Recorded on Tuesday 7 October 2025, this episode confronts the murders at Heaton Park on Yom Kippur and the sharp rise in antisemitism in the UK. We name the harm plainly and we hold the line between free speech and incitement.

We don’t posture; we do the hard work of sense-making. We explore why silence from institutions and politicians corrodes trust, how slogan-chanting lands as eradication to Jewish citizens, and why leaders must support protest rights clearly and also enforce the law on incitement consistently, not selectively. We acknowledge parallel harms, including arson at a Sussex mosque and the daily experience of British Muslims facing prejudice. But we don’t take refuge in the false comfort of “whataboutery”.

This is a practical conversation for people who run things CEOs, headteachers, council leaders, community organisers. We offer three commitments you can enact now:

1. Curiosity with backbone: seek understanding across difference without surrendering facts. Try to find agreement not just disagreement.

2. Even-handed moral clarity: condemn antisemitism and Islamophobia without purity tests or exemptions.

3. Local dialogue, real guardrails: create forums where disagreement is safe, and incitement is not.

4. In everyday conversation commit to civility – only ever try to explore and at best convince but not to win.

Not virtue. Not theatre. Leadership. We have the conversation you want to. Please do listen, like and share.

For more about Rachel: Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? - Fearless Facilitator

For more about Simon: Who We Are – Diversity by Design

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Fearless Diversity, Rachel Cashman - the fearless facilitator - and Simon Fanshawe - the diversity dissident - tackle one of the most contentious policy revivals in years: the return of the digital ID card.

From dinner parties to football terraces the argument is dividing Britain. Are ID cards a slick, modern tool to cut red tape and to create a sense of Britishness - or the threat of Big Brother made real, of a society where our lives are one barcode away from state control and all-day surveillance. Is the BritCard a massive invasion of privacy or the key to our national identity?

Although aren’t we being a bit hypocritical? Why are we so bothered about government having limited info on us so we can get benefits when we’ve already surrendered everything about ourselves to Google and Facebook?

And can government actually pull it off? HS2 or the Edinburgh trams anyone? What will ID cards give us that we don’t already have? Ands what about Auty Betty who’ll never have an iphone so she’ll never go digital? If you’re an illegal immigrant you’ve already escaped the system so why will the BritCard stop you being in the UK?

Will digital IDs streamline Britain’s services, build trust, cement values and create belonging or instead, in a country where only 12% of the population trust government, just be felt as another state overreach? Will the BritCard bind us closer - or drive us further apart?

Fearless Diversity doesn’t just chew over politics—it digs into how policies shape the lives we live, the work we do, and the society we want to be part of. Enjoy, listen and share.

For more about Rachel: Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? - Fearless Facilitator

For more about Simon: Who We Are – Diversity by Design

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simon and Rachel wade into flags, patriotism and nationality.

At the moment flags are everywhere – at football matches, street parties, protests, Pride and, lately, at the heart of raging debate about what it means to be British. This week we try and understand the hope, the pride and the worry wrapped up in every St George’s Cross and Union Jack.

A flag isn’t just a flag. For some, it’s a badge of pride, shared in the roar of the crowd when England scores. For others, it brings darker memories and fears of division.

The left and right claim love and shame of country. But has the left abandoned patriotism, ceding the flag to extremists? And does the right use language of nationhood just to exclude?

But we all know moments when flags precisely symbolise moments of joy and optimism - the Olympics, royal occasions, football and rugby - when the Union Jack and the St George’s flag unite communities of every colour, faith and background. Is it just lazy branding of ordinary flag-wavers to call them ‘racists’? Have too many leaders in public institutions got it wrong when they shut down conversations instead of listening to the real emotions behind the flags?

Instead of labelling we need to create space for talking, listening and understanding. We should take care not to jump to judgement but stay curious. Can we understand what flags mean to each of us and talk to the issues rather than demonising each other. If we get it right, can flags unite rather than divide us?

For more about Rachel: Who Is The Fearless Facilitator? - Fearless Facilitator

For more about Simon: Who We Are – Diversity by Design

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.