agree - it is perfectly possible to get stuff that is not mango flavored or over hopped. Sadly, there is a lot of over hopped and/or mango flavored beer out there.
On a parallel note I do wonder about all the hype over the water used to make beer (or come to that spirits, although I know little about spirits).
It seems to be a big thing, yet Surrey Hills Brewery who make excellent beer and have won lots of awards, including Champion Beer (of all types of beer) for Shere Drop use, wait for it, tap water.
On behalf of the Scottish whisky industry, let's not get into this. I did my my Advanced Higher Chemistry project on it...
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
"India blinks on visas to pave way for UK trade deal"
Looks like we're almost across the line.
A trade deal with India would end UK rejoining the EU
There is no prospect of the UK rejoining the EU in the foreseeable future anyway, but, no, it wouldn't.
If a future government decided to take Britain back into the EU then the trade deal with India would be one of the casualties, just as preferential trade arrangements with the Commonwealth were a casualty of the decision to join in the 70s.
Unless by rejoining the EU one actually means a reverse takeover by which the EU joins the UK, and thereby inherits the UK's trade deals.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
Agreed, I find the current trend for the overly hopped IPAs means that they all taste like grapefruit juice to me which is not pleasant.
Harder to find more gentle flavours like those of London Pride and Butcombe in pubs as they all seem to stock beers like “Neck Oil” which are grim and fizzy - I can’t remember IPas being fizzy in the 90s and 00’s.
Find myself having to drink Guinness for lack of beer choice which I drink far too quickly.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
Agreed, I find the current trend for the overly hopped IPAs means that they all taste like grapefruit juice to me which is not pleasant.
Harder to find more gentle flavours like those of London Pride and Butcombe in pubs as they all seem to stock beers like “Neck Oil” which are grim and fizzy - I can’t remember IPas being fizzy in the 90s and 00’s.
Find myself having to drink Guinness for lack of beer choice which I drink far too quickly.
I was in Brum, looking more than a little grim, at the Birmingham match yesterday and all they had was Cruzcampo, Moretti and Inch cider.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I agree - it reminds me of the time wine got over-oaked - however the key word is surely “some”
America now has such a magnificent variety of beers, you can easily find something to suit your subtler British taste
I agree - it is perfectly possible to get stuff that is not mango flavored or over hopped. Sadly, there is a lot of over hopped and/or mango flavored beer out there.
A friend in the US has a theory on this: most of his colleagues go to the craft place once or twice a week after work. They have one pint, and go home. So there is just no such thing as a "session" when it comes to those sorts of venues and the beers they serve. So it needs to be strong and memorable. Plain and weak and pleasant won't cut it.
Travel in Uzbekistan The weirdness of being in a young country: Kyrgyzstan The interface between Technology and kids The state of luxury travel in the Philippines Would we ever consume intoxicants if they weren’t intoxicating Cheese
All of this while flying from Bishkek to London. And knapping an enormous flint
Well you better up your game. You've become pretty unreadable these last several months
Interesting. This comment presumes that
1. There was a time when you found me “readable”. Don’t remember that. Did you forget to mention it?
2. All the combined editors of various well-known American, UK and German magazine are lunatics
And
3. I give a fuck what you think
I submit that all are untenable, given the evidence available
I used to travel the world thinking I could put together my storyboards on the flight. You get vain because you think you're flavour of the month and then you look back and you realise you weren't doing your best work. I like stuff well written and have in the past enjoyed your posts and even a couple of your articles. But if you've still got it it's become very well camouflaged.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
I did say it exists, but is practically impossible to find. If you ask an American in America about Cask ale they invariably have no idea what you are talking about. But then that is true of most of Europe as well I guess.
Is it pretty unique to the UK and Ireland? Do you get it commonly elsewhere? Love to know.
I found American beer better than I was expecting. I've done several brewery trips, but they only seem to have a handful of varieties of tastes. There were just several common flavours. I got bored pretty quickly and it is too cold and too fizzy.
And twice I had cinnamon sugar put around the rim of my glass. Whoever thought that was a good idea needs shooting.
If you ask most Brits about "Cask ale" they would invariably have no idea what you are talking about.
What is "Cask ale".
Something that appeals to craft beer wankers, of which I was once one.
As long as Trump keeps qquiet and doesn't expressany support for them.
Are there any Reform supporters on PB? I thought maybe Isam
Me
I am going to,give one of my two votes to them on Thursday, probably.
Why one and not both? More curious as to what is wrong with the candidates that you are splitting your votes
Our local independent Paul Sexton is excellent, does a lot for the area, and I will definitely vote for him.
Fair enough - so just 1 vote available for reform.
Exactly, or whoever else. As I say I am minded to vote Reform. Give them a chance at local level. Labour did little for us and neither have the coalition lived up to their promises.
The other independent councillor I don’t like so I won’t vote for him.
If I was in the North constituency I’d vote for Karen Darby.
Anyway, let me make this point. We're at the four year anniversary of "Hartlepool". Remember that? Boris Johnson riding high as a kite (literally: an inflatable of him floated in the sky above the scene of this famous by-election victory for the Cons) and Keir Starmer, battered to the canvas, thinking seriously about throwing in the towel.
And now look. Johnson is chip paper. Starmer is PM with a landslide majority. A majority more than twice Johnson got in 2019.
The moral? None really. I just wanted to type that out. Enjoyed it.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
I did say it exists, but is practically impossible to find. If you ask an American in America about Cask ale they invariably have no idea what you are talking about. But then that is true of most of Europe as well I guess.
Is it pretty unique to the UK and Ireland? Do you get it commonly elsewhere? Love to know.
I found American beer better than I was expecting. I've done several brewery trips, but they only seem to have a handful of varieties of tastes. There were just several common flavours. I got bored pretty quickly and it is too cold and too fizzy.
And twice I had cinnamon sugar put around the rim of my glass. Whoever thought that was a good idea needs shooting.
If you ask most Brits about "Cask ale" they would invariably have no idea what you are talking about.
What is "Cask ale".
Something that appeals to craft beer wankers, of which I was once one.
The beer keeps fermenting in the cask.
Keg it is already stabilised and doesn’t.
Incorrect.
Craft beer wankers are clueless fools who know nothing about the quality of cask ale.
They drink over-priced keg or, worse still, beer out of garishly coloured tins.
It is the CAMRA wankers who pontificate about cask ale until you fall asleep.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
Walk into a pub with 8 hand pumps.
Check whats on.
Six IPAs.
None of which have ever been exported to India.
Buy a pint of Porter.
When I was in Tamworth over the weekend I had a rather nice pint of Bass with the red triangle. Doesn’t that denote something to do with IPA.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
Agreed, I find the current trend for the overly hopped IPAs means that they all taste like grapefruit juice to me which is not pleasant.
