Tag: Good

There’s Good News and Bad News for Trump in a New Survey

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My survey of GOP county chairs is part of an ongoing effort to track the so-called “invisible primary” for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, with a series that is being featured in POLITICO Magazine over the next year. What takes place during the invisible primary is the crucial coordination and jockeying that occurs before anyone starts voting or caucusing, but which will do much to determine the eventual winner. County chairs are figures who will play a key role in shaping the race. They are highly attentive to the party’s internal dynamics and are influential in local GOP circles; they offer the kind of endorsements that candidates are eager to collect. They’re also still close to the rank-and-file grassroots, and their shifts are likely to signal where the rest of the party is going.
When I launched my first survey in February, Trump was looking vulnerable. He was tied with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis among those who had committed to a candidate, and unlike DeSantis, there appeared to be a real ceiling for how much Trump’s support could grow. But in the wake of Trump’s April indictment in Manhattan, related to his alleged hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, Trump picked up some support, largely at DeSantis’ expense. It appeared Republicans were rallying to the embattled former president once again.
The most recent survey, conducted in the first few weeks of June, came amid yet another criminal indictment — this time involving federal charges that he mishandled classified documents, including violations of the Espionage Act. Yet I found Trump’s support continued to increase. Roughly twice as many county party chairs are now committed to Trump as to DeSantis, and no other candidates have really broken through.
This past month has seen a raft of new entrants to the GOP race, including some expected contenders like former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, along with seemingly even bigger longshots like North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former Texas Rep. Will Hurd and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
Some commentators have suggested the crowded primary campaign could mirror that of 2016, when Trump snatched the nomination because other candidates split the anti-Trump vote. But so far, support for all the candidates combined still falls short of Trump’s tally. The one hope for Trump holdouts is that many chairs remain undecided.
As director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver, I sent this survey to roughly 3,000 GOP chairs, one for every county in the country; 133 Republican chairs responded, roughly the same number who responded to the April survey.
The first question I asked was simply whether the county chairs had committed to supporting a candidate, and if so, whom that might be.
The proportion of undecided chairs remains significant, but it dipped a bit to 47 percent, down from 51 percent in April. DeSantis’ share of supporters has not shifted, holding just under 14 percent. But Trump’s support continues to grow. He has 29 percent now — roughly double what DeSantis has — and up from 24 percent in April and 16 percent in February. Support for all other candidates added up to around 10 percent.

Moe Yoder, a Trump backer who chairs the Republican Party of Yamhill County, Ore., summed up the sentiment of many: “I was impressed by his first term and was very upset that he was robbed of his second term.” Meanwhile, DeSantis supporter Donna Girten of Crittenden County, Ky., echoed the rationale many of his backers have voiced throughout this year, crediting “his conservative efforts and no-holds-barred approach. He’s Trump like without the drama.”
I then asked another question to gauge potential candidate support: Which candidates are county chairs considering for the presidential nomination?
DeSantis still holds the lead in this category, with 61 percent of chairs saying they’re open to the Florida governor’s nomination. But notably, that figure has dropped with each survey wave; it had been 67 percent in April and 73 percent in February. Trump’s numbers, while not as strong, continue to improve. He’s now at 53 percent, up from 51 percent in April and 43 percent in February, suggesting more and more Republicans are getting comfortable with him back at the top of the ticket. Again, that’s even as his legal woes grow.
The one non-Trump, non-DeSantis contender who saw a real bit of movement in my survey is South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. He appears to have enjoyed a strong campaign rollout, with 46 percent of chairs now saying they’re considering supporting him, up from 26 percent in April. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s numbers are up slightly, from 29 percent in April to 31 percent in June, while Pence saw his numbers rise from 17 to 24 percent between April and June.

