In July, we are questioning what we think we know about modern Britain, from going behind the scenes in Westminster and finding out exactly how our government works (or doesn’t), to questioning the structure of our education system, to exploring the lived experience of being torn between two cultures. Join us as we hear about what it means to live in Britain today from three unique perspectives.

Jeffrey Boakye is an author, broadcaster, educator and journalist with a particular interest in issues surrounding race, masculinity, education and popular culture. In the groundbreaking I Heard What You Said, he recounts how it feels to be on the margins of the British education system as a black male teacher, and asks how we can dismantle racism in the classroom and do better by all our students.

Journalist Ian Dunt lifts the lid on British politics, exposing every aspect of the system in a way that can be understood and challenged, from the heights of Downing Street to the depths of the nation’s newsrooms, from the hallways of the civil service to the green benches of the Commons. He provides exactly what people in power have always tried to avoid: a full description of the mechanisms of British government. And a vision of how we can fix it.

Born in Britain to Indian parents, Gurdeep Loyal felt constantly pulled by the clashing expectations of both cultures. But through his passion for food and cooking he was able to embrace the delicious contradictions of his plural British Indian identity. He explores his culinary upbringing that combined ‘authentic’ home-cooked Punjabi food, with ‘inauthentic’ curry-house Tikka Masalas, the Western foodie cannon, and a wanderlust for travel in pursuit of flavour.

Our trio of speakers is expertly bound together by our guest host, the fabulous Gaynor Barnes.