Shash, 28, Cambridge
Occupation Physician, seeking to change into an orthopaedic surgeon
Voting report Ukip, Tory, and within the final election he spoiled his poll by spelling out R-E-F-O-R-M like a crossword reply within the candidate containers
Amuse bouche He’s a beekeeper – “Buckfast bees, pure British inventory”
Mary, 44, London
Occupation Public sector employee
Voting report Doesn’t wish to say, as in her work she helps folks with very completely different political opinions to hers, “however regardless, I stay in a protected Labour seat”
Amuse bouche Her mother and father put her in Scottish Highland dance courses, and she or he has been recognized to bust it out at events
For starters
Mary I used to be nervous. I don’t at all times keep in mind the correct phrase. However I love to listen to different folks’s views.
Shash I wasn’t nervous. I get pleasure from agreeable disagreeableness.
Mary I’m vegan so solely had one choice for every course: arancini, after which tofu skewers. It was scrumptious.
Shash I had deep-fried calamari, fish and chips, and three ciders. We didn’t have dessert – we talked for thus lengthy we didn’t even end our mains.
The large beef
Mary Shash thinks some issues ought to be funded by tax – defence, police, judiciary – however the remainder ought to be left to the market. Having arrived late due to a delayed practice I stated, “What about trains?” He stated, “Yeah, that may’t actually be left to the market.” Then we talked in regards to the water corporations, and he stated water shouldn’t be left to the market both.
Shash Clearly, we want a state for civilisation to exist – we have to forestall mob rule. However tax ought to be restricted. It’s inherently violent, mafia-esque coercion: “Give me your cash or I’ll throw you in a field.”
Mary For him, it appeared the state’s foremost goal is defence in opposition to violence. However what about consensus, care and neighborhood? What if that’s the explanation we pay taxes, and people are the issues that ought to be prioritised?
Shash The explanations meals banks exist – folks not with the ability to meet their fundamental calorific wants – are grotesque, however the charitable neighbourliness is nice. That’s eroded by overreliance on the state.
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Sharing plate
Shash I feel there’s room for privatisation in healthcare. Not in emergency care, as a result of you possibly can’t store round. However folks can find yourself ready three years for a hip substitute. The state might present vouchers for the quantity the NHS would have spent, then sufferers might take their customized to the personal sector and prime up if wanted. It will cut back ready occasions, each for the sufferers who took the vouchers and for those who didn’t.
Mary I agree the NHS because it at present works is inefficient. However I consider that the revenue motive is in battle with care. In my expertise of the personal social care system, the revenue motive drives up costs and drives down high quality of care. The quantity of regulation you’d have to make a market honest would usher in a lot inefficiency that you could be as nicely simply run a state system higher.
For afters
Shash Taking refugees is an inefficient solution to alleviate struggling. If that cash was spent in low-resource nations it might alleviate extra struggling. Shopping for mosquito nets or childhood vaccines would have an effect on thousands and thousands of individuals slightly than a few self-selecting hundreds.
Mary That’s a theoretical utilitarian argument – do that as extra persons are killed by mosquitoes than struggle – that solely works on paper. We stay in a world that’s going to push migration to northern Europe: the query is how can we cope with it ethically?
Takeaways
Mary Shash stated, “The left at all times identifies with the sufferer, and the correct with people who find themselves robust.” I can see the enchantment of desirous to establish with winners and energy. He stated folks on the correct have a stronger disgust response than folks on the left. I used to be left questioning if that’s what makes them defensive within the face of distinction and alter, as a result of the world feels extra threatening to them.
Shash I used to be stunned we reached as a lot settlement as we did. I feel I gave her pause for thought. I’d say Mary had fairly beige, Guardian beliefs – we must always assist asylum seekers, stopping the boats is a bit merciless, the revenue motive in healthcare is sketchy – issues I’ve heard one million occasions earlier than, so there was no actual pause for thought for me.
Further reporting: Kitty Drake
Shash and Mary ate at The Petersfield, Cambridge.
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