Dining across the divide: We discussed whether we should increase immigration, and I said no'

Two participants met for a meal and shared food, wine, and conversation. Andy is an agile coach in technology who generally votes Labour and has released a single under the band name MeMe. Louisa is a 39-year-old author and marketing professional from Reading who has voted Labour, Green, and Lib Dem and published a book about using phones less. They compared Brexit opinions and agreed both lost out. They debated immigration: Andy opposed increasing immigration because of poor management; Louisa described her immigrant background and a grandfather who was an eastern European refugee after a Nazi work camp, and called for clear numbers and better management.

"I was quite excited. I thought somebody who would sign up for this would be a person who's open to intelligent discussion. We got on well. I wondered what would happen if I straight away threw out a contentious thing, so I asked, What do you think of Brexit? We agreed that we both lost out. Louisa I had a really delicious cheese souffle, then a mushroom pasta with truffle oil,"

"We discussed whether we should increase immigration, and I said no. Louisa's side was that she comes from an immigrant background. But I think immigration is used as a political tool, because there is contention and emotion wrapped around it. I wish we could just look at the real numbers, the pros and the values of it, then look at how it would be managed."

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