Marshall Matters

Simon Fanshawe on the history of Stonewall and the future of diversity

Perrier Award-winning comedian, writer, broadcaster, author and co-founder of gay rights charity Stonewall, Simon Fanshawe joins me this week on Marshall Matters.

I must apologise in advance for my giggling. Simon is a funny man. Nevertheless we do get our teeth into some important topics.

Simon tells me about the founding of Stonewall, being one of the original six founders alongside Sir Ian McKellen in 1989. He takes me on a history of the charity through to the Marriage (same sex) Act 2013 and the adding of the ‘T’ to the ‘LGB’ thereafter. We discuss where Stonewall have gone wrong, and their divisive strategy in recent times.

We discuss diversity in the workplace, his most recent book ‘The Power of Difference’ and his new company Diversity by Design. This is an important topic. The NHS spends £40m a year on “Diversity and Inclusion Officers”. Public sector organisations employ 10,000 DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) staff. These roles cost the taxpayer £427 million a year.

That is a hell of a lot of money. Simon makes the case for diversity policy.

But the biggest takeaway, as I’m sure you’ll agree, is that this great comic needs to be on stage again.

All usual podcast outlets and Youtube

Links below

Enjoy,

WM

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