42: Katharine Birbalsingh and Inaya Folarin Iman: Immigrant pride in Britain
This is the second episode of a two-part series on the future of Britishness, patriotism and the nation state. In Part 1, Trevor Phillips talked of a “mission creep” in diversity and Karen Harradine distinguished between power and influence, arguing that though Trump and Johnson were in power on both sides of the Atlantic, many of our institutions were influencing against them. Today, headmistress Katharine Birbalsingh discusses the unifying call of Britishness for those of us lucky to live here. And writer and campaigner Inaya Farolin Iman talks to me about how humanity and its possibilities should always count above identity. Katharine came to prominence ten years ago at the Conservative Party conference, when she spoke in support of the party's education policies, she slated a "culture of excuses, of low standards ... a sea of bureaucracy ... [and] the chaos of our classrooms" because it keeps poor children poor." She confronted the prevailing culture and setup the Michaela secondary school in Wembley. Inaya Folarin Iman is a writer, commentator and campaigner and director of the Free Speech Union, campaigning for freedom of speech and expression, democracy, liberty and human potential. I need your help to keep this voluntary service going, so if you’ve listened to a few episodes and eagerly anticipate the next one, buy me a coffee here! Thanks! ⤵️ https://ko-fi.com/jonnygould