Fancy dining across the divide? Find out how to take part Sam Wollaston Sam Wollaston @samwollaston Thu 10 Nov 2022 12.30 GMT François, 32, Bristol Occupation Copywriter Voting record François grew up between South Africa and Ireland; he describes himself as “very left economically”, but a “small-c conservative socially”. In the UK, he has voted Labour Amuse bouche François once sat on Stalin’s bed in Tbilisi, Georgia Meggan, 29, Bristol Occupation Meggan, a survivor of rape, runs courses facilitating conversations around misogyny and male violence Voting record Green locally, Labour nationally, but dislikes Keir Starmer Amuse bouche Meggan also works as a life model For starters Meggan I’ve got gastritis, so I wasn’t drinking and couldn’t have too much spice. But he was sound about that. François We shared a selection of quite mild curries, and a metre-long dosa. Meggan I smashed a plate. I can’t remember what we were talking about, but it must have been passionate. I put it down, but it threw itself on to the floor. He probably thought I was chaotic. François She read Angela Davis in her early 20s. I also did, so we had a sort of mutual understanding that was nice. The big beef Meggan The man who assaulted me was incarcerated for 18 years. I felt I should have been happy, but I was sad he was going into a system where he would probably experience sexual violence himself. I believe if you go into a facility set up entirely from a human perspective, treat people with compassion and firmness, you can come back from that if you are willing to grow and change. I would abolish prisons the way they are now because they perpetuate the cycle of abuse. François Meggan had a very harrowing experience with the justice system, so it was interesting to hear her perspective. I agree prison should be a place of rehabilitation. But I think there are individuals who cannot be reintegrated into society – psychopaths, say. We probably had a more intractable disagreement over policing. Meggan The institution of the police seems inherently racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, classist. When I say I want to abolish prisons and defund the police, it’s not as simple as I want to just take away those things from our society. First, we need to have better social welfare, so we end poverty; we need safe and warm housing, food, access to education and healthcare, and if you can get everyone to that level, then we can start to think about the prison system and the police. François Defunding the police is what the Tory party has been doing for the past decade. Petty crime has essentially been legalised. I don’t want to label her utopian – she runs an organisation that helps people. It is important to think about what we want in the future, but it’s also important to deal with the material reality now. Sharing plate Meggan We both really hated Liz Truss, and felt the Tory government has done more harm than good. François Someone described the current Tory party as a Thatcherite cargo cult, and that resonated with me. For afters Meggan Borders are a ridiculous concept and relatively new. Before the Romans colonised, there was a sense of “I’m from this tribe or that village” but there weren’t borders in the sense of an invisible line based on income, skin colour, religion … I am for open borders and freedom of movement. François If immigration is too high and too quick, it makes it hard to integrate people properly, and that is not conducive to a healthy society. I also have concerns that too much immigration, as we had with the EU, has a dampening effect on wages. Uncontrolled migration is also a gift to the far right. I have an Irish passport and wouldn’t have been allowed in this country initially were it not for the EU, so I’m aware of the contradictions. Takeaways Meggan We had similar feelings about stuff, but our approaches are very different. I come from more of a community, human space – my lived experience and conversations. He comes from a more broad, global, theory-based, logical perspective. François It reaffirmed my belief that, largely, people are nice and chill, and just want to get on. It is the classic socialist maxim that we have very important material things in common and the rest is largely noise. Meggan He gave me a lift home, driving me in the opposite direction to where he’s from – that was great.