Dominic, 28, Hove
Occupation Civil engineer
Voting record Labour, apart from once when he voted Green. Dominic says he used to have some quite extreme views, but has become more pragmatic
Amuse bouche When he was born, the BBC happened to be in Leeds General Infirmary looking for a crying baby to record. So he featured in the introduction to a radio show – his only broadcast appearance to date
David, 68, London
Occupation Business writer
Voting record David, who has lived in the UK since 2001, voted Democrat in the US and Labour here, except under Corbyn, when he voted Lib Dem. He says he’s seen as lefty by Americans and “pretty middle” here
Amuse bouche When Nixon resigned, David got his father, who was a preacher, into trouble by ringing the church bells
For starters
David There was a set menu, with two choices for each course. We agreed to take one of each and split them, and had two small carafes of white wine. Dom seemed like a good guy. We didn’t really swap stories – men don’t do stuff like that, they talk about sports instead.
Dominic When I saw David, I thought I’d bitten off more than I could chew. He had this notebook – I thought maybe it was full of clever things to say – and years of experience over me. But it was just so he remembered how it went.
The big beef
David I think sport is overrated as a force for good. In fact, it is often the opposite. In PE classes, the coach would pick captains who were the best players, and the captains would pick teams. I was always one of the last. In baseball, I liked to hit, but playing the field was scary. The thought of the ball coming to me was terrifying.
Dominic A bit of healthy competition drives you to be better at sports, but that translates to other areas of your life. There’s something to be said about pushing yourself in sport being good for your brain and mentality.
David All these boys grow up thinking they’re going to be Premier League football players, but 99.9% never will. And some sports can cause permanent injury. Studies say the longer you play rugby, the more likely you are to get the degenerative brain disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Dominic There is a risk factor to it, but I think it’s much lower in football. And it’s true that 99.9% don’t make it as Premier League footballers, but it doesn’t ruin or really impact their lives. It might be cruel on the ones who devote their childhood and early 20s to football and then don’t quite cut it at the professional level. There are winners and losers, but I don’t think that’s a reason not to do it. And it is good for you: they’ll be in good shape because they haven’t been hanging out vaping in the park. For the majority of people, having sport in their life is a positive thing.
Sharing plate
David I brought up sportswashing. The Saudi sovereign wealth fund owns most of Newcastle United. The Saudi government executed 172 people last year, and killed the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. All that gets waved away.
Dominic I don’t like funding coming from Saudi Arabia. A lot of people who own football teams have probably done their fair share of exploiting people.
For afters
David I have issues with Keir Starmer, but Jeremy Corbyn was just useless. You can’t introduce policies until you get elected, and he didn’t have a clue how to get elected. And he went on holiday during the Brexit campaign. A Labour leader should have campaigned all out against Brexit.
Dominic David says Corbyn was ineffective, and maybe with hindsight that’s right, but perhaps that’s because he tried something new. From the outset, he got a bad time from the media; he was seen as a threat to people who are powerful and own papers. At the time, it was the first election when someone was saying all the things I wanted them to say.
Takeaways
David I like to argue without getting angry. I think you should finish your discussion and still be friends. I don’t think I said anything that offended Dom. Or maybe he was just too polite. English people like to humour Americans – I get that a lot.
Dominic I made some assumptions about David that were not true. I thought maybe he was going to patronise me because he’s been alive longer, but he spoke to me on a level. It was very refreshing.
Additional reporting: Kitty Drake
• David and Dominic ate at Cin Cin in Hove
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