[Lifestyle] Dining across the divide: ‘I would love to check in with her again in 25 years to see if she feels the same’

[BirSaNN]

With one a landlord, the other a private renter, housing was a divisive issue – but were they in harmony about music?

@samwollaston
Thu 20 Jul 2023 12.30 BST
Mike, 54, Guildford
Mike
Occupation Musician and landlord

Voting record Generally an anti-Conservative tactical voter

Amuse bouche After school, Mike worked as a lab assistant at a university microbiology department. One of his jobs was to dispose of anthrax. “It seems bizarre now that a 17-year-old was allowed to do that”

Miriam, 29, London
Miriam
Occupation Researcher, PhD student

Voting record Labour or Green

Amuse bouche Miriam once won a six-month supply of Hobnobs. “I was runner-up. If I’d won I would have got a year’s supply and £1,000. Brutal”

For starters
Mike I liked Miriam straight away. She came across as very intelligent. The age gap was only noticeable in so far as it was relevant to our discussion.

Miriam We realised we are both musicians, which was a nice way to break the ice. I have been a professional singer, though I haven’t picked it up since Covid.

Mike We went vegetarian. I had curried cauliflower and a lime tart. Very nice.

Miriam I had burrata, spring salad for a main and tarte tatin – all delicious.

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The big beef

Mike My wife and I bought our first flats; when we met, we were able to live in one and rent the other out. We were both self-employed and didn’t have occupational pensions. For people like us with precarious freelance jobs, it was the best thing for us to do. We kept our last three-bedroom house when we moved into the current one. The mortgage has gone up insanely. For the next two years, we might only be able to pay off the interest.

Dining Across the Dividers Katie (on left) and Anne, sitting on a bench in the Botanic Garden in Dunoon, Scotland, UK, May 2023
Happy endings: the Dining Across the Divide pair who became ‘soul sisters’
Read more
Miriam I’m a private renter. The purpose of housing is to house people. It’s problematic that the way society is set up at the moment means it’s actually one of the best investments, because it incentivises rich people to put their money into housing and then makes housing more expensive and harder to get for people who need it. You create a two-tier society.

Mike There is injustice in the system. What we are doing is just what we need to do to provide a pension. What we’re doing can be as ethical as you make it, because you’re in control. It’s up to you how much you charge and how good a landlord you are.

Miriam I hadn’t thought of it as a pension plan. I understand the lack of security – my parents are self-employed and I have been, too. But I’m not sure someone of my age in Mike’s position could ever get to the stage where they were able to have a second property.

link: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/jul/20/dining-across-the-divide-i-would-love-to-check-in-with-her-again-in-25-years-to-see-if-she-feels-the-same