Harder to find more gentle flavours like those of London Pride and Butcombe in pubs as they all seem to stock beers like “Neck Oil” which are grim and fizzy - I can’t remember IPas being fizzy in the 90s and 00’s.
Find myself having to drink Guinness for lack of beer choice which I drink far too quickly.
I was in Brum, looking more than a little grim, at the Birmingham match yesterday and all they had was Cruzcampo, Moretti and Inch cider.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
Agreed, I find the current trend for the overly hopped IPAs means that they all taste like grapefruit juice to me which is not pleasant.
Harder to find more gentle flavours like those of London Pride and Butcombe in pubs as they all seem to stock beers like “Neck Oil” which are grim and fizzy - I can’t remember IPas being fizzy in the 90s and 00’s.
Find myself having to drink Guinness for lack of beer choice which I drink far too quickly.
I was in Brum, looking more than a little grim, at the Birmingham match yesterday and all they had was Cruzcampo, Moretti and Inch cider.
Not great.
All variations on a theme of Carling... I am finding Wye Valley and Butcombe beers, not to mention TT Landlord do hit the mark.
Travel in Uzbekistan The weirdness of being in a young country: Kyrgyzstan The interface between Technology and kids The state of luxury travel in the Philippines Would we ever consume intoxicants if they weren’t intoxicating Cheese
All of this while flying from Bishkek to London. And knapping an enormous flint
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I agree - it reminds me of the time wine got over-oaked - however the key word is surely “some”
America now has such a magnificent variety of beers, you can easily find something to suit your subtler British taste
I agree - it is perfectly possible to get stuff that is not mango flavored or over hopped. Sadly, there is a lot of over hopped and/or mango flavored beer out there.
On a parallel note I do wonder about all the hype over the water used to make beer (or come to that spirits, although I know little about spirits).
It seems to be a big thing, yet Surrey Hills Brewery who make excellent beer and have won lots of awards, including Champion Beer (of all types of beer) for Shere Drop use, wait for it, tap water.
You mean they don't use Dasani?
I had to look that up. But no it is Peckham Spring Water.
if you are not a bitter drinker, most bitter these days is Cask and tastes much nicer than the keg stuff we got in the 70s and also not fizzy or cold.
However I am with you when you are really hot and bothered. On our cycling trips it is a fizzy ice cold lager I want.
The right drink for the right occasion. Same with wine. Cold rose in the sun, red with the meal, sweet wine with the pud or cheese.
Anyway, let me make this point. We're at the four year anniversary of "Hartlepool". Remember that? Boris Johnson riding high as a kite (literally: an inflatable of him floated in the sky above the scene of this famous by-election victory for the Cons) and Keir Starmer, battered to the canvas, thinking seriously about throwing in the towel.
And now look. Johnson is chip paper. Starmer is PM with a landslide majority. A majority more than twice Johnson got in 2019.
The moral? None really. I just wanted to type that out. Enjoyed it.
Unfortunately, the moral is that in the 2020s a large majority can vanish overnight and the two major parties cannot get to grips with the post-neoliberal reality. Here's Aaron Bastani
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
Agreed, I find the current trend for the overly hopped IPAs means that they all taste like grapefruit juice to me which is not pleasant.
Harder to find more gentle flavours like those of London Pride and Butcombe in pubs as they all seem to stock beers like “Neck Oil” which are grim and fizzy - I can’t remember IPas being fizzy in the 90s and 00’s.
Find myself having to drink Guinness for lack of beer choice which I drink far too quickly.
I was in Brum, looking more than a little grim, at the Birmingham match yesterday and all they had was Cruzcampo, Moretti and Inch cider.
Not great.
Oh for a pint of Davenport's Mild.
Beer at home means Davenport’s, that’s the beer, lots of cheer !
When I was doing my HNC/HND in Brum I used to walk up by the Davenport’s brewery during lunch sometimes. Even pop into the Shakespeare Inn for one
Bishkek has an alarmingly pleasant climate. I might have to move here
Short sharp snowy winters
Glorious springs - in the Tien Shan
Long hot sunny summers
Short expressive autumn
Most of the year it’s mild and dry enough to sit outside
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm such a shame it’s a billion miles from anywhere
Well that sounds very nice indeed. But I'm sceptical Bishkek winters are 'short'. Three months a year of daily mean below zero! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishkek
So to improve efficiency and reduce costs the Valuation Office (council tax and business rates) is being merged back into HMRC.
I would love to know where the savings are coming from as chartered surveyors aren’t renowned for being tax experts which is why they were split off in the first place. On the upside the VOA won’t be wasting time working out how many secondary schools can be closed as the short term population blip leaves secondary education
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
Agreed, I find the current trend for the overly hopped IPAs means that they all taste like grapefruit juice to me which is not pleasant.
Harder to find more gentle flavours like those of London Pride and Butcombe in pubs as they all seem to stock beers like “Neck Oil” which are grim and fizzy - I can’t remember IPas being fizzy in the 90s and 00’s.
Find myself having to drink Guinness for lack of beer choice which I drink far too quickly.
I was in Brum, looking more than a little grim, at the Birmingham match yesterday and all they had was Cruzcampo, Moretti and Inch cider.
Not great.
All variations on a theme of Carling... I am finding Wye Valley and Butcombe beers, not to mention TT Landlord do hit the mark.
Our local often has Landlord on the pumps. Very acceptable.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
Agreed, I find the current trend for the overly hopped IPAs means that they all taste like grapefruit juice to me which is not pleasant.
Harder to find more gentle flavours like those of London Pride and Butcombe in pubs as they all seem to stock beers like “Neck Oil” which are grim and fizzy - I can’t remember IPas being fizzy in the 90s and 00’s.
Find myself having to drink Guinness for lack of beer choice which I drink far too quickly.
I was in Brum, looking more than a little grim, at the Birmingham match yesterday and all they had was Cruzcampo, Moretti and Inch cider.
Not great.
All variations on a theme of Carling... I am finding Wye Valley and Butcombe beers, not to mention TT Landlord do hit the mark.
Sadly they didn’t have that wonderful authentic special Spanish drink, the spirit of Madrid, Madri
Although I did have a Wye Valley Butty Bach too on Saturday which was most pleasant.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
Walk into a pub with 8 hand pumps.
Check whats on.
Six IPAs.
None of which have ever been exported to India.
Buy a pint of Porter.
When I was in Tamworth over the weekend I had a rather nice pint of Bass with the red triangle. Doesn’t that denote something to do with IPA.
My dad used to say "You can't call yourself a proper Bass drinker until you've shit yourself at least once".
