Latest news with #VotingRecord
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Dining across the divide: ‘It was like a communist interrogation'
Occupation Data engineer Voting record Usually Conservative, but didn't vote in the last two elections – 'The parties seem broadly the same. Nobody really stands by the manifesto' Amuse bouche This isn't Michael's first career – he started his working life as a history teacher Occupation Mainly a student, but works on social media and campaigns for the Workers party Voting record The Workers party; has also voted Green Amuse bouche Sophia can recite the full lyrics to Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire. Can also sing it, but only when she's been drinking Michael She was covered in a bunch of communist pins; it came off as a little bit of an intentional caricature. My first impression was: younger than I thought and wearing her politics on her sleeve, literally. Sophia I was expecting someone more rightwing, more Reform-like, but I found him pretty interesting, in regard to his abstinence from voting and his lack of interest in any of the key parties. Michael I ate some salt and pepper squid and a cod loin. Sophia I had the sourdough margherita pizza and a couple of glasses of rather nice Romanian red wine. Michael Governments' first duty of care is to their own citizens, which means migration needs to serve the interests of the people already here. Relatively unchecked mass migration doesn't seem to do that. Being someone who went through all the legal hoops – moving to the UK from Canada – the idea that I could have simply lost my passport, shown up and not had to wait in line for anything, that's not ideal. Not being able to do anything about foreign people who take advantage of the UK's astonishing generosity isn't great. Sophia He was essentially saying, 'We need growth but how are migrants going to generate that?' He felt that it would be detrimental to the migrants' own countries, in that they'd be losing their own assets. But they're leaving because they aren't seen as assets. They're leaving because of corruption, poverty, different human rights. It's not as simple as he thinks: migrants don't necessarily have a choice. Michael The situation we're in serves large corporations and keeps everyone addicted to low-wage labour. It makes our GDP look good, but it's reducing our standard of living, and that includes the people we're importing. If we want to help the whole world thrive, are we doing anyone else any favours by saying to other countries, 'Yes, we'll have all your doctors and nurses, thanks'?Sophia He looked at everything from his individual perspective as an economic agent. I think he lacked empathy, and I said that to him. He responded that I was being overly idealistic – but he was being idealistic as well, in terms of his own capital interests and what served them. If I had a penny for every time he called me idealistic, I could repair the economic conditions he's so worried about. Michael She was very keen to talk about Gaza. I don't think either side is very nice in this case. I don't have a strong opinion, except that it is atrocious. Sophia I don't see it as a war. I see it as unjustifiable violence for nationalist aims. Having a two-state solution is completely wrong, because it's only rewarding Israel for what it's done. It should be one democratically run state. Michael Everybody should have the right to be left alone. When we start having laws around misgendering, I think: look, I prefer people to be polite, but people are allowed to be impolite, and making special rules based on someone's whim is weird. Sophia I'm a gender abolitionist. He doesn't like jargon, whereas I quite like that people use labels, because that makes it feel more real, as opposed to people thinking they're abnormal. Michael I tried to be polite and stay for the duration, while she was eating. Looking back, I berate myself for not walking away sooner. It was the most communist interrogation a guy can have without ending up with bamboo shoots under his nails. Sophia It wasn't that the conversation dried up or that we hated each other; we just said goodbye. I think it was on good terms. I was probably not the sort of person he'd choose to interact with. Additional reporting: Kitty Drake Michael and Sophia ate at Riding House, London WC1 Want to meet someone from across the divide? Find out how to take part
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Dining across the divide: ‘It was like a communist interrogation'
Occupation Data engineer Voting record Usually Conservative, but didn't vote in the last two elections – 'The parties seem broadly the same. Nobody really stands by the manifesto' Amuse bouche This isn't Michael's first career – he started his working life as a history teacher Occupation Mainly a student, but works on social media and campaigns for the Workers party Voting record The Workers party; has also voted Green Amuse bouche Sophia can recite the full lyrics to Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire. Can also sing it, but only when she's been drinking Michael She was covered in a bunch of communist pins; it came off as a little bit of an intentional caricature. My first impression was: younger than I thought and wearing her politics on her sleeve, literally. Sophia I was expecting someone more rightwing, more