Finally, I asked the chairs whom they do not want to see as their presidential nominee. Christie led the pack for the third straight time, with 57 percent of chairs saying they do not want him as the GOP nominee. This is roughly the same figure as in April, suggesting his recent campaign rollout in which he offered sharp critiques of Trump hasn’t done much to alter his image among Republican grassroots leaders. The one bright spot for Christie is that a few more chairs are considering him now than were in April: 11 percent rather than just 4 percent.
As in previous surveys, the candidates with the most opposition among county chairs after Christie were former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (who has continued to criticize Trump for his legal travails), Pence and Trump himself. Pence’s negatives are down slightly, however, to 42 percent of chairs ruling him out as opposed to 47 percent in April.
Meanwhile, considerably more county chairs are now rejecting Trump’s candidacy than in the last wave, with 38 percent of chairs now opposed to him, up from 29 percent in April. Ever the polarizing force, it appears that the latest round of indictments may have increased both Trump’s supporters and detractors within the party.

We can learn a bit more about these party leaders’ sentiment by focusing on just those who answered both the April and June surveys; that’s 57 chairs overall. For the most part, we see relatively stable candidate alignments. DeSantis picked up two undecideds while Trump picked up one chair and lost two. A few chairs shifted around a bit, but there wasn’t a lot of change.
This stability, of course, advantages Trump the longer it goes on. But the race is still relatively early. The debates start in August, and Trump could face yet more indictments based on his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Eventually those undecided chairs will have to pick a side.
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#Good #News #Bad #News #Trump #Survey
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

July 11, 2023
No good options if Congress fails to raise the debt limit, Yellen says

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Once that date hits, “really that’s it,” Yellen said on “This Week.” “We have been using extraordinary measures for several months now, and our ability to do that is running out.”
The debate over the debt limit has left Democrats and Republicans in a deadlock, and so far neither side seems ready to budge. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Democrats are in “lockstep” with Biden, who has called for passing a clean debt ceiling, not tied to any of the spending cuts House Republicans proposed in the bill they passed last month.
Speaking on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said a letter had been sent to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer saying 43 Republicans backed House Republicans in saying they would not consent to passing a debt ceiling increase without “spending cuts and structural budget reform.” He said he expects Senate Republicans to stay united on the issue.
“As Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the House, meets with the White House, it’s imperative that he arrive in a position of negotiating power,” Lee said.
Should Congress fail to come to an agreement before the X date, some analysts have suggested that Biden could invoke the 14th Amendment, which confirms “the validity of the public debt,” to raise the ceiling unilaterally. Legal scholar Laurence H. Tribe wrote of that option in the New York Times on Sunday: “For a president to pick the lesser of two evils when no other option exists is the essence of constitutional leadership, not the action of a tyrant.”
But it’s an option Yellen doesn’t want to White House to have to consider.
“Look, all I want to say is that it’s Congress’s job to do this,” she said. “If they fail to do it, we will have an economic and financial catastrophe that will be of our own making and there is no action that President Biden and the U.S. Treasury can take to prevent that catastrophe.”
If Congress does fail to find common ground, “there are simply no good options,” Yellen said.

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#good #options #Congress #fails #raise #debt #limit #Yellen
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 7, 2023
Jk Bank Nets Best Ever Profit Of Rs 1197 Cr, Records Good Recoveries

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SRINAGAR: Adding a historic milestone to its remarkable journey, JK Bank recorded Rs 1197 Cr as net profit for the FY 2022-23 as the Bank’s highest-ever annual profit. Along with a decadal-high Capital Adequacy Ratio (CRAR) of 15.39% and eight-year best gross NPA figure at 6.04%, the Bank also registered its best-ever Q4 profit of Rs 476 Cr to successfully deliver its better-than-promised annual and quarterly performance.
The bank declared its annual and Q4 results today after its Board of Directors approved the numbers in a meeting held here at the bank’s Corporate Headquarters.
Performance Highlights
Aided by good recoveries, J&K Bank today delivered its best-ever net profit of Rs 1197 Cr for the FY 2022-23 and registered Rs 476 Cr as net profit for the January-March quarter of the FY 2022-23.
With Net Interest Margin (NIM) for the FY 2022-23 at 3.89 % against 3.50% recorded last year, the Bank’s operating income increased by 18% YoY to Rs 5502 Cr while as the other Net Interest Income (NII) grew 21% YoY to Rs 4745 Cr.
Bank’s Yield on Advances rose annually to 8.91% from 8.32%, while as the CD and CASA ratios stood at 67.43% and 54.10% respectively for the reviewed financial year.
Asset-Quality
The Bank’s gross and net NPA as percentages to gross and net advances improved considerably to 6.04% and 1.62% respectively when compared to 8.67 % and 2.49%, recorded last year.

