Voting record Mainly Greens or Labor if there are no Greens – and Lib Dems to support friends who are local councillors. Never a Tory! Amuse bouche As a teenager, Alix cleaned the house of Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones
Suzy, 48, Royston, Hertfordshire
Profession Accountant Record Labor vote ‘maybe once or twice in the Blair years’. He is now a member of the Conservative party Amuse bouche Suzy enjoys historical reenactment: “Every once in a while I dress up as a Norman peasant to cook dinner for the Lord in various castles” Subscribe to our Inside Saturday newsletter for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the magazine’s biggest features, plus a curated list of our weekly highlights.
For beginners
Alix I’m vegetarian and we agreed to start by sharing the Greek meze platter so that was nice. Next I ordered the fusilli ai funghi with rocket salad and the tiramisu semifreddo. Susie I had steak, medium rare; then Eton mess. Alix seemed friendly, open to the world, intelligent and dynamic, as a woman should be. She didn’t seem to like the idea that people actually want to make a profit from business – if you tax them more or make them pay a living wage, there will be no incentive to do business. Alix He kept saying that taxing the rich and big business at higher rates won’t solve anything, whereas I believe the fat cats should be taxed. It was clear that we were diametrically opposed to almost everything. Suzy I said that the percentage of people who avoid taxes and use offshore accounts is not significant enough to make a difference to the economy. The majority of people are not rich enough to hide their money in the Virgin Islands.
The big calf
Alix Brexit is an unmitigated disaster that has done nothing to improve our economy. We are a small island, no longer an empire – and we had the veto on EU laws anyway. Suzy I wasn’t interested in the economic pros or cons of Brexit. The reasons I supported it were political. We weren’t getting the benefits of being in that club and David Cameron had tried to negotiate a better deal and failed. It has made life slightly more complicated in some ways, but you can’t ignore the effects of Covid. Alix It’s ironic because Suzy was born in Russia and came to the UK but is against Eastern Europeans coming here to work because she thinks they take jobs away from young people. Suzy I went to sixth form college in the UK so I didn’t come for work and I wanted to come home but I got married and stayed. The country should not rely on cheap foreign labor. You might want to hire someone with better qualifications and work ethic – an engineer back home who ends up stacking shelves at Tesco – but that means some new person in Britain will lose out. Alix A pointed out that British young people don’t want to work full time for the minimum wage, but I felt this fell on deaf ears.
Sharing a plate
Alix We agreed to improve transportation. We live in a small market town and the public transport here is useless, simple as that. We also agreed that we need more electric car charging points and space for cycling. Suzy You need to improve the infrastructure because you can’t just cram people into city centres. They have reduced the number of buses here and I have never used one because it takes too long.
For later
Alix I completely freaked out when she said she felt Donald Trump was very smart! Sorry? I actually went slack-jawed in surprise. Susie I have relatives in the US who are Trump supporters. He was the only politician who really tried to do something for working class people. I think if we had stayed with this long enough, we might have come to some kind of recognition that Trump had a real problem. Alix I said, “Do you think a world leader should perhaps be smart all the time and not just occasionally?”
Packed food
Suzy We had a great chat! We have political differences, but we also have many agreements. Alix She kept doing that thing where when she didn’t agree with something I was saying she would roll her eyes, look away and change the subject. After a while this really got on my nerves, but I didn’t say anything. I was very well behaved. Alix and Suzy dined at Banyers House, Royston, Hertfordshire. Want to meet someone from the other side? Find out how to take part