He never told me if he qualified for the Bass drinkers club.
Bishkek has an alarmingly pleasant climate. I might have to move here
Short sharp snowy winters
Glorious springs - in the Tien Shan
Long hot sunny summers
Short expressive autumn
Most of the year it’s mild and dry enough to sit outside
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm such a shame it’s a billion miles from anywhere
Well that sounds very nice indeed. But I'm sceptical Bishkek winters are 'short'. Three months a year of daily mean below zero! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishkek
btw as we haven't had enough, or indeed any loo or trans talk today I thought I would share my insights as to what and why (some, many, most) trans people are trans. Trigger Warning: this may involve some stereotypes but bear with me.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I agree - it reminds me of the time wine got over-oaked - however the key word is surely “some”
America now has such a magnificent variety of beers, you can easily find something to suit your subtler British taste
I agree - it is perfectly possible to get stuff that is not mango flavored or over hopped. Sadly, there is a lot of over hopped and/or mango flavored beer out there.
On a parallel note I do wonder about all the hype over the water used to make beer (or come to that spirits, although I know little about spirits).
It seems to be a big thing, yet Surrey Hills Brewery who make excellent beer and have won lots of awards, including Champion Beer (of all types of beer) for Shere Drop use, wait for it, tap water.
You mean they don't use Dasani?
Different water has different mineral make up depending on where it is sourced. Gales Brewery was in Horndean. The brand was bought by Fullers and produced in Chiswick. I believe that they treat the water to mimic that found in Horndean. I don't think it being tap water is relevant.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
Agreed, I find the current trend for the overly hopped IPAs means that they all taste like grapefruit juice to me which is not pleasant.
Harder to find more gentle flavours like those of London Pride and Butcombe in pubs as they all seem to stock beers like “Neck Oil” which are grim and fizzy - I can’t remember IPas being fizzy in the 90s and 00’s.
Find myself having to drink Guinness for lack of beer choice which I drink far too quickly.
I was in Brum, looking more than a little grim, at the Birmingham match yesterday and all they had was Cruzcampo, Moretti and Inch cider.
Not great.
Oh for a pint of Davenport's Mild.
Beer at home means Davenport’s, that’s the beer, lots of cheer !
When I was doing my HNC/HND in Brum I used to walk up by the Davenport’s brewery during lunch sometimes. Even pop into the Shakespeare Inn for one
We (the Brum Uni Chem Eng Society) had a brewery visit to Davenport's. Ended with sampling bottles of their extra strong mild. Purely for educational purposes.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I agree - it reminds me of the time wine got over-oaked - however the key word is surely “some”
America now has such a magnificent variety of beers, you can easily find something to suit your subtler British taste
I agree - it is perfectly possible to get stuff that is not mango flavored or over hopped. Sadly, there is a lot of over hopped and/or mango flavored beer out there.
On a parallel note I do wonder about all the hype over the water used to make beer (or come to that spirits, although I know little about spirits).
It seems to be a big thing, yet Surrey Hills Brewery who make excellent beer and have won lots of awards, including Champion Beer (of all types of beer) for Shere Drop use, wait for it, tap water.
You mean they don't use Dasani?
I had to look that up. But no it is Peckham Spring Water.
if you are not a bitter drinker, most bitter these days is Cask and tastes much nicer than the keg stuff we got in the 70s and also not fizzy or cold.
However I am with you when you are really hot and bothered. On our cycling trips it is a fizzy ice cold lager I want.
The right drink for the right occasion. Same with wine. Cold rose in the sun, red with the meal, sweet wine with the pud or cheese.
As Eabhal hints, water source has even less relevancy when the drink is distilled. It needs to be clean and potable. I am not sure there's much else that you can discern from the final taste.
Anyway, let me make this point. We're at the four year anniversary of "Hartlepool". Remember that? Boris Johnson riding high as a kite (literally: an inflatable of him floated in the sky above the scene of this famous by-election victory for the Cons) and Keir Starmer, battered to the canvas, thinking seriously about throwing in the towel.
And now look. Johnson is chip paper. Starmer is PM with a landslide majority. A majority more than twice Johnson got in 2019.
The moral? None really. I just wanted to type that out. Enjoyed it.
Unfortunately, the moral is that in the 2020s a large majority can vanish overnight and the two major parties cannot get to grips with the post-neoliberal reality. Here's Aaron Bastani
Yes, tough times for mainstream politicians. It's hard to be both popular and realistic in an era when strong sustainable economic growth isn't on the table.
btw as we haven't had enough, or indeed any loo or trans talk today I thought I would share my insights as to what and why (some, many, most) trans people are trans. Trigger Warning: this may involve some stereotypes but bear with me.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
Agreed, I find the current trend for the overly hopped IPAs means that they all taste like grapefruit juice to me which is not pleasant.
Harder to find more gentle flavours like those of London Pride and Butcombe in pubs as they all seem to stock beers like “Neck Oil” which are grim and fizzy - I can’t remember IPas being fizzy in the 90s and 00’s.
Find myself having to drink Guinness for lack of beer choice which I drink far too quickly.
I was in Brum, looking more than a little grim, at the Birmingham match yesterday and all they had was Cruzcampo, Moretti and Inch cider.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
Agreed, I find the current trend for the overly hopped IPAs means that they all taste like grapefruit juice to me which is not pleasant.
Harder to find more gentle flavours like those of London Pride and Butcombe in pubs as they all seem to stock beers like “Neck Oil” which are grim and fizzy - I can’t remember IPas being fizzy in the 90s and 00’s.
Find myself having to drink Guinness for lack of beer choice which I drink far too quickly.
I was in Brum, looking more than a little grim, at the Birmingham match yesterday and all they had was Cruzcampo, Moretti and Inch cider.
Not great.
Oh for a pint of Davenport's Mild.
Beer at home means Davenport’s, that’s the beer, lots of cheer !
When I was doing my HNC/HND in Brum I used to walk up by the Davenport’s brewery during lunch sometimes. Even pop into the Shakespeare Inn for one
We (the Brum Uni Chem Eng Society) had a brewery visit to Davenport's. Ended with sampling bottles of their extra strong mild. Purely for educational purposes.
From Warwick Chemical Society we did a brewery trip to somewhere in Burton on Trent. Highlight being you paid you ten quid but had a free bar for an hour at the end.
Bladders were not capacious enough and the coach driver refused to stop. Not a great trip home...
btw as we haven't had enough, or indeed any loo or trans talk today I thought I would share my insights as to what and why (some, many, most) trans people are trans. Trigger Warning: this may involve some stereotypes but bear with me.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
Anyway, let me make this point. We're at the four year anniversary of "Hartlepool". Remember that? Boris Johnson riding high as a kite (literally: an inflatable of him floated in the sky above the scene of this famous by-election victory for the Cons) and Keir Starmer, battered to the canvas, thinking seriously about throwing in the towel.