The Bank’s Return on Assets jumped from 0.42% to 0.89% for the FY 2022-23, while as the NPA Coverage Ratio of the Bank improved to 86.20% against 84.26% recorded a year ago.
Capital-Cushion
After raising over Rs 1021 Cr as (tier-II) capital and significant internal accruals during the FY 2022-23, the Bank’s Capital Adequacy Ratio witnessed marked improvement of 216 bps to 15.39% from 13.23% recorded last year; thereby ensuring adequate availability of capital to support business growth while maintaining the regulatory buffer comfortably.
Business Growth
With advances growth outpacing the increase in deposits, the Bank’s advances grew by 17% to Rs 82285 Cr while as the deposits increased by around 6% to Rs 122038 Cr posting growth of 10% in the overall business of the Bank.
MD&CEO-Speak
Commenting upon the annual numbers, MD & CEO Baldev Prakash said, “With historic yearly profit, highest-ever quarterly net, decadal high CRAR, best asset-quality figures over last 8 years; it’s a great feeling to deliver better-than-promised annual numbers. I feel completely satisfied to see that we have gotten better at operating our business efficiently.”
“Looking back to March 2022 with these set of numbers, I see an unmistakable shift in performance as well as the functioning of Bank. Right from financials, operations and business to compliance and vastly improved corporate governance, the leap from turn-around to transformation is quite perceptible as well as promising”, he added.
Attributing the accomplishment to Bank staff, MD & CEO said, “I am happy to dedicate this historic and resounding success to the entire J&K Bank family that once again rose to the occasion and honoured the trust of all our stakeholders including customers by achieving most of the targets while improving upon the everyday functioning of the Bank”, adding, “I also express my profound gratitude to our patrons and promoters i.e. J&K Government and Ladakh Administration for their support and guidance throughout this journey.”
Regarding the marked improvement in CAR and GNPAs, MD stated, “Keeping thrust on strengthening the Balance Sheet by way of capital augmentation and NPA reduction, we have achieved Asset Quality figures that are the best in last eight years along with a decadal high CRAR.”
“Post-revamp of business strategy to reduce concentration risk, our loan book in ROI has already grown by above 20% during FY 2022-23 consequently improving the contribution of ROI loan book to 32% of total advances of the Bank”, said the MD on Bank’s sharpening focus on business in rest of the country.
He further said, “While making our balance-sheet stronger on daily basis, we have now entered into a progressive-phase wherein business-growth coupled with process excellence is all set to yield better returns for all stakeholders of the Bank. To ensure ease of banking for our clients, we have already enabled around 4 Lac customers on STP Platform for retail-loan processing with a turn-around-time of just 2-minutes, which has helped in reducing the footfall at branches drastically”, while adding, “With many cutting-edge technological solutions like Customer Relationship Management, WhatsApp banking, Cloud Application along with Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning based Analytics at advanced stages of completion, I see J&K Bank well on its path to become one of the most agile, efficient and digitally smarter banks in the country soon.”

