a fabulous discussion which ranged so far, and so wide, that it only ended because the venue needed to close for the night…. which is what happens when you bring a group of people together to talk honestly & freely about their experience of democracy - and what they feel about it going forward - without the feat of being shouted down. guests included people from the private, media, entrepreneurial, climate, global health and youth sectors, brought together by our two sponsors for the evening - the RSA and entrepreneur Denis Oakley.
our first cambridge dinner
our favourite quotes from the conversation
“we could have a kids version of Question Time...”
“who is teaching the parents?”
“many youth have been failed entirely by the education system – and they have no idea how the voting system works at all”
“the idea of people coming together for conversation is so important”
“it’s the weaponization of disinformation that gets fed into the loop & people don’t question the noise. We’re living in our own echo chambers”
“with the youth I worked with, “please listen to us” was the key message”
“there is a lack of education for youth on democracy – in the USA, students have social studies but British young people are not taught that – think back to when David Blunkett introduced citizen engagement into school. those courses that we used to have in schools and colleges – they are *gone*”
with thanks
to the Royal Society of the Arts & Denis Oakley for their kind sponsorship of our cambridge dinner.
