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Charles, 67, Bournemouth

Occupation Former diplomat turned speech writer

Voting record Always Conservative. Charles voted for Brexit: I was one of the few diplomats who did

Amuse bouche While working overseas, Charles borrowed some wallabies for a reception for Fosters lager. No one had seen one at a diplomatic party before

Occupation Complaints adviser for an NHS trust

Voting record Always Labour, and remain in the EU referendum

Amuse bouche Chris much prefers Grease 2 to Grease. Its deeper, stronger, a feminist film, and the songs are better

Chris We had a chat about what we did. He told me the places hes been and the things hes done. It wasnt intimidating, but I did think: Im over my head a bit.

Charles I asked what Chriss motivating principle is, where he comes from when hes approaching anything. He said something like sympathy, empathy, passion, those sort of words. I come from a place which is more about the consent of the governed under what basis are rules set, and who sets them? Thats a big foundational disagreement, you might say, between heart and head.

Chris Our biggest difference was in how we view the world and how we want to change it. For me its more about rights, social justice, wanting a fairer and more equal society. He talked a lot about his hatred of communism.

Charles I have lived in communist countries and seen the results. The idea is that the end justifies the means; there are no limits to government. The spirit of communism is alive and well, and pops up in all sorts of places in some of these cancel culture things, the ideological uniformity in US universities, for example.

Chris He said the reason he didnt like the left is that they are mean-spirited and always assume the worst in people. Thats my experience of the right.

Charles What I dislike is the angry, aggressive, obnoxious left. Chris didnt seem to be part of that at all he seemed to have a libertarian instinct of some sort, which was fine. We could sit down and talk about ideas.

Chris We agreed about how divided and tribal the country is in the way we talk about issues, and how that is driven by social media.

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Charles Everyone is living in echo chambers and the algorithms are making it worse. They serve up the stuff they know you like because they want to send you advertising.

Chris We talked about taking the knee, which I support if someone wants to show their solidarity with people who suffer racism in football. It became a thing in 2020 and 2021 when enmity and violence against the black community was a world issue. If it had been before George Floyd was murdered by the police, and people just said they wanted to show solidarity and drive out racism, I dont think it would have had that much attention.

Charles Youve got all these people taking the knee. What attitude do you take to the people who dont take the knee? The way its presented is that if you somehow challenge it, or laugh, or boo or whatever you do to show your disapproval, then you are ipso facto a racist. Its a sort of all-or-nothing view, and that to me is obnoxious.

Chris Its not just a leftwing issue. Poppy outrage is driven by the right. Every year, TV presenters get complaints if theyre not seen to be wearing poppies or not wearing them early enough.

Charles Chris hit back over the net pretty well there, but its not clear to me that its analogous. If you dont wear a poppy, I dont go around saying youre anti-patriotic; theres no mass movement of people demanding everyone wears poppies in the same way as you would be attacked if you said taking the knee was ridiculous.

Chris I was a little bit disappointed afterwards because I didnt feel I had said enough. I felt he bamboozled me a bit. At one point I thought: What am I doing here? I have nothing to say.

Charles He seemed to go away with some things he hadnt thought about before, and to some degree I did, too. I dont know if hes a vegan or a vegetarian, but he seemed unimpressed by his courgettes, which made me warm to him, because everyones unimpressed by courgettes.

Additional reporting: Sarah Hooper

Charles and Chris ate at Arbor at The Green House, Bournemouth

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Originally posted here:
Dining across the divide: He talked about his hatred of communism a lot - The Guardian