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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 4, 2020 21:45:13 GMT
Jacqui Smith really is a weak choice.
Mainly know for her husband and his choice of porn
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Sept 5, 2020 8:42:11 GMT
Jacqui Smith really is a weak choice. Mainly know for her husband and his choice of porn First female holder of the office of Home Secretary |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 5, 2020 10:01:20 GMT
There is no denying that. But her political career was blighted by her expense scandal and defeat at the hands of her constituents.
It is the porn that rather defined her legacy for the few that remember her at all.
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Sept 5, 2020 10:31:42 GMT
There is no denying that. But her political career was blighted by her expense scandal and defeat at the hands of her constituents. It is the porn that rather defined her legacy for the few that remember her at all. That may be true but the first female holder of that particular office of state is a major achievement for her |
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Post by smallperson on Sept 5, 2020 14:44:06 GMT
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Sept 6, 2020 6:00:36 GMT
She’s on Good Morning Britain regularly so there will be a recognition factor from that. I’ve had to stop listening to the For The Many podcast when they start getting dirty. It’s embarassing and she enjoys it a bit too much for comfort. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Sept 6, 2020 6:03:18 GMT
And just as an example if the inanity of it, if Ian Dale was to say “she enjoys it a bit too much for comfort” Smith will go into a fit of Mutley style corpsing and add in a joke about her “jugs”.
No thanks 😐
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Post by lynette on Sept 6, 2020 12:03:40 GMT
I’m trying to express my confusion about this same sex dancing. I fear it will be all about the sex of the couple and not the dancing. I just want to watch brilliant dancing.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2020 14:57:16 GMT
I’m trying to express my confusion about this same sex dancing. I fear it will be all about the sex of the couple and not the dancing. I just want to watch brilliant dancing. Then you can have no fear - I know many same sex dancer pairings who are better than mixed partnerships, it makes no difference. Nicola will be leading anyway. There is no argument for not having it, simple as that. |
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Post by Sam on Sept 7, 2020 9:29:35 GMT
I think in all the hype about this for however many years its been going on they've been bringing sexuality into the matter and really focusing on this. In my experience, certainly in the university circuit sexuality doesn't come into whether you're in a mixed sex partnership or a same sex one. There may be some who chose or prefer to do so, but generally speaking there aren't enough boys to go around so you either partner up with another girl or you don't compete. It's the norm, no-one makes a big deal about it. Male same sex is generally (though there is now a general same sex category at the national competition which I do believe some male-male partnerships have entered) added as an extra fun event where the boys make it up on the spot for a laugh.
The way our teacher explained it to us when I moved to a same sex partnership is there's two ways to go with a girl-girl partnership, either the leader takes on a "masculine" role and sometimes dresses accordingly, or you try to match and mirror one another (more so in Latin) so the moves you might select in your routine might be different, minimising underarm turns etc. The leader is generally determined by height, or we would have one girl be leader for ballroom, then be follower for Latin or vice-versa so that both got the opportunity to take on a traditional "female" role.
Maybe sexuality does play into things more on a social basis, or in the professional field, but it isn't necessarily the defining factor in having a same-sex partnership the way it seems to have been made out to be and I hope when they presumably do a little explainer on same-sex dancing they do mention this. A same-sex pairing doesn't mean that you are gay, the same way a mixed sex pairing doesn't mean you're straight, it's who's available and who you are comfortable dancing with.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2020 9:36:29 GMT
The leader is generally determined by height, or we would have one girl be leader for ballroom, then be follower for Latin or vice-versa so that both got the opportunity to take on a traditional "female" role. Maybe sexuality does play into things more on a social basis, or in the professional field, but it isn't necessarily the defining factor in having a same-sex partnership the way it seems to have been made out to be and I hope when they presumably do a little explainer on same-sex dancing they do mention this. A same-sex pairing doesn't mean that you are gay, the same way a mixed sex pairing doesn't mean you're straight, it's who's available and who you are comfortable dancing with. That's how I danced at university - my partner and I were similar heights so I led Latin and followed ballroom, each of us were then taking the follower role in the style we liked better so it worked out well. There were far more women than men so we had to pair up with other women to compete. Sexuality doesn't really come into it much on the social scene either - people will obviously want to dance with their romantic partners at times, but most people will dance with all the friends over the course of the evening regardless of sexuality or gender. I often find myself dancing with other female heterosexual women because there arent any good men available for a particular dance, or because we want to dance a dance reserved just for women. It really isnt a big deal. |
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Post by Sam on Sept 7, 2020 12:42:35 GMT
