Dining across the divide: ‘He was a 'Stop the boats' person'
Voting record Conservative, but in the last election he protest-voted for Reform
Amuse bouche He's a huge Metallica fan, and will be seeing them next year for the 25th time
Occupation Financial services technician
Voting record Always Labour until the last election, when he voted Green
Amuse bouche After dancing in seven consecutive national ballroom dancing finals, he's just retired, because he is, in ballroom dancing terms, a senior
Sam We immediately started chatting about music, and got on really well.
Matt He was a really likable chap, very open and conversational, like myself.
Sam I've been to the restaurant before, and I've spent the last two years telling everyone about the beef dripping flatbread with massive salt crystals. We also had beetroot in a creamy foam and herb oil, a cuttlefish risotto and a very lemony skate on crushed potatoes. It was excellent.
Matt I had a grapefruit sorbet for dessert – amazing! Sam had red wine, which I'd have loved, but I've just come out of cancer treatment, so I had a Coke.
Matt We talked about public spending. I think we need to shrink welfare – but in a controlled manner that benefits people and gets them back into work.
Sam I'd like to see more investment in the state, funded by a tax on absolutely everyone. If we had proper housing, social care and mental health structures in place, it would reduce demand on things like the NHS.
Matt We should strip all the bureaucracy out of the NHS and reinvest in medical practitioners. Sam said that's already happening with Labour scrapping NHS England. But my understanding is that, while the organisation is being abolished, nobody's being made redundant. They're all being redeployed into other parts of government. So it won't free up money for reinvestment.
Sam I don't think Matt was too far from my perspective. He's had a lot of contact with the NHS recently and felt there was a lot of bureaucracy that could be cut down. But when I said I'm in favour of nationalising natural monopolies like water, he largely seemed to agree.
Sign up to Inside Saturday
The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend.
after newsletter promotion
Matt I think big tech is a force for good. If you're a researcher looking for cures for cancer and it gives you quicker access to information from a multitude of sources, surely we get better results quicker? AI worries people, because we hear it's going to automate and take everybody's jobs, but it's just rules-based processing and straightforward algorithms piecing together information that's already out there. People think it's intelligent enough to self-learn. I haven't seen any evidence of that.
Sam I fully agree that technology can be a force for good. But I don't think companies like Meta and Google have our best interests at heart. We've seen that with electioneering and the way they manipulate people's data to target them. We agreed technology is neutral, but once you put it into humanity's hands, it's not necessarily going to have a positive outcome.
Sam He was a 'Stop the boats' person. From a humane standpoint I agree: I don't want people coming across the Channel. I know once upon a time if you were seeking asylum you could turn up at an embassy. Matt thought that was a good idea, but the problem is that embassies have been whittled down to very few. To me, safe routes are the answer.
Matt As one of the top countries in the world, we have a right and a duty to take care of people who are coming to the UK because they're at risk of harm, but I think we've got to get quicker at identifying those who are at risk, and then dealing with those who aren't by processing them quicker, and returning them to their rightful abode.
Sam The world would be a better place if we could all have a chat. On the internet we seem to have a desire to antagonise, but in person you generally find the points on which you agree rather than differ.
Matt At the end of dinner, our conclusion was that there wasn't a river dividing us. It was more of a stream, a trickle. When you sit down and talk to someone from supposedly the opposite side of the fence, the division isn't as big as you think.
Additional reporting: Kitty Drake
Matt and Sam ate at Erst in Manchester
Want to meet someone from across the divide? Find out how to take part
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
35 minutes ago
- Telegraph
US to send more weapons to Ukraine
Donald Trump has pledged to send more weapons to Ukraine, reversing a recent decision to pause shipments to Kyiv days earlier. Speaking to reporters during a dinner with Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, the US president said that Ukraine is 'getting hit very, very hard'. He added: 'They have to be able to defend themselves.' 'We're going to have to send more weapons, defensive weapons primarily,' Mr Trump said on Monday evening. The Pentagon later confirmed the US would send additional weapons to aid the country in the war with Russia. 'The Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops,' chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. Sources familiar with the matter said the halted shipments of American military aid to Ukraine could resume after a series of high-level meetings in Italy and Ukraine over the coming week, Politico reported. The reversal comes after the Pentagon last week announced it would halt deliveries of key military hardware, including air defence systems and precision-guided artillery. On Tuesday last week, the White House said it would 'put America's interests first' following a review of the nation's military support and assistance to other countries. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Mr Trump told Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call on Friday that he was not responsible for the halt in weapons deliveries to Kyiv. Mr Trump is understood to have said that although he had directed a review of Pentagon stockpiles after recent US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, he had not ordered a freeze on military aid. The US president has long been sceptical of sending military aid to Ukraine, and had not announced any new packages since taking office in January. Under former President Joe Biden, $65 billion in military aid was pledged to Ukraine. Mr Trump's pledge to send more weapons to the war-torn country comes as Ukraine faces one of the most intense waves of Russian missile and drone attacks since 2022. Mr Zelensky said on Monday that Moscow had launched more than 1200 drones, 39 missiles and nearly 1000 glide bombs over the past week alone, with civilian areas taking the brunt. At least 11 civilians have been killed and more than 80 others have been injured in the latest strikes, including seven children. Mr Trump expressed rare dissatisfaction with Putin on Monday, saying: 'I'm not happy with President Putin at all.' The US president added that thousands of Russians and Ukrainians were losing their lives every week. 'I'm stopping wars and I hate to see people killed,' he said.