Reform-like, but I found him pretty interesting, in regard to his abstinence from voting and his lack of interest in any of the key parties. Michael I ate some salt and pepper squid and a cod loin. Sophia I had the sourdough margherita pizza and a couple of glasses of rather nice Romanian red wine. Michael Governments' first duty of care is to their own citizens, which means migration needs to serve the interests of the people already here. Relatively unchecked mass migration doesn't seem to do that. Being someone who went through all the legal hoops – moving to the UK from Canada – the idea that I could have simply lost my passport, shown up and not had to wait in line for anything, that's not ideal. Not being able to do anything about foreign people who take advantage of the UK's astonishing generosity isn't great. Sophia He was essentially saying, 'We need growth but how are migrants going to generate that?' He felt that it would be detrimental to the migrants' own countries, in that they'd be losing their own assets. But they're leaving because they aren't seen as assets. They're leaving because of corruption, poverty, different human rights. It's not as simple as he thinks: migrants don't necessarily have a choice. Michael The situation we're in serves large corporations and keeps everyone addicted to low-wage labour. It makes our GDP look good, but it's reducing our standard of living, and that includes the people we're importing. If we want to help the whole world thrive, are we doing anyone else any favours by saying to other countries, 'Yes, we'll have all your doctors and nurses, thanks'?Sophia He looked at everything from his individual perspective as an economic agent. I think he lacked empathy, and I said that to him. He responded that I was being overly idealistic – but he was being idealistic as well, in terms of his own capital interests and what served them. If I had a penny for every time he called me idealistic, I could repair the economic conditions he's so worried about. Michael She was very keen to talk about Gaza. I don't think either side is very nice in this case. I don't have a strong opinion, except that it is atrocious. Sophia I don't see it as a war. I see it as unjustifiable violence for nationalist aims. Having a two-state solution is completely wrong, because it's only rewarding Israel for what it's done. It should be one democratically run state. Michael Everybody should have the right to be left alone. When we start having laws around misgendering, I think: look, I prefer people to be polite, but people are allowed to be impolite, and making special rules based on someone's whim is weird. Sophia I'm a gender abolitionist. He doesn't like jargon, whereas I quite like that people use labels, because that makes it feel more real, as opposed to people thinking they're abnormal. Michael I tried to be polite and stay for the duration, while she was eating. Looking back, I berate myself for not walking away sooner. It was the most communist interrogation a guy can have without ending up with bamboo shoots under his nails. Sophia It wasn't that the conversation dried up or that we hated each other; we just said goodbye. I think it was on good terms. I was probably not the sort of person he'd choose to interact with. Additional reporting: Kitty Drake Michael and Sophia ate at Riding House, London WC1 Want to meet someone from across the divide? Find out how to take part
The Guardian
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Dining across the divide: ‘She felt people had become hypersexualised – I don't think the solution is to go completely the other way'
Occupation Teacher Voting record Green in one election while at university; otherwise, has voted Labour Amuse bouche Has two children and one on the way, and plans to start a family band when they're old enough, singing close-knit harmonies of mainly 90s pop songs Occupation Student Voting record Labour in 2024 Amuse bouche Has just done hairdresser modelling – went in for a normal haircut, was asked to model, and came out blonde, with a pixie cut Jo She seemed very cool. I was worried about being early – she was even earlier than me. Ruby She came across as warm and friendly, even from the first minute. She had a nice pink dress on. Jo We had lots of very delicious small plates. Both of us are vegetarians. We had curried cauliflower and hash browns with confit egg. Ruby The egg was so good, we ordered it again. Plus watermelon and feta salad, and whipped Marmite butter and sourdough. Jo I'm very much in favour of sex before marriage. The foundations of a solid marriage are having total communication, honesty and transparency – being aligned in lots of areas, knowing that you're going to grow together. Sex is a big part of your identity, not huge, but to hold that back would be not to reveal all your colours. And, while I think people do change as couples, if your libidos are misaligned, or you have very different niche interests, these are things partners should know. People may have waited in the past and still made the marriage work, but often people just stayed together even though they were very unhappy. Ruby I totally take the point that testing out your sexual chemistry is important. I want to be careful not to misrepresent myself as a puritan in this regard. But the flip side is, if you're having sexual partners