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Dining across the divide: ‘I had an idea he was a Tommy Robinson fan and was thinking, Oh my God’

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July 5, 2026 · 1:17 PM
Dining across the divide: ‘I had an idea he was a Tommy Robinson fan and was thinking, Oh my God’

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David (on left) and Janus. All photographs: Gary Calton

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David (on left) and Janus. All photographs: Gary Calton

Dining across the divideLife and style

Dining across the divide: ‘I had an idea he was a Tommy Robinson fan and was thinking, Oh my God’

An English Democrats voter and a retired university tutor had different ideas about whether it’s OK to fly flags, but could they find something to agree on?

Want to meet someone from across the divide? Click here to find out how

Erica Buist

Sun 5 Jul 2026 07.00 EDT

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David, 70, York

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Occupation Retired modern foreign languages tutor at a university

Voting record A mix of Lib Dem and Labour – mostly Labour

Amuse bouche He was a Mastermind semi-finalist in 1987. His specialist subjects were the history of the city of York, and the history of the German Democratic Republic, 1949 to 1987

Janus, 42, South Yorkshire

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Occupation Volunteer hospital radio DJ

Voting record English Democrats

Amuse bouche He does karaoke any time he can – his song of choice is Riding in the TT Races by George Formby

For starters

DavidI was so surprised by Janus. I had an idea he was a Tommy Robinson fan and I was thinking, “Oh my God”, but he was the most gentle, non-confrontational chap you can imagine.

JanusI wasn’t nervous. We got on well and agreed on almost everything.

DavidI had fritto misto – fried seafood – then pasta. We shared a bottle of wine and I had a coffee. The food was great, the service attentive and friendly.

JanusI had garlic bread and olives, then pasta with shellfish. We had red wine but no dessert.

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The big beef

DavidI’m very, very affronted by the misuse of the English flag. It’s been taken over by thugs. The people who are doing the flagging in York were threatening old ladies who were criticising them. York University has a lot of foreign students, and they hung plenty of flags there, but didn’t penetrate too many middle-class suburbs. They did it to intimidate the foreign students.

JanusI don’t think hanging flags is intimidating and anyone getting offended is being stupid, really. This is England – putting out the cross of St George or the union jack should be normal.

DavidSeveral of the flagging brigade have been arrested previously for violent assault or murder; that says it all to me. My definition of a patriot is somebody who lives by the law, somebody who helps their neighbours, somebody who’s basically a good egg. That’s being a patriot. It’s not messing about with flags.

JanusIn the US and Spain, they put out their flag everywhere when it’s not even a special occasion. I think flags should come out on special days, such as the US’s Independence Day, France’s Bastille Day or Ireland’s St Patrick’s Day. Those are the days to put your national flag out, not all year round, because then it’s not so special.

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Sharing plate

DavidWe talked about the need for an English parliament. Janus asked if devolution works for other parts of the UK, why not for us? But I think parliament is already English-centric.

JanusI don’t agree that Westminster is England-centric; it’s for British and international matters. I’m an English Democrat because an English parliament for matters concerning only England was the party’s original main policy. Now, instead, they talk too much about immigration and small boats; they’re just looking too much like other rightwing parties.

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For afters

DavidI’ve never had to worry about digital exclusion. At work, I was the IT guru and having all this software was just a fact of life: classrooms installed with multimedia whiteboards, decent laptops at home. If I were to suggest, even to older neighbours in my leafy suburb of York, that perhaps they weren’t IT literate or would have trouble writing a letter on a laptop, they’d be, like, “What?” Talking to Janus really revealed to me that if you’re living on minimum wage or state top-ups, the digital world can be extremely difficult to enter.

JanusToo many jobs are only for people who are IT-skilled. For regular people who are not so computer literate, there’s going to be more and more unemployment. I wanted to do a college course and was told I’d have to do my work on an app. I think we should go back to the old-fashioned way: textbooks, notebooks, handwriting your own work.

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Takeaways

DavidIt really made me think about our contrasting worlds of advantage and disadvantage. If you come from a deprived area, I can see where thoughts of supporting radical parties might come from. It’s your last refuge.

JanusWe had a good laugh and I enjoyed meeting someone who, even if we had opposing views, cared about a lot of the same things as me. I’d be happy to do that again.

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Additional reporting: Kitty Drake

David and Janus ate at Piccolino in Sheffield. Want to meet someone from across the divide? Find out how to take part

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