Times
42 minutes ago
- Times
SNP transition fund spends £43m on just 110 jobs for oil workers
A fund designed to protect North Sea oil and gas workers from the SNP's net zero drive created just 110 new jobs despite spending £43 million, a new report has found. An analysis of the first two years of the Scottish government's Just Transition Fund, which is set to cost taxpayers half a billion pounds over a decade, found that it had 'safeguarded' only another 120 further existing roles. The policy, announced by Nicola Sturgeon in 2021, was intended to ensure that new green jobs are created for workers whose livelihoods depend on fossil fuel industries. A report commissioned by the Scottish government found the scheme, which backed 24 projects such as a 'sustainable' whisky distillery, an eco-tourism firm and new tidal energy research projects, could be 'a successful catalyst for economic and environmental change'. However, critics claimed that it had delivered only a 'paltry return' after the SNP repeatedly vowed that it would ensure that North Sea workers do not end up on the scrapheap as part of its plans to wind down the oil and gas industry and replace it with clean energy industries. The North Sea oil and gas industry is estimated to directly employ around 30,000 people and supports a further 100,000 indirectly. The Scottish government has said it wants to hit net zero by 2045 — five years ahead of the rest of the UK — and is sticking to the target despite repeatedly failing to hit, and then scrapping, interim targets. The analysis, carried out by the research firm Blake Stevenson Ltd, found that 47 jobs had been created through the Social Enterprise Just Transition Fund, which include positions in 'green skills training'. A handful of others were created through a nature restoration project based around the River Findhorn and an 'adventure tourism' firm. However, the report warned that many of the roles were 'temporary, project-based, or contingent on further investment' and 'may not transition into lasting opportunities'. Douglas Lumsden, the Scottish Tory net zero spokesman, said: 'This paltry return will do nothing to allay the fears of tens of thousands of highly skilled workers in Scotland's oil and gas sector. 'They know the SNP and Labour are taking a wrecking ball to their industry and this report confirms they have not got a clue how to properly protect jobs for the future. 'Taxpayers will be rightly thinking their money has typically been squandered by the SNP who must urgently shift from their current reckless approach if we are to achieve an affordable transition.' The fund was created as a counter to claims that the SNP's net zero policies, which were enthusiastically championed under Sturgeon, would cost thousands of jobs and cause devastation to the north east economy. The SNP has repeatedly claimed that it will ensure the push to net zero does not mean that communities suffer in the same way as others did under deindustrialisation under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. When the just transition fund was announced, ministers said they would target investment to help create 'good, green jobs' to replace those that would be lost in the North East and Moray. According to the report, the fund has also helped to leverage £30 million in private sector investment and £4.7 million from the public sector or charities. It claimed that initiatives funded by the scheme were also responsible for the training of 750 people. The report said that while the fund 'has been a successful catalyst for economic and environmental change' in the area, 'several administrative and logistical challenges have emerged'. These include uncertainty over long-term funding, confusion over the application process and a lack of clarity over funding criteria. The report said: 'Many projects remain in early stages, making it difficult to fully assess employment outcomes, carbon savings, and long-term economic benefits.' Gillian Martin, the climate action secretary, said: 'This independent report demonstrates our Just Transition Fund is a catalyst for economic growth. With £75 million allocated to the fund since 2022, the expert report makes clear it has supported job creation and re-skilling, empowered communities, catalysed private investment and initiated innovation in green technologies. 'Thanks to the Just Transition Fund, more than 230 jobs have been created and safeguarded, 750 training places opened up and over £34 million in additional investment secured in its first two years. These are the initial impacts of the fund and we are confident that job numbers, investment leveraged and other key outputs will increase as projects continue. 'This is just one example of how this government is supporting Scotland's valued and highly skilled oil and gas workers, who are at the very heart of the just transition to net zero — despite the fact that decisions on offshore oil and gas licensing, consenting and the associated fiscal regime, are all matters that are currently reserved to the UK government.'
Times
42 minutes ago
- Times
Myth of Scottish exceptionalism is why mediocrity reigns supreme
T here are two kinds of belief in Scottish exceptionalism but only one of them ever receives much attention. Nonetheless, the conviction that Scotland is uniquely blessed and persecuted meets its match in the view that Scotland, and Scottish politics, is uniquely hopeless and that, consequently, nothing good can ever happen here. Each view requires us to first believe that Scotland is in some sense special. Myopia of this sort is common and hardly confined to Scotland, even if we suffer it acutely. Sometimes, however, one gains the sense that Scotland remains a land whose spirit animal is Private Frazer. 'We're doomed', for sure but — and this is important — we are more surely doomed than folk elsewhere who may be doomed themselves. What's more, we deserve it.