And now look. Johnson is chip paper. Starmer is PM with a landslide majority. A majority more than twice Johnson got in 2019.
The moral? None really. I just wanted to type that out. Enjoyed it.
Unfortunately, the moral is that in the 2020s a large majority can vanish overnight and the two major parties cannot get to grips with the post-neoliberal reality. Here's Aaron Bastani
The lesson of the 1920's is that our system can only really sustain two big parties. A three or four party system only lasts until a party asserts its dominance over their rival on right or left, which rival then dwindles to obscurity.
But, I think things are so volatile now, even that rule does not apply. Perhaps politics is now becoming more Canadian, where parties which get virtually wiped out in one election (like the Canadian Liberals in 2011), come storming back, to win the next.
Of course the problem with the smug "see I told you to use cash" people is that in a general power cut the tills are off anyway. Same with the "how will you charge your car in a power cut" morons who seem to think that fuel pumps and tills at Shell don't use electricity
I saw some chump suggesting the shops make up paper receipts by hand. Imagine Tesco having to do that? And that doesn't deal with stock control, ordering, or logistics knock on effects.
I actually work on a till. Do you? Not every business is Tescos.
I haven't worked a till in a long time, but how do shops do a bill by hand when the prices aren't on the goods and the thing that would tell them the price is the very till that is currently dead? The vast majority of retailers need a working POS system.
And yet the news is full of people in Spain and Portugal queuing to buy things from shops, emptied shelves, people shopping by torchlight etc.
btw as we haven't had enough, or indeed any loo or trans talk today I thought I would share my insights as to what and why (some, many, most) trans people are trans. Trigger Warning: this may involve some stereotypes but bear with me.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
Your welcome.
The issue comes when one becomes 'interested' in sex. You find that while some girls do indeed go for the Tyson Fury think-alike, many don't. And indeed don't like such males.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I used to really enjoy a west coast IPA but not these days. You’re absolutely right. I also find it with some U.K. IPA’s too. I’m glad the craft craze is diminishing. We should end up with a decent set of brewers left.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
Agreed, I find the current trend for the overly hopped IPAs means that they all taste like grapefruit juice to me which is not pleasant.
Harder to find more gentle flavours like those of London Pride and Butcombe in pubs as they all seem to stock beers like “Neck Oil” which are grim and fizzy - I can’t remember IPas being fizzy in the 90s and 00’s.
Find myself having to drink Guinness for lack of beer choice which I drink far too quickly.
I was in Brum, looking more than a little grim, at the Birmingham match yesterday and all they had was Cruzcampo, Moretti and Inch cider.
Not great.
Oh for a pint of Davenport's Mild.
Beer at home means Davenport’s, that’s the beer, lots of cheer !
When I was doing my HNC/HND in Brum I used to walk up by the Davenport’s brewery during lunch sometimes. Even pop into the Shakespeare Inn for one
We (the Brum Uni Chem Eng Society) had a brewery visit to Davenport's. Ended with sampling bottles of their extra strong mild. Purely for educational purposes.
From Warwick Chemical Society we did a brewery trip to somewhere in Burton on Trent. Highlight being you paid you ten quid but had a free bar for an hour at the end.
Bladders were not capacious enough and the coach driver refused to stop. Not a great trip home...
Years ago it was a common sight, late on a Saturday or Sunday evening along the London-bound carriageway of the Southend Arterial Road (aka the A127) to see a coach drawn up by the roadside and a line of men urinating in the hedge, while their wives etc looked out of the coach windows.
Travel in Uzbekistan The weirdness of being in a young country: Kyrgyzstan The interface between Technology and kids The state of luxury travel in the Philippines Would we ever consume intoxicants if they weren’t intoxicating Cheese
All of this while flying from Bishkek to London. And knapping an enormous flint
Well you better up your game. You've become pretty unreadable these last several months
Interesting. This comment presumes that
1. There was a time when you found me “readable”. Don’t remember that. Did you forget to mention it?
2. All the combined editors of various well-known American, UK and German magazine are lunatics
And
3. I give a fuck what you think
I submit that all are untenable, given the evidence available
I used to travel the world thinking I could put together my storyboards on the flight. You get vain because you think you're flavour of the month and then you look back and you realise you weren't doing your best work. I like stuff well written and have in the past enjoyed your posts and even a couple of your articles. But if you've still got it it's become very well camouflaged.
I shall be sure to note this down, Mister retired tampon advertising executive
btw as we haven't had enough, or indeed any loo or trans talk today I thought I would share my insights as to what and why (some, many, most) trans people are trans. Trigger Warning: this may involve some stereotypes but bear with me.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
Your welcome.
All I can say is that you're way off-base with my schoolfriend, who was trans at the time, and indeed had the op a couple of decades ago. For him, it was far deeper than the somewhat shallow reasoning you give.
But I'd also add that it's unlikely to be just one singular reason for all m-t-f trans people, and might well be a whole matter of 'reasons'.
Travel in Uzbekistan The weirdness of being in a young country: Kyrgyzstan The interface between Technology and kids The state of luxury travel in the Philippines Would we ever consume intoxicants if they weren’t intoxicating Cheese
All of this while flying from Bishkek to London. And knapping an enormous flint
Well you better up your game. You've become pretty unreadable these last several months
Interesting. This comment presumes that
1. There was a time when you found me “readable”. Don’t remember that. Did you forget to mention it?
2. All the combined editors of various well-known American, UK and German magazine are lunatics
And
3. I give a fuck what you think
I submit that all are untenable, given the evidence available
I used to travel the world thinking I could put together my storyboards on the flight. You get vain because you think you're flavour of the month and then you look back and you realise you weren't doing your best work. I like stuff well written and have in the past enjoyed your posts and even a couple of your articles. But if you've still got it it's become very well camouflaged.
I shall be sure to note this down, Mister retired tampon advertising executive
On the Spanish power cut: if it is really a result of an 'atmospheric event', that is not a Carrington-style geomagnetic storm, then it may be that their grid was fairly poorly designed. It might also have implications for us...
Travel in Uzbekistan The weirdness of being in a young country: Kyrgyzstan The interface between Technology and kids The state of luxury travel in the Philippines Would we ever consume intoxicants if they weren’t intoxicating Cheese
All of this while flying from Bishkek to London. And knapping an enormous flint
Well you better up your game. You've become pretty unreadable these last several months
Interesting. This comment presumes that
1. There was a time when you found me “readable”. Don’t remember that. Did you forget to mention it?
2. All the combined editors of various well-known American, UK and German magazine are lunatics
And
3. I give a fuck what you think
I submit that all are untenable, given the evidence available
I used to travel the world thinking I could put together my storyboards on the flight. You get vain because you think you're flavour of the month and then you look back and you realise you weren't doing your best work. I like stuff well written and have in the past enjoyed your posts and even a couple of your articles. But if you've still got it it's become very well camouflaged.