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#Bank #Nets #Profit #Records #Good #Recoveries
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

May 5, 2023
Turkish star Burak Deniz grooving to Salman Khan’s song is too good to miss, check out clip

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Mumbai: Renowned Turkish star Burak Deniz is currently in India and he has been making the best use of his time exploring the nation’s culture. And of course, as he is in the entertainment hub, he also added Bollywood tadka to his trip.
On Thursday, Burak attended the 23rd edition of FICCI Frames in Mumbai, where he met veteran actor Anil Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur.
Sharing a picture of hugging Anil Kapoor, Burak took to Instagram Story and wrote, ” Thank you (smiley emoji).”

Burak looked handsome in a white shirt that he paired with white trousers and white sneakers.
In another story, he dropped a video of him listening to Aamir Khan and Salman Khan’s famous song ‘Ye Raat Aur Ye Doori’ from the cult film ‘ Andaz Apna Apna’.
The particular video went viral, garnering loads of likes and comments from netizens.
” Seems like Burak is also a Bollywood fan,” a social media user commented.
“Hahahah he is so cool,” another one wrote.
“This video of him grooving to ‘Ye raat aur ye doori’ made my day,” a fan commented.

Burak is known for his versatile performances in projects like ‘The Ignorant Angels’ and ‘ShahMaran’.
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#Turkish #star #Burak #Deniz #grooving #Salman #Khans #song #good #check #clip
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 5, 2023
Karnataka: ‘Not good to remove’, says Shettar on Modi, Shah’s photos in office

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Hubbali: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar — contesting on a Congress ticket hoping to reclaim his lost self-respect– still has photos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah hanging on a wall in his home office and says it is not good to remove them.
The photos adorn the wall although he is hurt the BJP chose not to pick him for the May 10 assembly elections.
Having represented Hubli-Dharwad Central since 1994 on a BJP ticket, Shettar, however, claimed the saffron party had no “address” earlier there and that he built it since then, making it a “Shettar vs Congress” battle ever since.

After severing his decades-old ties with the saffron party, Shettar now in the last leg of his political career puts a Congress flag on his car and sets out for campaigning along with the party workers.
Trying to put the past aside, Shettar is meeting supporters and party workers at his home office sitting on his regular sofa with two photos of Modi and Shah still hung on the wall behind.
In an interview with PTI while being seated on the same chair, Shettar asked, “What is so surprising about it,” when queried why he has not removed the photos after exiting BJP.
He said: “Immediately after shifting from one party to another, removing photos of earlier leaders is not a good thing. I cannot do that.”
In the past, Shettar and his wife have said several times they have respect for Modi and Shah.

Stating this would be his last assembly election, the six-time MLA said, “This election is a fight for my self-respect, not for political aspirations. As my self-respect was damaged, I joined the Congress for my own peace without putting conditions,” he added.
BJP should have given an honourable exit for him by fielding him from here for the last time. “It did not happen due to General Secretary (Organisation) B L Santhosh who pushed for a ticket for his close associate and did all this drama,” he claimed.
Shettar further said the poll ticket was denied also because there was apprehension he may claim the number one position among Lingayats after former chief minister B S Yediyurappa.
Asked if he was facing difficulty in convincing voters as a Congress candidate now, he admitted facing some “embarrassment” in the beginning. Gradually, voters are realising when told he was denied a BJP ticket without any reason.
“Nobody knows why I was denied a ticket despite having popularity, age, no criminal background and no corruption/CDs. Whereas the BJP has given tickets to 75-year-old people, family members and those who have a criminal background,” he said.
Shettar mentioned he was receiving a positive public response so far and added, “I have still maintained popularity because of pro-development works. There is no anti-incumbency. I am confident of winning with a thumping majority this time.”
He said there is a “miscommunication” that he won in the last six consecutive elections with the support of BJP workers and Marathas.
Shettar shared that he first contested on a BJP ticket in 1994 and before that, he nurtured the saffron party for three years. Then he became president of a party unit and later the state chief.
Asserting the BJP did not have an “address” here, he said prior to 1994, the saffron party did not have any existence in the region and that its candidates had lost their deposits. “I built the party and it has always been — Shettar versus Congress.”
The former chief minister also said he was not “power hungry” and if he was then he would have become a minister in the Basavaraj Bommai-led cabinet.
“Bommai is junior to me in politics. Immediately after his swearing-in as CM, I did not join the cabinet. I have been working as an MLA for the last two years.”
On JD(S) leader C M Ibrahim’s demand to probe Shettar’s properties in and around Hubbali, he said, “I have not constructed any bungalow in Bengaluru.”
“Here also, I have limited property within the legal purview. I am not a political leader worth Rs 1,000 crore. I don’t have crores of transactions. These are all vague allegations.”
Asked if his exit has affected son’s political prospects in the BJP, Shettar said, “I always believe: one family, one power is sufficient..I am not going to insist that my children become my successor. If they have leadership and interest, they can grow.”
With a week left for voting, the Congress leader said his family has taken this election as a personal challenge. “More than me, my wife is working hard in this election. She is campaigning for me door-to-door,” he added.
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#Karnataka #good #remove #Shettar #Modi #Shahs #photos #office
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 3, 2023
BJP accuses Kerala government of appropriating good schemes of Centre

