We had on our best clothes, and we talked pretty, and were very happy — all except two young fellows, students, just returned from Germany, commonplace young men, who seemed restless and uncomfortable, as if they found the proceedings slow.
Partly because of my initial anxiety, and partly because things went much better than hoped – he was both thoughtful and generous in his answers – we talked pretty intensely on a range of subjects for more than two hours.
The former shadow education minister Tristram Hunt had a decidedly mixed 2015, but he recently talked pretty powerfully at the Fabian Society about the politics of inequality, Labour's frayed bond with working-class voters and the necessity of reinventing the party's belief in redistribution.
And over the years, they have apparently remained in touch and talked pretty often.
I talked (pretty much) nonstop for four straight hours, mainly about a gemstone (Tanzanite) whose name I could not pronounce.
So far, Obama's talked pretty tough about what he will and will not accept in the bill, but it remains to be seen what compromises he'll agree to during the process.