I shall be sure to note this down, Mister retired tampon advertising executive
If TV advertising is any guide, there's a lot of money to be made now from constructing advertisements for tampons. How different from when I started in pharmacy and all such items were packed in plain papers wrappers.
Travel in Uzbekistan The weirdness of being in a young country: Kyrgyzstan The interface between Technology and kids The state of luxury travel in the Philippines Would we ever consume intoxicants if they weren’t intoxicating Cheese
All of this while flying from Bishkek to London. And knapping an enormous flint
Well you better up your game. You've become pretty unreadable these last several months
Interesting. This comment presumes that
1. There was a time when you found me “readable”. Don’t remember that. Did you forget to mention it?
2. All the combined editors of various well-known American, UK and German magazine are lunatics
And
3. I give a fuck what you think
I submit that all are untenable, given the evidence available
I used to travel the world thinking I could put together my storyboards on the flight. You get vain because you think you're flavour of the month and then you look back and you realise you weren't doing your best work. I like stuff well written and have in the past enjoyed your posts and even a couple of your articles. But if you've still got it it's become very well camouflaged.
I shall be sure to note this down, Mister retired tampon advertising executive
Did Roger do the Bodyform ads? They were great. Didn't PP Arnold sing the jingle?
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I agree - it reminds me of the time wine got over-oaked - however the key word is surely “some”
America now has such a magnificent variety of beers, you can easily find something to suit your subtler British taste
I agree - it is perfectly possible to get stuff that is not mango flavored or over hopped. Sadly, there is a lot of over hopped and/or mango flavored beer out there.
On a parallel note I do wonder about all the hype over the water used to make beer (or come to that spirits, although I know little about spirits).
It seems to be a big thing, yet Surrey Hills Brewery who make excellent beer and have won lots of awards, including Champion Beer (of all types of beer) for Shere Drop use, wait for it, tap water.
You mean they don't use Dasani?
Different water has different mineral make up depending on where it is sourced. Gales Brewery was in Horndean. The brand was bought by Fullers and produced in Chiswick. I believe that they treat the water to mimic that found in Horndean. I don't think it being tap water is relevant.
I'm sure that's what they say they do - but I'm sure that since they were bought out by Fullers and brewed in Chiswick the Gales HSB doesn't taste the same as it used to to me. Obviously I can't blind taste test so am simply comparing what I drink now with what I remember drinking 25 years ago as a teenager - which I fully admit isn't really a great comparison.
Travel in Uzbekistan The weirdness of being in a young country: Kyrgyzstan The interface between Technology and kids The state of luxury travel in the Philippines Would we ever consume intoxicants if they weren’t intoxicating Cheese
All of this while flying from Bishkek to London. And knapping an enormous flint
Well you better up your game. You've become pretty unreadable these last several months
Interesting. This comment presumes that
1. There was a time when you found me “readable”. Don’t remember that. Did you forget to mention it?
2. All the combined editors of various well-known American, UK and German magazine are lunatics
And
3. I give a fuck what you think
I submit that all are untenable, given the evidence available
I used to travel the world thinking I could put together my storyboards on the flight. You get vain because you think you're flavour of the month and then you look back and you realise you weren't doing your best work. I like stuff well written and have in the past enjoyed your posts and even a couple of your articles. But if you've still got it it's become very well camouflaged.
I shall be sure to note this down, Mister retired tampon advertising executive
No-one better placed to understand what you are, surely ?
Bishkek has an alarmingly pleasant climate. I might have to move here
Short sharp snowy winters
Glorious springs - in the Tien Shan
Long hot sunny summers
Short expressive autumn
Most of the year it’s mild and dry enough to sit outside
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm such a shame it’s a billion miles from anywhere
Well that sounds very nice indeed. But I'm sceptical Bishkek winters are 'short'. Three months a year of daily mean below zero! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishkek
Looks alright to me
Yes it gets properly cold. For 3 months. But I don’t mind that at all especially if it is accompanied by sunny crisp days and snow - which it surely will be up here by the Tien Shan
It is also very sunny, getting about 2,600 hours of sun a year (almost twice as much as Manchester, sorry) - roughly the same as Athens
Travel in Uzbekistan The weirdness of being in a young country: Kyrgyzstan The interface between Technology and kids The state of luxury travel in the Philippines Would we ever consume intoxicants if they weren’t intoxicating Cheese
All of this while flying from Bishkek to London. And knapping an enormous flint
Well you better up your game. You've become pretty unreadable these last several months
Interesting. This comment presumes that
1. There was a time when you found me “readable”. Don’t remember that. Did you forget to mention it?
2. All the combined editors of various well-known American, UK and German magazine are lunatics
And
3. I give a fuck what you think
I submit that all are untenable, given the evidence available
I used to travel the world thinking I could put together my storyboards on the flight. You get vain because you think you're flavour of the month and then you look back and you realise you weren't doing your best work. I like stuff well written and have in the past enjoyed your posts and even a couple of your articles. But if you've still got it it's become very well camouflaged.
I shall be sure to note this down, Mister retired tampon advertising executive
No-one better placed to understand what you are, surely ?
Please be kind; we'll be needing the smelling salts for Nick.
btw as we haven't had enough, or indeed any loo or trans talk today I thought I would share my insights as to what and why (some, many, most) trans people are trans. Trigger Warning: this may involve some stereotypes but bear with me.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
On the Spanish power cut: if it is really a result of an 'atmospheric event', that is not a Carrington-style geomagnetic storm, then it may be that their grid was fairly poorly designed. It might also have implications for us...
That we're no longer a shoo-in for the poorly designed grid award?
Of course the problem with the smug "see I told you to use cash" people is that in a general power cut the tills are off anyway. Same with the "how will you charge your car in a power cut" morons who seem to think that fuel pumps and tills at Shell don't use electricity
I saw some chump suggesting the shops make up paper receipts by hand. Imagine Tesco having to do that? And that doesn't deal with stock control, ordering, or logistics knock on effects.
I actually work on a till. Do you? Not every business is Tescos.
I haven't worked a till in a long time, but how do shops do a bill by hand when the prices aren't on the goods and the thing that would tell them the price is the very till that is currently dead? The vast majority of retailers need a working POS system.
And yet the news is full of people in Spain and Portugal queuing to buy things from shops, emptied shelves, people shopping by torchlight etc.
