Emily, 40, Glasgow
Occupation Lecturer in global health and infectious diseases
Voting record Has lived in Scotland for nearly 20 years and always voted SNP
Amuse bouche Emily has a PhD in chicken immunity, and is a huge fan of pigeons in the urban environment
Grace, 32, Edinburgh
Occupation Has three jobs: book-keeping, maths tutoring, caring
Voting record Always Green in Scottish elections; has voted SNP in Westminster elections, but that annoys her because she hates the SNP
Amuse bouche Grace lived in Cairo during the Arab spring, and once was teargassed, having got between protesters and the police
For starters
Grace I had got it into my head that it might be somebody who was against all vaccinations. So I was trying to practise keeping calm.
Emily I had visions of meeting someone who thought Boris Johnson was doing a wonderful job, so I was relieved when we bonded straight away over our mutual dislike of him.
Grace I had a veggie nut roast. And a knickerbocker glory.
Emily I had the beef roast. And we both had a few drinks.
The big beef
Grace Scottish independence kept coming up. We agree that climate change is a big issue, but her solution to this – her solution to a lot of things – is to be independent from Westminster. She expressed herself well, but I don’t think it’s enough. She thinks Scottish independence will be a fresh start where we can create a better world. I’m a bit of a grumpy cynic: I think we should be trying to fix the system we’ve got.
Emily One of the things I loved about chatting to her was that it wasn’t a conversation where each person had a portfolio of figures to cite. The amount of oil left in the North Sea varies according to what argument it’s being used for. She’s worried about the climate crisis, whereas I think there’s also significant fuel poverty in this country, which we could address better.
Grace I’m of the opinion that the SNP is a populist party that will swing towards whatever will win it votes, and its policies are often more rightwing than people think. But she had some good points about its more socialist side, which I tend to ignore.
Emily Our other big contention was Brexit: where the threshold should be. She thinks a referendum would have been less divisive if you made it at least 60:40 to pass. Which I don’t think is a good idea – it should be 50%. I sometimes wonder whether remain is trying to change the goalposts to head off Scottish independence.
Grace We did have a conversation about Brexit, but it felt more like another conversation about independence.
Sharing plate
Emily We both liked Corbyn. She wasn’t sure where I was on the Palestine issue: I think she was holding her breath. But I support the Palestinians and their cause – we were on the same page with that. I’ve been on a lot of marches in Glasgow.
Grace We agreed on so much about Labour and the Conservatives. Where we disagreed, it was just about priorities and solutions. She’s upset about the breaking of the rules within lockdown periods, and although I agree that it’s a bit upsetting, I find it more frustrating that they’ve given away billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to their mates.
Emily You can see the politicians lining their own pockets, their friends’ pockets, but for me it’s the people who keep voting for them. I just think: what are you doing?
For afters
Grace We come from quite similar backgrounds: she’s English as well, grew up in Oxford, and I grew up in Cambridge. We moved to Scotland for university, loved it here and stayed.
Emily I said I could never live in England again. I haven’t even been back for four or five years.
Grace She has less faith in English voters than I do: she thinks England is doomed to a Conservative government indefinitely. Maybe I’m the optimist.
Emily It’s mind-blowing what this government is getting away with. We both got angrier about them as the conversation went on.
Takeaways
Grace She was a very lovely person – I had a good time. I got home at 7pm, but we’d got there at 1pm.
Emily I don’t even remember leaving!
Additional reporting: Naomi Larsson
• Emily and Grace ate at 63rd+1st in Glasgow
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