without any meaningful connection, that's not sexual exploration either, really. More meaningful sex should be sought after; that doesn't necessarily come from waiting until marriage, but we don't live in a culture that promotes sexual learning. Jo She felt that people had become hypersexualised, very focused on sex and not considering anything else. I don't think sex is such a big deal that it needs to be shut off, and I don't think the solution to a hypersexualised culture is to go completely the other way. Ruby Lots of young people suffer from a lack of freedom in the role they're expected to perform. There's a huge range of diverse attitudes to sex and equality, but the hypersexualised, Sabrina Carpenter brand of feminism is quite dominant, which is a homogenising experience for people who don't buy into it. I think it's quite a plastic form of sexual liberation. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Jo We talked about feminist sex parties, masturbation, self-awareness and pleasure. It's a gendered stereotype to suggest that girls can't enjoy sex without connection or can't enjoy sex without intimacy. And, on sex work, we didn't completely disagree – we both think it should be decriminalised and agreed that, for the majority of sex workers, it's not the first thing they'd choose if they had other options. But we have to be very careful of saying to women: 'You think you're autonomous, but you're not.' Ruby I find it hard to see how sex work is liberating. Just as pornography is through a male lens, buyers of sex are predominantly men. It relies on a world where women's sexual presentation is distorted to meet a male gaze. It fetishises white, thin women, and we know men's sexual preferences aren't described by that. I think women have a responsibility not to meet these expectations. Ruby Women do have agency to resist the expectations that are put on to us. For every woman who gets plastic surgery, it only deepens the divide and entrenches the gendered expectation. Jo She was really open to hearing about my experience of having children, and how that morphs your body in ways you're not expecting. It's not just that you put on weight, it's that it feels unrecognisable. Sometimes surgery is giving you the confidence to feel like yourself again. Ruby I thought she was lovely. She is definitely dedicated to improving education for women – I thought that was really a noble cause. Jo My last impressions ended up the same as my first – she was really smart and wise beyond her years. Additional reporting: Kitty Drake Jo and Ruby ate at Little Bat, London N1. Want to meet someone from across the divide? Find out how to take part
The Guardian
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Dining across the divide: ‘She felt people had become hypersexualised – I don't think the solution is to go completely the other way'
Occupation Teacher Voting record Green in one election while at university; otherwise, has voted Labour Amuse bouche Has two children and one on the way, and plans to start a family band when they're old enough, singing close-knit harmonies of mainly 90s pop songs Occupation Student Voting record Labour in 2024 Amuse bouche Has just done hairdresser modelling – went in for a normal haircut, was asked to model, and came out blonde, with a pixie cut Jo She seemed very cool. I was worried about being early – she was even earlier than me. Ruby She came across as warm and friendly, even from the first minute. She had a nice pink dress on. Jo We had lots of very delicious small plates. Both of us are vegetarians. We had curried cauliflower and hash browns with confit egg. Ruby The egg was so good, we ordered it again. Plus watermelon and feta salad, and whipped Marmite butter and sourdough. Jo I'm very much in favour of sex before marriage. The foundations of a solid marriage are having total communication, honesty and transparency – being aligned in lots of areas, knowing that you're going to grow together. Sex is a big part of your identity, not huge, but to hold that back would be not to reveal all your colours. And, while I think people do change as couples, if your libidos are misaligned, or you have very different niche interests, these are things partners should know. People may have waited in the past and still made the marriage work, but often people just stayed together even though they were very unhappy. Ruby I totally take the point that testing out your sexual chemistry is important. I want to be careful not to misrepresent myself as a puritan in this regard. But the flip side is, if you're having sexual partners without any meaningful connection, that's not sexual exploration either, really. More meaningful sex should be sought after; that doesn't necessarily come from waiting until marriage, but we don't live in a culture that promotes sexual learning. Jo She felt that people had become hypersexualised, very focused on sex and not considering anything else. I don't think sex is such a big deal that it needs to be shut off, and I don't think the solution to a hypersexualised culture is to go completely the other way. Ruby Lots of young people suffer from a lack of freedom in the role they're expected to perform. There's a huge range of diverse attitudes to sex and equality, but the hypersexualised, Sabrina Carpenter brand of feminism is quite dominant, which is a homogenising experience for people who don't buy into it. I think it's quite a plastic form of sexual liberation. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Jo We talked about feminist sex parties, masturbation, self-awareness and pleasure. It's a gendered stereotype to suggest that girls can't enjoy sex without connection or can't enjoy sex without intimacy. And, on sex work, we didn't completely disagree – we both think it should be decriminalised and agreed that, for the majority of sex workers, it's not the first thing they'd choose if they had other options. But we have to be very careful of saying to women: 'You think you're autonomous, but you're not.' Ruby I find it hard to see how sex work is liberating. Just as pornography is through a male lens, buyers of sex are predominantly men. It relies on a world where women's sexual presentation is distorted to meet a male gaze. It fetishises white, thin women, and we know men's sexual preferences aren't described by that. I think women have a responsibility not to meet these expectations. Ruby Women do have agency to resist the expectations that are put on to us. For every woman who gets plastic surgery, it only deepens the divide and entrenches the gendered expectation. Jo She was really open to hearing about my experience of having children, and how that morphs your body in ways you're not expecting. It's not just that you put on weight, it's that it feels unrecognisable. Sometimes surgery is giving you the confidence to feel like yourself again. Ruby I thought she was lovely. She is definitely dedicated to improving education for women – I thought that was really a noble cause. Jo My last impressions ended up the same as my first – she was really smart and wise beyond her years. Additional reporting: Kitty Drake Jo and Ruby ate at Little Bat, London N1. Want to meet someone from across the divide? Find out how to take part
Reuters
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Fact Check: Misleading posts say first US pope is a ‘registered Republican'
The state of Illinois, where the former Cardinal Robert Prevost is registered to vote, does not register voters by party affiliation, as suggested in social media posts declaring that the new Pope Leo XIV is a 'registered Republican.' On May 8, Chicago-born Prevost became the first American to be elected leader of the Catholic Church. The same day, social media posts, opens new tab speculating about his politics shared an image resembling a screenshot of an online voter record with captions saying it showed Prevost, 69, to be a member of the Republican Party. The shared image shows his correct name and date of birth. It also mentions Will County, opens new tab, Illinois, where Prevost is currently registered to vote. A field marked 'Party' says 'Republican' while a field marked 'Vote Frequency' is marked '2.' The image shared online first appeared in a May 8 X post, opens new tab by MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk, with the caption, 'SCOOP: Our Turning Point Action team pulled the voting history for Pope Leo XIV. He's a registered Republican who has voted in Republican primaries when not living abroad. Our data shows he's a strong Republican, and he's pro-life.' Kirk did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The image does not show any official voter record, however, and Illinois does not ask party affiliation when voters register, according to a spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Elections. Prevost's record on the Illinois State Board of Elections, opens new tab website does not show an affiliation nor does it match the design of the image shared on social media. Matt Dietrich, public information officer for the state elections board, said via email that the social media image did not come from an official election source. He also said there was no such thing as a "registered" Republican or Democrat in the state. Voters can choose any party in any primary election and can switch parties from one primary to another if they wish. Any voter in the state can request a ballot and participate in party primaries, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures., opens new tab Dietrich said that Prevost was previously registered to vote in Cook County between 2000 and 2010, and that he requested ballots for the 2008 and 2010 Democratic primaries there. He shared a document from Prevost's Will County election history, opens new tab in which the "party" category is listed as "undeclared" in general elections between 2012 and 2024 and that he took a ballot for the Republican primary elections in 2012, 2014 and 2016. The Holy See did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Christina Clausen, a representative for the Will County Republican Party, said in an email that Prevost is not active in the local party. She added that Prevost requested some Republican primary ballots over the years, but not after 2016. Before becoming Pope, Prevost's social media activity included comments critical of both Donald Trump and JD Vance. Misleading. The state of Illinois, where Prevost is registered to vote, does not register voters by political affiliation. Records from Cook and Will counties show that Prevost has requested ballots for both Republican and Democratic primary elections in the past. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.