Is it? For every post showing people shopping by torchlight I can see three showing the shops closed
btw as we haven't had enough, or indeed any loo or trans talk today I thought I would share my insights as to what and why (some, many, most) trans people are trans. Trigger Warning: this may involve some stereotypes but bear with me.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
Your welcome.
You are Grayson Perry AICM £5
Also, I think most parents who've raised both boys and girls will say that at primary school age, the social pressures on girls are at least as brutal.
"Could renewable energy be to blame for huge Spain blackout? How outage struck days after country's grid ran entirely on green power for the first time."
I note that the authorities have been very quick to reassure us all that weather is the cause, and not a cyberattack.
Meanwhile on Twitter, the experts have been very quick to reassure us that its definitely a cyber attack, definitely Israel, and definitely about Palestine...
"Could renewable energy be to blame for huge Spain blackout? How outage struck days after country's grid ran entirely on green power for the first time."
btw as we haven't had enough, or indeed any loo or trans talk today I thought I would share my insights as to what and why (some, many, most) trans people are trans. Trigger Warning: this may involve some stereotypes but bear with me.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
btw as we haven't had enough, or indeed any loo or trans talk today I thought I would share my insights as to what and why (some, many, most) trans people are trans. Trigger Warning: this may involve some stereotypes but bear with me.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
Your welcome.
You are Grayson Perry AICM £5
Also, I think most parents who've raised both boys and girls will say that at primary school age, the social pressures on girls are at least as brutal.
I'm sure they are but they are different pressures. There are unique pressure on boys and men vs girls and women.
I mean there have to be otherwise why are there trans people in the first place.
On the Spanish power cut: if it is really a result of an 'atmospheric event', that is not a Carrington-style geomagnetic storm, then it may be that their grid was fairly poorly designed. It might also have implications for us...
That we're no longer a shoo-in for the poorly designed grid award?
And there's a real risk of EdM cluttering up* the news.
On the subject of bread: you guys have no idea how lucky you are. Whether it's Germany, France or the UK, your bread is lightyears better than the crap that is sold in every supermarket in the US.
Now, sure, can you get decent bread in the US? Of course. But it's not widely available. Most supermarkets don't have their own bakery in the way Tesco's and Sainsbury's do in the UK.
The disjunct between the affluence of the USA and the shiteness of its food is quite astonishing
I’ve never seen a really good explanation for it
If the USA was a desolate tundra or mainly desert it might make some sense, but it contains much of the most fertile land in the world, and has every possible climate. It is surrounded by magnificent seas, it ranges from frozen Alaska to tropical Florida….
WEIRD
That would mainly be that they don't believe in regulation for the benefit of the public, perhaps?
If I were in the USA I'd have a bread machine, and buy flour once a year when I passed an independent mill.
Lack of regulation is a partial explanation but not enough. There are other things at work: psychosocial, cultural and more
Eg beer. For decades American beer was laughable despite them inheriting an epic beer making tradition from, especially, millions of English and German immigrants. Plus Czechs etc
Then suddenly about 40 years ago something changed, Samuel Adams was a thing, America had a beer revolution, and now they have some of the best beer in the world, marvellous variety, and you can get it everywhere. Even the local gas station will have a very decent craft ipa or lager in the fridge
That was nothing to do with regulation. That was a change in culture and taste
"In 1978, Carter signed H.R. 1337 into law, lifting the federal ban on homebrewing that had been in place since Prohibition. By allowing individuals to brew beer at home, this decision unlocked a world of experimentation and creativity, empowering people to craft unique and flavorful brews on their own terms..." https://thecasualpint.com/cheers-to-jimmy-carter-the-president-who-sparked-a-craft-beer-revolution/
Been wrong at least 3 times today on 3 different topics and it is only lunch time. @Leon is definitely getting worse.
Oh and Cask beer is as rare as hen's teeth in America. It exists but practically impossible to find.
Not quite true. Americans are now making English style craft beers, I met some last year. Indeed they believe we are neglecting our own cask ale tradition
It was actually quite flattering to stand in a foreign country (in a brewery) and hear someone enthuse wildly about England and English beer (“you have the greatest brewing tradition in the world!” Etc)
Americans do brew some excellent beers, and export more and more of them. If I have one trifling complaint it is that they are over-hoppers. I like an intense hoppy flavour as much as the next man, but there is something to be said for the gentle subtlety of British real ale. Not every product has to be the most exciting flavour in the world.
100% this.
The excessive over-hopping of American IPAs makes some of them undrinkable.
I agree - it reminds me of the time wine got over-oaked - however the key word is surely “some”
America now has such a magnificent variety of beers, you can easily find something to suit your subtler British taste
I agree - it is perfectly possible to get stuff that is not mango flavored or over hopped. Sadly, there is a lot of over hopped and/or mango flavored beer out there.
On a parallel note I do wonder about all the hype over the water used to make beer (or come to that spirits, although I know little about spirits).
It seems to be a big thing, yet Surrey Hills Brewery who make excellent beer and have won lots of awards, including Champion Beer (of all types of beer) for Shere Drop use, wait for it, tap water.
You mean they don't use Dasani?
I had to look that up. But no it is Peckham Spring Water.
if you are not a bitter drinker, most bitter these days is Cask and tastes much nicer than the keg stuff we got in the 70s and also not fizzy or cold.
However I am with you when you are really hot and bothered. On our cycling trips it is a fizzy ice cold lager I want.
The right drink for the right occasion. Same with wine. Cold rose in the sun, red with the meal, sweet wine with the pud or cheese.
As Eabhal hints, water source has even less relevancy when the drink is distilled. It needs to be clean and potable. I am not sure there's much else that you can discern from the final taste.
@Luckyguy1983 I'm not sure @Eabhal was suggesting that. If anyone was it was me cheekily suggesting it, although I am not going to argue with anyone about it, because I know it is a strongly held view and he is more qualified than me anyway.
I threw in the fact that my local brewery, which has won many awards and makes various delicious pints using Peckham Spring Water (that is tap water). And I did it just to be provocative.
btw as we haven't had enough, or indeed any loo or trans talk today I thought I would share my insights as to what and why (some, many, most) trans people are trans. Trigger Warning: this may involve some stereotypes but bear with me.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
Your welcome.
All I can say is that you're way off-base with my schoolfriend, who was trans at the time, and indeed had the op a couple of decades ago. For him, it was far deeper than the somewhat shallow reasoning you give.
But I'd also add that it's unlikely to be just one singular reason for all m-t-f trans people, and might well be a whole matter of 'reasons'.