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Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP on Saturday accused the CPI(M)-led Kerala government of appropriating the good schemes of the party-ruled Centre and having the habit of passing their failures onto the Union government.
The saffron party also said the state government’s data servers need to be upgraded and urged the administration to not point fingers at the National Informatics Centre (NIC) that developed the software storing the information.
“We condemn this attitude and remind LDF that such cheap politics will not benefit them. The robust common sense of the citizens of this country understands what is right and what is wrong,” senior BJP leader and the party’s Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar said citing the “latest example of the problem faced by Keralites in getting ration and pension this week.”

“The state government has said that there is a technical glitch on the servers of NIC. The fact is exactly the opposite. The problem is not with NIC servers, which only maintain the software, but with the Kerala state data centre and servers, which are maintained by the state government. Their own failure, which they are now passing on to NIC and the Central government,” Javadekar said in a statement here.
Stating that existing servers at the Kerala state data centre hosting the public distribution system (PDS) application need upgrading as they have been in use for more than seven years, the former Union Minister said running a PoS (point of sale) system for rations is a state government’s responsibility.
He said the NIC has developed the application, which is being used in 22 states, and it has time and again asked the Kerala government to change and upgrade the capacity of the servers hosting the PDS.
“Very recently, the servers have been upgraded, and NIC is helping the state government migrate the data to the new servers on a war footing. To facilitate the data migration, the state government itself decided to shut down PDS without telling Keralites the real story,” Javadekar alleged.
The senior BJP leader said Aadhar authentication is the responsibility of the respective states, which are Authentication User Agency (AUA), and alleged that the Aadhar authentication platform of the Kerala government is not stable and the dispensation has never bothered to set it right.

“Therefore, authentication in ration shops has become a problem in Kerala. The Kerala government requested that UIDAI do Aadhar authentication on NIC servers to make the system stable. The state government has not told this story to the people of Kerala,” he alleged.
Javadekar further claimed that the Kerala government has issued an order for pensioners to be enabled exclusively through Akshaya Centres run by the state government.
He said a petition was filed in the High Court against the exclusive rights given to Akshaya Centres to provide services to pensioners.
“The High Court has stayed the services from Akshaya Centres and ordered further that the state should grant Common Service Centres and other agencies to have access Jeevan Rekha and provide an open portal for eligible pensioners to access Jeevan Rekha software,” he said, adding that the Kerala government should learn that “such kind of political tricks won’t work” anymore.
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#BJP #accuses #Kerala #government #appropriating #good #schemes #Centre
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 29, 2023
Cocktail of the week: Speedboat’s jelly bia – recipe | The good mixer

