What the hell were the last two decades?

[dps]

His post seems 100% British-centric.

Consider the source.

[Josquius]

I shall ignore the 1990s 

This chap has written an article which sums up what I regard as the most important change in Britain in the past decade :

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7869/

That they start with the old 'CCTV is bad' line doesn't really endear them to me. As always I find this fuss about the government becoming all totalitarian and restricting liberty pretty overblown.

His post seems 100% British-centric.


Consider the source.

Well of course. How am I to know what the decade was like in other countries?
You should stick to what you know.

[Solmyr]

If I may offer a dissenting opinion. I think it's impossible to define the 2000s while we're still in them. While 9/11 did shatter a lot of the hopes and dreams, in terms of world politics it didn't "change everything".

I would contend that it did. Europe has certainly increasingly felt the echoes of 9/11 as anti-muslim sentiment has risen everywhere and right-wing governments have risen even in traditional bastions of social democracy such as Scandiweenia.

As for the 90s, in Eastern Europe and Russia the fall of communism and various hopes and disappointments associated with that are certainly defining.

[Razgovory]

It is also worth remembering that a staggering number of people were lifted out of poverty this decade, and that until 2008 it was, economically, good times in the west. Given the response to the global recession the downturn is a lot less worse than feared so I think in a few years it won't dominate opinions of the decade.

At least in the US the economy was certainly medicore through 2008. Not what I would call a prosperous decade, especially when I compared with the 90s.

The income of the average American fell about 1,000 bucks over the decade.  It was a sort of a gilded age where it looked good from the outside but not much of real value on the inside.  It seems the economy was driven heavily by borrowing.  Historians will likely look at as the 1980's part II: Blood, Debt and Fear.

[I Killed Kenny]

ýou shit me.

The 90's and the 00's were the first decades of Globalization. Of cheap/free everything. The democratization of Information and Culture. The Decades were one can't really be labeled.

[Razgovory]

Well in the US we had Democracy and Culture and Information a little bit earlier then 1990.

[jimmy olsen]

I shall ignore the 1990s 

This chap has written an article which sums up what I regard as the most important change in Britain in the past decade :

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7869/

That they start with the old 'CCTV is bad' line doesn't really endear them to me. As always I find this fuss about the government becoming all totalitarian and restricting liberty pretty overblown.

Very sad to see anyone on Languish take that line, even someone like you.

[I Killed Kenny]

Well in the US we had Democracy and Culture and Information a little bit earlier then 1990.

re-read. Democratization of: Culture and Information.

It's diferent.

[Syt]

I shall ignore the 1990s 

This chap has written an article which sums up what I regard as the most important change in Britain in the past decade :

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7869/

Not in UK, but fitting nonetheless.

[jimmy olsen]

[Richard Hakluyt]

Wonderful picture Syt 

Tim, I'm glad you appreciate the nature of the problem, it's bloody depressing when young people dismiss it. Clearly it is not yet the Soviet Union here, but the direction of travel is disturbing and needs to be reversed. I don't want my kids to live in a society where citizens have been replaced with mere good little consumers.

[DontSayBanana]

I think that the 90s can't be defined as easily by trends is ironically one of the most defining things about it:

90s: The ADD Decade.

[Josquius]

Very sad to see anyone on Languish take that line, even someone like you.

Whats wrong with CCTV?
I for one certainly feel a lot safer if I'm walking home at 3 o'clock in the morning and there are a bunch of cctv cameras in the area than if there'd be none.
The local paper shop had a camera installed outside it a few months ago, after a month or so of it being there they noticed that a lot more old people seemed to come to buy things after dark than they had before. They felt a lot less scared of the kids hanging around outside with a camera watching them.

[Martinus]

I think that the 90s can't be defined as easily by trends is ironically one of the most defining things about it:

90s: The ADD Decade.

Nonsense. We just can't define a decade we lived through so recently. I bet people living in the 1960s felt the same way about 1950s etc. The narrative gets written only about 2-3 decades afterwards and is as much about what happened during the given decade as it is about what happened during the following 2-3 decades.

[Martinus]

Wiki to the rescue!

Despite the well known saying that "All wine improves with age", only a few wines will actually have the ability to significantly improve with age. Master of Wine Jancis Robinson notes that only around the top 10% of all red wine and top 5% of all white wines can improve significantly enough with age to make drinking more enjoyable at 5 years of age than at 1 year of age. Additionally, Robinson estimates, only the top 1% of all wine has the ability to improve significantly after more than a decade. It is her belief that more wine is consumed too old, rather than too young, and that the great majority of wines start to lose appeal and fruitiness after 6 months in the bottle.[2]
In general, wines with a low pH (such as Pinot noir and Sangiovese) have a greater capability of aging. With red wines, a high level of flavor compounds, such as phenolics (most notably tannins), will increase the likelihood that a wine will be able to age. Wines with high levels of phenols include Cabernet Sauvignon, Nebbiolo and Syrah.[1] The white wines with the longest aging potential tends to be those with a high amount of extract and acidity. The acidity in white wines plays a similar role that tannins have with red wines in acting as a preservative. The process of making white wines, which include little to no skin contact, means that white wines have a significantly fewer amounts of phenolic compounds (though barrel fermentation and oak aging can impart some phenols). Similarly, the minimal skin contact with rosé wine limits their aging potential.[2]
After aging at the winery most wood-aged Ports, Sherries, Vins doux naturels, Vins de liqueur, basic level Ice wines and sparkling wines are bottled when the producer feels that they are ready to be consumed. These wines are ready to drink upon release and will not benefit much from aging. Vintage Ports and other bottled-aged Ports & Sherries will benefit from some additional aging, as can vintage Champagne.[1] In 2009, a 184-year-old bottle of Perrier-Jouët was opened and tasted, still drinkable, with notes of "truffles and caramel", according to the experts.[3]