Conversing Over the Gap: Perspectives on Migration and Culture

Introducing the Participants

Stephen, 64, Canvey Island

Profession: Retired underwriter

Political history: Typically Conservative, apart from when he lived in “the socialist republic of south Hackney” and supported the SDP

Amuse bouche: His specialty in insurance was hostage situations: “Everyone always says that insurance is dull, but it’s not when you’re planning rescuing people from the Korean peninsula because the North Koreans have activated the missile silos”

Evie, 25, the capital

Occupation: Psychology graduate

Political history: In her native land, Aotearoa, she voted a combination of progressive parties

Interesting fact: Eva has been employed as a singer on ocean liners; her longest trip was half a year, which is a long time to be at sea

For starters

She: Steve appeared there to have a nice time, to be receptive

Steve: She seemed like a very bright, well-spoken, nice person

Eva: I had a tomato and mozzarella dish, pasta with fungi, and a rich sweet treat, it was delicious

The big beef

She: He was definitely on the side of immigration being curtailed. He thinks that British people who are native to the area, including non-white white British, face limited access to the things that they need, because increasing numbers are entering. Whereas I just disagree that the figures are so problematic

Steve: I’m for skilled immigration, I don’t want to live in a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant country with tepid ale. But I believe that governments have used immigration to fill the jobs they struggle to staff without increasing salaries. Wages are suppressed, so taxes have to be kept low, so we can’t do things better – allocate additional funds on child support, on education, on innovation

She: I am not deeply informed of Brexit, because I was 16 and not living here when it happened. He explained it to me in a different perspective. He told me about EU labor migrants – candidates could come here and receive solely the wage of the country they came from

Steve: The French president spent 24 months getting the EU to abolish the scheme; it was revised in two thousand eighteen. Before that, migrant laborers coming in were undercutting British workers. Under Gordon Brown, it was oil workers that were brought in; later it’s been hospitality, agriculture. She grasped that, because she’d worked on a passenger vessel and said she was earning significantly higher than workers from other countries

Sharing plate

Steve: It would be great to have a alternative power, transition from fossil fuels. I disapprove of environmental harm, I value fresh atmosphere, I love the countryside. We found consensus on a lot of that. But I said, “What do you think of Norway?” Their energy revenues soared after Ukraine started, they allocated those funds to build eco-friendly systems

She: So we’re dependent on their petroleum. You can see that’s an unfavorable approach to go about things. He was in favour of continuing our own oil exploration for the limited quantity we’ll need in the future. I partially concur with him. We’re still going to use planes. We both think we should be advancing to greener solutions, windfarms and hydro

For afters

Eva: We touched on Islamophobia, though we didn’t call it that. He seemed concerned about radical ideologies entering – he did mention that a lot of the people in the Arab world were extremist, which I felt was not accurate. I think it’s prejudiced to form opinions based on religion

He: I hail from the eastern part of London. I asked her if she’d been to that district, and she said it had been gentrified. Obviously, I would say that: populated by professionals. But when I go down that local market, I look like a foreigner. People gaze at me because it’s become very Muslim. She gave a slight glance at me about that. I used the word segregated area. Eva’s got Polish-Jewish ancestry – she doesn’t like that word, to her it denotes poverty. I said, “No, it’s an area that becomes their own.” I agreed to use a different word – maybe enclave?

She: I believe that Muslim people are really disproportionately shown in the news outlets as engaging in misconduct. It seems a somewhat discriminatory, or prejudiced against foreigners

Takeaway

Steve: I think we parted on good terms. We had a embrace at the station

Eva: We both said that we’d had a lovely time