National Conversation project launches as Britain risks ‘being torn apart by differences’ | Communities
Sajid Javid has warned the country is at risk of being “torn apart by our differences” as public figures launch a project asking what it means to be British.
The Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion, co-chaired by former Conservative chancellor and former Labor policy chief Jon Cruddas, is calling on people to share their personal visions of their communities and country in the National Conversation project.
Commission They include human rights and counter-extremism activist Sara Khan, former West Midlands mayor Andy Street, Holocaust Remembrance Day Foundation chief executive Laura Marks, former Green party leader Caroline Lucas and activist Tim Montgomerie of Reform UK.
collected by Together Coalition The commission – a non-profit cohesion campaign co-founded by Brendan Cox, widow of murdered MP Jo Cox – aims to use the project to map a shared vision for the future amid a worrying and fragmented political climate.
Questions at the heart of the National Conversation project include what it means to be English, English, Scottish or Welsh. The research aims to identify what unites and divides people, what connects us to our neighbors and what makes the country feel like home.
Javid said: “Our country is in real danger. Unless we regain a common understanding of what unites us and what we have in common, we risk being torn apart by our differences.
“This vision will not come from politicians; it can only come from the people. I am a great believer in the wisdom of the people; we hope this speech will give voice to that wisdom.”
The public is asked to take part in a 10-minute challenge questionnaire They ask them to participate in the National Conversation by filling in details about their neighborhood before leaving a 60-second voice note detailing their vision for the future.
Meanwhile, thousands of small group discussions created by partner organizations across the country will also take place.
Melinda Mills, professor of demography at Nuffield College, Oxford, and director of the Leverhulme Center for Demographic Science, which designed the survey, said artificial intelligence had “revolutionized” the ability to conduct mass listening exercises. He added that voice notes left by members of the public will be analyzed for “the language that people choose, the emotional register, the texture of how they actually talk about their community.”
Survey from the British Red Cross Last month, three quarters (75%) of adults in the UK believed Britain was divided as a country and (72%) said the country had become more divided in the last five years.
A report combining public insight with academic research, expert testimony and commissioners’ deliberations will be published later this year. Previous work carried out by the commission has taken evidence on housing, education, the economy and confidence, and has collected evidence from the likes of Conservative MP Michael Gove, historian Mary Beard, former director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies Paul Johnson and former prime minister David Cameron.
Cruddas said: “Rebuilding Britain’s social fabric and sense of community has never been more urgent. But the answers don’t lie at Westminster. They lie in communities up and down the country. That’s why the National Address is at the heart of how we rebuild a shared vision of our country.”
Playwright James Graham, who wrote Dear England, a stage portrayal of former England football manager Gareth Southgate, advised on the project’s design. He said he hoped the initiative would be “the first serious attempt” to lay out a common national vision “in a political environment that often seeks to divide us.”
The National Conversation will run from May 18 until the end of August. To join the visit https://www.thenationalconversation.org.uk/