The leader is generally determined by height, or we would have one girl be leader for ballroom, then be follower for Latin or vice-versa so that both got the opportunity to take on a traditional "female" role. Maybe sexuality does play into things more on a social basis, or in the professional field, but it isn't necessarily the defining factor in having a same-sex partnership the way it seems to have been made out to be and I hope when they presumably do a little explainer on same-sex dancing they do mention this. A same-sex pairing doesn't mean that you are gay, the same way a mixed sex pairing doesn't mean you're straight, it's who's available and who you are comfortable dancing with. That's how I danced at university - my partner and I were similar heights so I led Latin and followed ballroom, each of us were then taking the follower role in the style we liked better so it worked out well. There were far more women than men so we had to pair up with other women to compete. Sexuality doesn't really come into it much on the social scene either - people will obviously want to dance with their romantic partners at times, but most people will dance with all the friends over the course of the evening regardless of sexuality or gender. I often find myself dancing with other female heterosexual women because there arent any good men available for a particular dance, or because we want to dance a dance reserved just for women. It really isnt a big deal. Exactly, so it annoys me a bit how much people conflate it with sexuality. I missed our partnering session at Uni so I manged to slot in when a girl dropped out of a few competitions, we did reasonably well but my partner was hard to work with and often deliberately made me feel uncomfortable. For the next year I decided I didn't want to dance with him anymore. There weren't any guys left so I got partnered with another girl with me as follower. My best friend who I met when she New Yorked me in the face in our 2nd dance lesson was going to be left without a partner so I decided that I would dance with her instead. She'd been in a same-sex partnership the year previous and was lead for Latin so we stuck with her as lead there and I learnt Ballroom lead. Proud to say that we beat my former partner at our first competition together so I made a better lead in about a fortnight than he did with 18 months experience. I had a lot more fun dancing with my friend, but the judges can be biased against same-sex pairings which can be disheartening. Which Uni did you dance with PosterJ? I was Southampton, unfortunately not done much since. Need to find a decent class when I'm back working at the office in London. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2020 14:04:43 GMT
That's how I danced at university - my partner and I were similar heights so I led Latin and followed ballroom, each of us were then taking the follower role in the style we liked better so it worked out well. There were far more women than men so we had to pair up with other women to compete. Sexuality doesn't really come into it much on the social scene either - people will obviously want to dance with their romantic partners at times, but most people will dance with all the friends over the course of the evening regardless of sexuality or gender. I often find myself dancing with other female heterosexual women because there arent any good men available for a particular dance, or because we want to dance a dance reserved just for women. It really isnt a big deal. Exactly, so it annoys me a bit how much people conflate it with sexuality. I missed our partnering session at Uni so I manged to slot in when a girl dropped out of a few competitions, we did reasonably well but my partner was hard to work with and often deliberately made me feel uncomfortable. For the next year I decided I didn't want to dance with him anymore. There weren't any guys left so I got partnered with another girl with me as follower. My best friend who I met when she New Yorked me in the face in our 2nd dance lesson was going to be left without a partner so I decided that I would dance with her instead. She'd been in a same-sex partnership the year previous and was lead for Latin so we stuck with her as lead there and I learnt Ballroom lead. Proud to say that we beat my former partner at our first competition together so I made a better lead in about a fortnight than he did with 18 months experience. I had a lot more fun dancing with my friend, but the judges can be biased against same-sex pairings which can be disheartening. Which Uni did you dance with PosterJ? I was Southampton, unfortunately not done much since. Need to find a decent class when I'm back working at the office in London. Yes, it is a shame that the same sex partnerships often have a tough time with the judges, though the year I danced beginners we had a brilliant all-female partnership who made all the finals, including at Blackpool as far as I recall. Have PMed you  |
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 7, 2020 18:41:43 GMT
The one thing I wonder about same-sex partnerships is how are lifts done for those dances that have them, like the American Smooth? Unless there is a considerable height disparity I would think it would be difficult for one woman to lift another. This may not apply to Nicola Adams, as a professional boxer with presumably exceptional upper body strength, but for women in amateur competions isn't it a problem?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2020 19:07:08 GMT
The one thing I wonder about same-sex partnerships is how are lifts done for those dances that have them, like the American Smooth? Unless there is a considerable height disparity I would think it would be difficult for one woman to lift another. This may not apply to Nicola Adams, as a professional boxer with presumably exceptional upper body strength, but for women in amateur competions isn't it a problem? Lifts are a Strictly invention - we don't do them in amateur competitions, except perhaps in show dance competitions. The amateur competitions at lower levels have strict permitted steps at each level (increasing in complexity), with a bit more flexibility at pro level, but there still aren't lifts generally in proper ballroom and Latin. Lifts are only supposed to be allowed in salsa, Charleston and American Smooth on Strictly anyway I think. It's really all about the upper body and core strength of the person doing the lifting and the core strength of the partner though, and there are ways around it for partnerships that find it difficult/impossible (e.g. Ann Widdecombe and Anton *shudder*). |
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Post by peggs on Sept 7, 2020 20:53:54 GMT
Someone asked me the other day why was there a same sex couple. They didn't ask aggressively or anything but I found myself incapable of putting into words that gave any clarity what I knew to be true. To them they said it was a dancing competition, that it should be about the dancing so why did it matter whether you danced with a man or women. I suggested that it meant those who would opt to dance with a same sex partner in real life could now do that. That it pushed back against a portrayal of the male/female binary as the norm.