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Jelly beer is a popular Thai alcoholic slushie that’s made in a bia wun (oscillating) machine that’s filled with ice, salt, water and beer bottles and that rocks constantly as it cools the beer – usually Singha or Chang – down to -3C. The pressure inside the bottle prevents the beer from freezing, so in effect turns it into a bottled slushie. A citrus juice and syrup is usually then added. This ginger, honey and citrus take on the idea involves a blender rather than a bia wun, and uses orange and lime juice instead of the more traditional calamansi juice. It’s a great refreshing drink to welcome the first warm days of spring – and to keep up your sleeve for the hotter months to come.
Jelly bia
Serves 1
For the ginger and honey syrup (makes 250ml)
125g fresh ginger juice
125g wildflower honey
For the drink
90ml cold Thai lager, Singha for preference
90ml ginger and honey syrup (see above and method)
15ml fresh lime juice
15ml fresh orange juice
15ml fresh lemon juice
First make the syrup: blitz the ginger juice and honey, then strain through a fine sieve or muslin into a clean container or bottle and seal. It will now keep in the fridge for up to a week.
Pour the cold beer into a chilled pint glass. Put all the other ingredients in a blender, add four ice cubes, blitz, then pour into the glass and serve.

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#Cocktail #week #Speedboats #jelly #bia #recipe #good #mixer
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

April 28, 2023
Good grades or goodbye: Bengaluru landlord’s rental criteria

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The tech boom in Bengaluru has created a surge in demand for rental properties, making life tough for the city’s working-class house hunters. Soaring rents and exorbitant security deposits are only the tip of the iceberg, as landlords add to the stress by asking for all sorts of personal information.
In this era of over-sharing, landlords in Bengaluru are taking it to the next level, requesting LinkedIn profiles, college details, and even mini autobiographies from prospective tenants. As frustrations mount, tenants are turning to social media to air their grievances in the IT capital.
A viral tweet from a user named Shubh recently highlighted the bizarre standards set by some landlords. In this oddball case, the landlord rejected a tenant because his Class 12 marks didn’t meet the arbitrary 90% threshold – despite the fact that marks don’t have much bearing on someone’s ability to rent a home!

Shubh’s tweet, featuring screenshots of the conversation and a cheeky caption, quickly gained traction: “Marks don’t decide your future, but it definitely decides whether you get a flat in Bangalore or not”.
As if dealing with Bengaluru landlords wasn’t challenging enough, the city has now surpassed Mumbai in charging the highest proportion of property value as rent. It’s no wonder that tenants are feeling the pinch, as they juggle ever-increasing costs and the endless personal questions from their potential landlords.
(With inputs taken from agencies)
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#Good #grades #goodbye #Bengaluru #landlords #rental #criteria

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 28, 2023
Start with the font: Jay Rayner’s guide to choosing a good restaurant anywhere

