Egyptian Hall, Mansion House, 15.00 to 18:00, Wednesday, 16 October 2024, The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor of London, Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli
Remarks to:
Good afternoon everyone, and a very warm welcome to Mansion House.
For those who don’t know me, I’m Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli, the 695th Lord Mayor of London…a place I like to refer to as the world’s oldest democratic workers’ and residents’ cooperative.
Our topic today is “disagreeing agreeably”.
What does disagreeing agreeably actually mean? For me, it’s the ability to be able to express opposing views and beliefs to each other with civility and respect. To be able to share ideas and this planet with others, recognising that we are not always in agreement, but also recognising our common humanity. And, hopefully, achieving harmony in the process.
On that topic. Two leaders of different faiths were sitting in a train compartment together. They had a long and pleasant discussion during their journey, and both remarked how well they were getting on with each other. One leader concluded joyfully as they parted, “After all, we have so much in common. You worship God in your way, and I worship God in His way.”
As the 695th Lord Mayor of London, my theme has been ‘Connect To Prosper’, celebrating the many ‘Knowledge Miles’ of our Square Mile, ‘the world’s coffee house’. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, remarked on this theme in November 2024, saying:
“If we rediscover some of that original coffee house culture and have conversations that build community, common understanding, curiosity and civility, we might rise to this new era and its challenges together”.
This morning I was asked how I take my coffee. I said “very, very seriously”.
French Enlightenment thinker Voltaire popularised the phrase, “I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. The Enlightenment also corresponded with the apogee of new London arenas for public discourse: coffee houses.
Early coffee houses were places of temperance and also of tolerance. Caffeine, a stimulant, lubricated conversation in a way alcohol, a depressant, never could. The coffee houses allowed Londoners of diverse backgrounds to share their ideas and beliefs and refine the art of disagreeing agreeably. As one historian wrote, “whether a man was dressed in a ragged coat and found himself seated between a belted earl and a gaitered bishop it made no difference…he was able to engage them in conversation and know that he would be answered civilly”.
Today, people often aren’t so much talking to each other, as admiring talking over each other. Sir Malcolm Rifkind tells a story about Margaret Thatcher, that she was once asked, “Mrs Thatcher, do you believe in consensus?” She replied, “Yes, I do believe in consensus; there should be a consensus behind my convictions.” Or to quote Charles de Gaulle: “I have heard your points of view. They do not match mine. The decision is therefore unanimous.”
‘Connect To Prosper’ set out to address all 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in some way. The 17th, “Partnership for the Goals” proved problematic. What does partnership mean? What does partnership contribute in a world of strife?
In discussion with my dear friends, the Reverend Dr Alan McCormack and Imam Dr Sayed Ali Abbas Razawi, we observed that disagreement was essential to achieving the Goals. Without disagreement we would march together towards unthinking goals. So, we explored – welcoming leaders of different faiths to Mansion House for a private dinner and asking them to share their thoughts on the one word, the ‘one single factor’, that was essential in order to have peace.
We had a huge range of responses. Harmony, divinity, restraint, reconciliation, remorse, humour, empathy, entrusting, justice, ambition, love, faith, friendship. We lent a hyphen to a few folks who struggled with parsimonious expression and got a few more ‘one single factors’: inner-peace and constructive-ambiguity, and, notably, conflict and doubt.
Personally, my starting word was ‘tolerance’. In his 1910 ‘Man in the Arena’ speech, Theodore Roosevelt said that, “to be successful we must learn to combine intensity of conviction with a broad tolerance of difference of conviction.” In other words, great minds become greater by meeting minds different to their own – great minds don’t all think alike. Sorry Mrs Thatcher…
We in London strive, just as in the seventeenth-century coffee house, to make our modern-day City a place where all comers, speaking some 300 languages, are welcome, new ideas are embraced, and people disagree agreeably. Even though we are imperfect, that difference of perspectives enriches the City in so many ways.
I learned from that dinner with faith leaders.
Hand in hand with tolerance, I now believe that the essential ingredient for disagreeing agreeably is doubt. The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard noted that to have faith, one must also have doubt.
To have tolerance of other ideas and viewpoints, one must also have doubt: to accept the possibility that you are wrong, and the other person is right. Thus, we concluded that ‘Connect To Prosper’ needed to learn from the interfaith community.
Scientific progress is grounded in doubt – to recognise that what we currently believe may be wrong. Doubt opens the mind to new theories, new discoveries, and new solutions. And creativity comes from doubting this is the best we can do.
By embracing doubt, we make progress – tolerance, doubt, faith, science, creativity.
We endeavoured to instil the spirit of “I am not too sure, but I’m listening” in all our ‘Connect To Prosper’ initiatives. By stressing a guiding principle of doubt we don’t just agree to disagree, but to disagree agreeably, aspiring to test and contest without rancour the latest ideas in search of better solutions.
I would encourage us all to look deep into our hearts and explore how we can help to restore the art of disagreeing agreeably. And if there are subjects where we can agree agreeably, what a bonus.
Before I end, I have some quick thank you’s. First to our panel chairs and all of our speakers this afternoon. To Sir David Khalili and Nizam, neither of whom could make it today, for very generously sponsoring this evening’s reception. And of course, to Revd Dr Alan McCormack, the Lord Mayor’s Chaplain this year, for all his work organising today’s event.
I hope, by the end, you will agree agreeably that today’s panels have been a worthwhile exercise.
Thank you.