Eating across the divide: “We did not agree on immigration.” She was almost conspiratorial Life and style
Lucas, 23, Blackpool
works He works for the NHS
Voting record Labor in 2024, which he now regrets – considering voting for the Greens or your party, if they make it in time for the next election
I like Bush Lucas regularly travels to Manchester as part of the Carnifolk performing arts group. He usually plays the role of a magical bureaucrat who sends people to fill out forms
Rosemary, 69, northern England
works Retired, he worked in many different fields – with the police, at a newspaper, as an inspector in a hotel
Voting record Always conservative, except when she voted for Tony Blair in 1997. But at the last election, she couldn’t bring herself to vote Conservative, after everything they did with Covid.
I like Bush For a while, Rose Marie ran a French restaurant with her husband, who is originally from Argentina. When they sold their products, many of their customers invited them to dinner, because they created a great atmosphere
For starters
Lucas Rosemary is much older than me, and has done a lot in her life – some really amazing things. She’s been all over the world. She was a great person to talk to, calm and confident.
Rosemary “He looks young,” I thought. He was very nice, very smiling. Naive, I would call him. He must have used the F word about 15 times. It wasn’t insulting or offensive, it was just ‘that damn thing’ and ‘those damn people’. I don’t think he even realized he was doing it.
Lucas We both chose Banquet C, which started with duck dumplings.
Rosemary The second course was chilli prawns, then sweet and sour chicken – all delicious. I had two glasses of wine. He had two beers.
Big beef
Lucas The big point we don’t agree on is immigration. I would consider myself European, proud of my multiculturalism, and strongly pro-immigration. Even down to the genetics of everything; The island nation that we are cannot survive without immigrants. Even the history of ideas in the 19th and 20th centuries, we owe a lot to the people who came here. She was very anti-immigration, I would go so far as to say conspiratorial.
Rosemary I lay in my chair with my arms folded, listening to what he had to say, and I felt like he was reading from a book about Trotsky and waving his arms. Immigration is completely out of control. People pay higher and higher taxes – and it all falls on immigrants who have no intention of working. It needs a strong person to solve it. Once the country is better off, it will be up to the people to vote for something more moderate.
Share board
Lucas We are both very supportive of nuclear energy. I was quite surprised by that. She believes in climate change, but I said, companies get away with their climate-destroying policies by convincing you it’s your fault for not recycling enough. She did not agree to that.
Rosemary Without capitalism where would we be? Sure, there are a lot of companies that take Michael. But he was succeeding, saying he was a complete socialist, bordering on communism. Then he talked about energy, windmills, and everything related to them. I said: “We have a sea in Scotland where we can get a lot of oil, a lot of gas, so we can solve our energy problems.”
For what comes next
Lucas I don’t like Trump. I compared him to the village creature, the ogre. There were economic points on which I agreed with him. And I was looking at the number of times he bankrupted himself…
Rosemary He started talking about Trump and the trouble he got us into, comparing it to the Cuban Missile Crisis. I had to say, “Son, wait a minute, the Cuban Missile Crisis? Do you know who the president was at the time?” “No, not really,” he said. Trump is a Marmite character, there are things I hate about him and things I think he did well, and that’s about it.
Ready meals
Lucas We were fully present. I really like her company.
Rosemary We didn’t argue, but we had different opinions. I think it has to do with his naivety.
Additional reporting: Katie Drake
Lucas and Rosemary ate at Mandarin by Michael Wan In Blackpool
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