Far deeper, eh? So he just "knew". And my reasoning is shallow.
btw as we haven't had enough, or indeed any loo or trans talk today I thought I would share my insights as to what and why (some, many, most) trans people are trans. Trigger Warning: this may involve some stereotypes but bear with me.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
Your welcome.
The issue comes when one becomes 'interested' in sex. You find that while some girls do indeed go for the Tyson Fury think-alike, many don't. And indeed don't like such males.
I think, and it is quite well understood isn't it, that there is a huge number of girls who are appalled by the thought of puberty and changing bodies that want to put that off, perhaps for ever and trans is one manifestation of that.
On the Spanish power cut: if it is really a result of an 'atmospheric event', that is not a Carrington-style geomagnetic storm, then it may be that their grid was fairly poorly designed. It might also have implications for us...
That we're no longer a shoo-in for the poorly designed grid award?
No. Not at all. After all, we have not had a similar massive countrywide failure.
But we will need to look very carefully - and quickly - at the causal factors in this event and try to mitigate them in our own systems.
(I do wonder if this was a cascade failure, such as the 2003 New York blackout. Systems can be robust yet fragile.)
btw as we haven't had enough, or indeed any loo or trans talk today I thought I would share my insights as to what and why (some, many, most) trans people are trans. Trigger Warning: this may involve some stereotypes but bear with me.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
Your welcome.
All I can say is that you're way off-base with my schoolfriend, who was trans at the time, and indeed had the op a couple of decades ago. For him, it was far deeper than the somewhat shallow reasoning you give.
But I'd also add that it's unlikely to be just one singular reason for all m-t-f trans people, and might well be a whole matter of 'reasons'.
Far deeper, eh? So he just "knew". And my reasoning is shallow.
Have you ever asked him.
We had very, very long chats about it. We were only teenagers.
I wonder if you would be brave enough to propose 'reasons' why some people are gay?
btw as we haven't had enough, or indeed any loo or trans talk today I thought I would share my insights as to what and why (some, many, most) trans people are trans. Trigger Warning: this may involve some stereotypes but bear with me.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
Your welcome.
All I can say is that you're way off-base with my schoolfriend, who was trans at the time, and indeed had the op a couple of decades ago. For him, it was far deeper than the somewhat shallow reasoning you give.
But I'd also add that it's unlikely to be just one singular reason for all m-t-f trans people, and might well be a whole matter of 'reasons'.
And why would someone so avoidant decide to put themselves in such a vulnerable position as to be transgender? that is inviting societal pressure not escaping it.
Its more likely they become light house keepers or database administrators.
Of course the problem with the smug "see I told you to use cash" people is that in a general power cut the tills are off anyway. Same with the "how will you charge your car in a power cut" morons who seem to think that fuel pumps and tills at Shell don't use electricity
I was in Portugal just now and even I was surprised by how much cash is still used.
Only spoke to 80 people, perhaps, so totally unscientific, but I met more people planning to vote Green than Tory.
Essentially zero of the discontent with Labour (of which there is a lot!) is being channeled towards the Tory party….
You can get 125/1 on the Tories winning, which is consistent with Bastani's observation.
I suggest the Tories need to attack Reform UK relentlessly if they want to beat them anywhere.
The starting point for a Tory recovery is them deciding what they are for, not what they are against. Then they need to start explaining how Joe and Jane Average benefit from it.
Incessant moaning about modernity is not policy, and anyway that is Reforms bag now.
The contemporary iteration of the tory part is just being AliExpress Fukkers. I have no idea where they go next nor, I suspect, do they. Some brexit contrition and re-engagement on environmental matters might be a start. Or it might make things even worse. Lol.
I am able to bring this site the unique (actually there are zillions of us) insight of a sickened ex-Tory who believes the party became toxic which believed it could out-Reform Reform only to find, as small children in Hartlepool could have told you, that you can never out-extreme the extremes.
I would like, from the Tories, some "Europe is our closest and largest trading partner, therefore..." and some "we understand the trans issue and then [Nick Herbert's excellent piece]" and some "Party of economic stability" and also some "public sector vital for the nation but shouldn't be immune to reform" and then, ofc, naming me President for Life with a free (as I googled it, tyvm) Toyota Century plus driver.
Then I would take a second look.
Yes. A damn good detox. But would the last initiative not risk undoing all the excellent work of the rest?
"Could renewable energy be to blame for huge Spain blackout? How outage struck days after country's grid ran entirely on green power for the first time."
I was in New York for the massive blackout 20 years ago. We were on the 35th floor of a skyscraper. And when we came out the meeting, we discovered all the lights were off and there was no one around. It was freaky.
Only spoke to 80 people, perhaps, so totally unscientific, but I met more people planning to vote Green than Tory.
Essentially zero of the discontent with Labour (of which there is a lot!) is being channeled towards the Tory party….
You can get 125/1 on the Tories winning, which is consistent with Bastani's observation.
I suggest the Tories need to attack Reform UK relentlessly if they want to beat them anywhere.
The starting point for a Tory recovery is them deciding what they are for, not what they are against. Then they need to start explaining how Joe and Jane Average benefit from it.
Incessant moaning about modernity is not policy, and anyway that is Reforms bag now.
The contemporary iteration of the tory part is just being AliExpress Fukkers. I have no idea where they go next nor, I suspect, do they. Some brexit contrition and re-engagement on environmental matters might be a start. Or it might make things even worse. Lol.
I am able to bring this site the unique (actually there are zillions of us) insight of a sickened ex-Tory who believes the party became toxic which believed it could out-Reform Reform only to find, as small children in Hartlepool could have told you, that you can never out-extreme the extremes.
I would like, from the Tories, some "Europe is our closest and largest trading partner, therefore..." and some "we understand the trans issue and then [Nick Herbert's excellent piece]" and some "Party of economic stability" and also some "public sector vital for the nation but shouldn't be immune to reform" and then, ofc, naming me President for Life with a free (as I googled it, tyvm) Toyota Century plus driver.
Then I would take a second look.
Yes. A damn good detox. But would the last initiative not risk undoing all the excellent work of the rest?
Sounds like you're a Lib Dem really..😏
And I thought I'd gone below the belt calling someone an idiot.
Comments
Morgan McSweeney needs you urgently for a focus group!!
* McSweeney/Mattinson's name for Tory to Labour possibly switchers for July 24.
America now has such a magnificent variety of beers, you can easily find something to suit your subtler British taste
But the *vast majority* cannot.
I can listen to an argument for coffee or tea, maybe (but I likely disagree), but zero alcohol wine or beer? Nah. It’s a placebo effect. It’s like taking de-heroin-ated heroin, or sniffing cocaine with no high at the end
It seems to be a big thing, yet Surrey Hills Brewery who make excellent beer and have won lots of awards, including Champion Beer (of all types of beer) for Shere Drop use, wait for it, tap water.
