This week, Simon & Rachel get gloriously uncomfortable.
It’s a rollicking debate with sharp edges, full-throttle disagreement in part, and one very live question who’s it actually worth arguing with anymore?
Simon’s just back from the Battle of Ideas, where he shared space with people he vehemently disagrees with and has mixed feelings as a result. Rachel, on the other hand, reckons the whole thing’s just too right-wing for her vibe, recognising she may be reinforcing her own biases, and worries about the reputational risk of legitimising certain viewpoints. So, it’s a conversation of the wrestle with our own tensions about who to talk to about when and when.
Is the real dividing line today Left versus Right or liberals versus authoritarians, on both sides?
And what if, whisper it, the Right might actually be right that Britain’s true clash is between the elite and the people?
New research from More in Common and Arch 10 reveals just how out of touch the progressive and public-sector “elites”, including many driving diversity and inclusion, have become from the wider public, especially on sex, gender, patriotism, and free speech.
Battle of Ideas had everything: a panel on the Supreme Court judgment, disbelief that trans people even exist, a tweet labelling DEI “a virus,” and yet a surprisingly diverse audience and a bromance brewing between Simon and Andrew Doyle in over Simon’s taste in coloured couture.
In the end, the duo agrees on one thing: it’s time to move past the culture wars.
What we need are Fearless Diversity gatherings with rosé, civility, and the courage to disagree well. Who wants to join us?
Fearless Diversity where nuance still has the mic.
RESOURCES
Arch10 “Two Britains”
More in Common – “Progressive Activists”
Battle of Ideas
https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/
Ben Cooper (one of the KCs who represented in the Supreme Court) explainer on the Supreme Court judgement in For Women Scotland
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