I felt I'd really failed to voice anything of how much this would mean to a lot of people and that I ought to have done better.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 7, 2020 21:41:41 GMT
Lifts are a Strictly invention - we don't do them in amateur competitions, except perhaps in show dance competitions. The amateur competitions at lower levels have strict permitted steps at each level (increasing in complexity), with a bit more flexibility at pro level, but there still aren't lifts generally in proper ballroom and Latin. Ah, right. Like what is probably a large proportion of the country, I've only seen ballroom dancing on Strictly. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 7, 2020 22:15:49 GMT
Someone asked me the other day why was there a same sex couple. They didn't ask aggressively or anything but I found myself incapable of putting into words that gave any clarity what I knew to be true. To them they said it was a dancing competition, that it should be about the dancing so why did it matter whether you danced with a man or women. I suggested that it meant those who would opt to dance with a same sex partner in real life could now do that. That it pushed back against a portrayal of the male/female binary as the norm. I felt I'd really failed to voice anything of how much this would mean to a lot of people and that I ought to have done better. I wish I trusted the BBC to be doing this for the right reasons. Sadly I fear they are doing this so that they can be seen to be doing it and because they didn't want to be outshone by Dancing on Ice. Such is the tick box nature of the culture of the BBC that I can only be cynical about their motives. |
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Post by vdcni on Sept 8, 2020 5:56:33 GMT
I don't see how it's about sexuality. Most people if they dance in real life are going to be dancing with their partners. If one of the reasons you go on Strictly is to learn to dance and you're a gay woman then it makes sense to learn to dance with another woman.
Nicola Adams was asked if she wanted to go on, she said she'd like to dance with a female dancer and lead, it's pretty damm simple.
I'm sure Tess will come out with some embarrassing guff about it being so inspirational but she talks nonsense along those lines about all the contestants anyway.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Sept 8, 2020 7:26:09 GMT
The truth is though, that the bbc have been increasingly “sexing up” Strictly over the last few years. It’s ALL about chemistry between the couple, evidence of which is the amount of backstage bonking that’s going on. It’s going to look very incongruous if we now have a female couple doing it like they’re at a tea dance in the local community centre.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2020 9:02:11 GMT
To them they said it was a dancing competition, that it should be about the dancing so why did it matter whether you danced with a man or women. That's the point in a different way than they meant though - because it should be about the dancing it shouldn't matter who you choose to dance with, as the technique is the same either way. |
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Post by peggs on Sept 8, 2020 10:34:00 GMT
Yes I did think that as I typed it but pretty sure that wouldn't have done for an answer.
Tess gushing, shudder. Have to mute, just can't stomach her on this.
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Post by anthony40 on Sept 14, 2020 19:40:35 GMT
Strictly's first same-sex partnership.
Good on them for moving with the times. After Dancing on Ice, it was inevitable really, wasn't it?
Not sure how the older viewers will cope though.
It was (my extremely limited) understanding that Nicola Adams was actually bisexual, as opposed to being a lesbian.
Either way, it's a win all round.
It's a marketing coup for the Strictly spin doctors.
Its a win for the LGBQT community. And kudos to Nicola Adams and for the female professional that she is partnered with for putting themselves out there. It's gonna raise both of there individual profiles.
Can you imagine the comments and feedback on Gogglebox?
Regardless of how it goes, I wish them both and all of the contestants well.
Two things I know with absolute certainty:
1/ I will be watching; and
2/ Dr Ranj must be right ticked of that this didn't happen for him last year.
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Post by hannechalk on Sept 17, 2020 18:22:01 GMT
[quote author=" anthony40" source="/post/359748/thread" It was (my extremely limited) understanding that Nicola Adams was actually bisexual, as opposed to being a lesbian.[/quote] No, she identifies as a lesbian - on TikTok (don't judge me) she tags herself as #lesbianstud |
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Post by TallPaul on Oct 2, 2020 9:22:30 GMT
With your keen eye for interior design, have you been watching the 'best of' shows, BurlyBeaR? It seems that, for the rich and famous, grey is the new magnolia, but you'd already know that. Mummy Bear was bang on trend...just 40 years too soon! Even Bruno has let his hair go 'naturale'. And it looks like Craig's got a combi boiler in his front room. Very odd! Anyway, tomorrow night it's the best of musicals. |
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