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All unfamiliar restaurants are terrible until proven otherwise. I’m not proud of this blunt statement. I have written about restaurants for so long because I love them, often in that heated adult way. Yes, there are the occasional skewerings, of the grossly overpriced and the grimly underperforming. But generally, I regard myself as a cheerleader. I want good places to prosper.
First, though, I have to identify them, and eating out is rarely a cheap gamble. Which means it’s not something anyone can treat casually. For me, it’s often relatively straightforward. I recognise the name of a chef or a restaurateur. I like what they’ve done before and can be reasonably confident about what they’re doing now. But sometimes, like everyone else, I have to take a punt. Perhaps I am visiting a town I don’t know well. Perhaps the new place is run by a team I’ve never come across before.
It’s time for detective work. It all starts with the menu, whether viewed online or in the window. Begin with the basics, by which I mean the typeface. Dismiss anywhere that uses comic sans or the like. If they have so little taste in typography, what hope is there when it comes to the food? Equally, be suspicious of somewhere that uses a grandiose italic. Aside from the fact that they’re so bloody hard to read, it’s also a clear signifier: it says “we take food Seriously” with a capital S. Is that your idea of fun? No? Move on. A menu should be physically readable.
Now we come to the words. Are they using redundant adjectives? If the menu feels the need to tell you that the squid is tender, find somewhere else. No restaurant intentionally serves rubbery squid. So why the hell are you telling me that yours is tender? Look out for other terrifying words. Are ingredients “nestled”? Is the dish “sumptuous”? Are there “medleys” or “symphonies”? If anything is described as “mouth-watering”, close down the browser. Back away from the window. Whoever wrote that menu is desperately overcompensating for deficiencies in the kitchen. A good menu should also be simply written.
Next up, how long is it? Half a dozen or so starters and mains? Fine. Any competent kitchen can manage that. But a dozen dishes a course? More? At that point I become suspicious that a freezer cabinet and a food service company are involved. The menus of restaurants cooking the food of China’s various provinces or the Indian subcontinent are an exception to this rule. Their menus can be much longer courtesy of permutations of ingredients. And yes, on those menus, photographs are fine.
Everyone forgets to check the wine list, which can be both a source of joy and unhappiness
If the menu writing has passed muster, check the prices. Add up a mid-range starter, main and dessert. How much is it going to be a head? Is that reasonable compared to bills you’ve settled recently? Now look at the wine list. Everyone forgets to check the wine list, which can be a source of both joy and of unhappiness. The food may seem reasonably priced, but if the cheapest bottle of wine is, say, £35, the bill is quickly going to mount up. How many bottles are there under £40? And have they arranged them in ascending order of price? Or have they done them by grape and region? If you love wine and your pockets are deep, go for it. Otherwise, stay away.
At this point, Google becomes your friend. Study the photographs that are available online. Does the look of the restaurant seem to match the cost? We are deeply into the subjective here, but there is now so much online you have significant evidence to go on. Does anybody in those pictures look as if they’re having a nice time? Which brings us to the last source of information: the online review. For God’s sake, don’t read them. There’s enough trauma in the world without volunteering to witness the brutalisation of the English language. But there can still be wisdom in crowds. You just have to locate the crowd. If there are fewer than 200 user reviews, there’s nothing of value here. Beyond that number you can usually pay attention to the scores, because at that volume few places are capable of influencing the overall result. Do the four- and five-star reviews vastly outnumber the one and two stars? If yes, then it may be cause for optimism.

In the end, of course, you do have to make a choice. You have to decide whether or not to book a table. And if, based upon all of these tests, you choose to do so and the place is terrible, if the cooking amounts to the victimisation of innocent ingredients, and the service would be banned under the Geneva convention, then you have one last option. Don’t eat there ever again.
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#Start #font #Jay #Rayners #guide #choosing #good #restaurant
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

April 27, 2023
Biden pushes back on concerns about age and low approval amid 2024 reelection bid: ‘I feel good’

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But voters will be the ultimate decider about whether he’s too old for office, he added. His answer marks his first public comments on the 2024 race after Tuesday’s launch — and his first addressing the obstacles hovering over his reelection bid.
“I respect them taking a hard look at it. I’ve taken a hard look at it as well — I took a hard look at it before I decided to run,” Biden said. “I feel good. And I feel excited about the prospects, and I think we’re on the verge of really turning the corner in a way we haven’t in a long time.”
Biden also said he has seen the poll numbers and is in a similar position to past presidents running for reelection.
“What I keep hearing about is that I’m between 42 and 46 percent favorable rating. But everybody running for reelection in this time has been in the same position. There’s nothing new about that. You’re making it sound like Biden’s really underwater,” he said.
The president then touted specific legislative accomplishments and economic growth.
“And the reason I’m running again is there’s a job to finish.”
Of the three presidents who failed to win a second term in recent decades, two had approval ratings roughly equal to Biden’s. But former Presidents Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan also hovered around Biden’s numbers, and both were reelected.
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#Biden #pushes #concerns #age #approval #reelection #bid #feel #good
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 27, 2023