"The truth is that there is hardly a decent building left in the Chechen capital on which the Russian tricolors can be raised".
You and me can't hardly be decent together if what happened back there" — he jerked his head in the direction of the apartment — "grabs" on us like that.
Seven in the evening is hardly a decent hour for a must-attend party, let alone one held outdoors in a space sheltered, though barely, by the elevated train tracks of the High Line.
"Ten, 15 years ago, there were hardly any decent English cheeses, organic production was less than minimal, there were no farmers' markets and food markets were in steep decline.
Perhaps they were close at the time - in 1949, let's say, when planning a jaunt to the Côte d'Azur - but fell out later, as Baldwin did with the woman whose letter is quoted above (when I met her in 1989, she had hardly a decent word to say about him).
These days, however, his shop is thriving, there are hundreds of Italian wines that sell for more than $100, and there's hardly a decent restaurant in America that doesn't have at least some Italian wines on its list.
It's also likely to reignite the anger that many Brazilians felt towards the government of President Dilma Rousseff for hosting such a spectacular event when it could hardly afford decent public transport and social services for its citizens.
In a retrospective review, The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) noted a "soft-rock slump" and stated "While there's nothing wrong with Carey singing relatively straight for 10 songs, there is a sore lack of power here: baleful soaring ballads, pop optimism along the lines of smiling through the tears and believing in yourself (or him, or Him), and hardly a decent tune in the lot".