Very funny. With Rose Byrne also.
The beer keeps fermenting in the cask.
Keg it is already stabilised and doesn’t.
And as a tart little aside I'd say some people pretend it's mainly about the taste when in fact they're drinking to get a buzz on.
Of course what constitutes a buzz (and how much is needed to create it) can differ wildly between people.
Water, juices, what have you, just don't have that substance to them.
I once tried a Triple IPA. Never again
If a future government decided to take Britain back into the EU then the trade deal with India would be one of the casualties, just as preferential trade arrangements with the Commonwealth were a casualty of the decision to join in the 70s.
Unless by rejoining the EU one actually means a reverse takeover by which the EU joins the UK, and thereby inherits the UK's trade deals.
Harder to find more gentle flavours like those of London Pride and Butcombe in pubs as they all seem to stock beers like “Neck Oil” which are grim and fizzy - I can’t remember IPas being fizzy in the 90s and 00’s.
Find myself having to drink Guinness for lack of beer choice which I drink far too quickly.
Check whats on.
Six IPAs.
None of which have ever been exported to India.
Buy a pint of Porter.
Not great.
Short sharp snowy winters
Glorious springs - in the Tien Shan
Long hot sunny summers
Short expressive autumn
Most of the year it’s mild and dry enough to sit outside
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm such a shame it’s a billion miles from anywhere
The other independent councillor I don’t like so I won’t vote for him.
If I was in the North constituency I’d vote for Karen Darby.
And now look. Johnson is chip paper. Starmer is PM with a landslide majority. A majority more than twice Johnson got in 2019.
The moral? None really. I just wanted to type that out. Enjoyed it.
Craft beer wankers are clueless fools who know nothing about the quality of cask ale.
They drink over-priced keg or, worse still, beer out of garishly coloured tins.
It is the CAMRA wankers who pontificate about cask ale until you fall asleep.
if you are not a bitter drinker, most bitter these days is Cask and tastes much nicer than the keg stuff we got in the 70s and also not fizzy or cold.
However I am with you when you are really hot and bothered. On our cycling trips it is a fizzy ice cold lager I want.
The right drink for the right occasion. Same with wine. Cold rose in the sun, red with the meal, sweet wine with the pud or cheese.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL2j4j7pnO8
When I was doing my HNC/HND in Brum I used to walk up by the Davenport’s brewery during lunch sometimes. Even pop into the Shakespeare Inn for one
I would love to know where the savings are coming from as chartered surveyors aren’t renowned for being tax experts which is why they were split off in the first place. On the upside the VOA won’t be wasting time working out how many secondary schools can be closed as the short term population blip leaves secondary education
Although I did have a Wye Valley Butty Bach too on Saturday which was most pleasant.
He never told me if he qualified for the Bass drinkers club.
MTF first (not unreasonable to think that FTM might "just" be the obverse of this):
Let's say you are a biological male. From a very early age you realise not only that the world is competitive, but that it is uniquely competitive from a male perspective. Not only that but it is nasty and brutish and the first manifestation of this often comes at school where violence can be a go-to method of asserting oneself, creating hierarchies, settling disputes over sherbet dabs and what have you. And it doesn't really let up. As you progress to and through the teens into youthdom and early adulthood the competitive world gets no easier and, critically, no less rough. The concept of "macho" begins to manifest itself and although not easily definable it includes elements such as being faster, stronger, competitive, fighting, fearlessness, and bravado (incomplete list).
But you are a gentle soul. You don't like all that and believe it is absurd that anyone could or should be judged on such terms. What does it matter if that bloke looked at your pint, or called you a pussy, or in other ways tried to assert themselves over you. It doesn't mean anything to you and you'd rather avoid all that. You'd rather opt out of that set of expectations and stereotypes and the pressure of having to "man up" all the time.
And one of the ways (there are several) that you could do this, that you could simply avoid those pressures and obligations to be "a man" are to say that, well, you are not a man. You would rather live your life where you walk into a pub and no one is eyeing you up, and you don't have to worry if you have violated some code or behavioural mode or expectation or are wearing the wrong clothes (I appreciate the irony here for MTF trans people). You just live your life free of that stuff. So you declare you are a woman. And all of a sudden you don't have to worry about that any more. You now have no such pressure. You can just jettison that side of life. You are free.
Now, of course, you will have any number of other challenges to navigate in your chosen existence mode, and for sure there are plenty of violent, competitive biological women, but that seems to me to be a likely reason why biological men might say they want to be women.
Your welcome.
https://www.davenports.co.uk/
Bladders were not capacious enough and the coach driver refused to stop. Not a great trip home...
But, I think things are so volatile now, even that rule does not apply. Perhaps politics is now becoming more Canadian, where parties which get virtually wiped out in one election (like the Canadian Liberals in 2011), come storming back, to win the next.
And indeed don't like such males.
But I'd also add that it's unlikely to be just one singular reason for all m-t-f trans people, and might well be a whole matter of 'reasons'.
How different from when I started in pharmacy and all such items were packed in plain papers wrappers.
(Hat tip to Tom Scott's weekly newsletter)
Yes it gets properly cold. For 3 months. But I don’t mind that at all especially if it is accompanied by sunny crisp days and snow - which it surely will be up here by the Tien Shan
It is also very sunny, getting about 2,600 hours of sun a year (almost twice as much as Manchester, sorry) - roughly the same as Athens
LET’S ALL MOVE TO BISHKEK
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14655733/How-huge-Spain-blackout-struck-days-grid-ran-entirely-green-power-time.html
"Could renewable energy be to blame for huge Spain blackout? How outage struck days after country's grid ran entirely on green power for the first time."
Meanwhile on Twitter, the experts have been very quick to reassure us that its definitely a cyber attack, definitely Israel, and definitely about Palestine...
I mean there have to be otherwise why are there trans people in the first place.
*Other phrases are available.
I threw in the fact that my local brewery, which has won many awards and makes various delicious pints using Peckham Spring Water (that is tap water). And I did it just to be provocative.
Have you ever asked him.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgn7jdw3wgo
"Three men and three teens jailed for park murder"
$31 tariff on a $22 dress for a total of $54.
Get ready to see anger like you have never seen before.
Americans are addicted to cheap goods and this shock therapy isn’t going to go over well with them.
https://x.com/SpencerHakimian/status/1916702344370086168
But we will need to look very carefully - and quickly - at the causal factors in this event and try to mitigate them in our own systems.
(I do wonder if this was a cascade failure, such as the 2003 New York blackout. Systems can be robust yet fragile.)
I wonder if you would be brave enough to propose 'reasons' why some people are gay?
Its more likely they become light house keepers or database administrators.