Learning to Live Well Together. Tom Wilson

venues. This begins to reposition the narrative between communities and the armed services, which is crucial.

      One such example was during the visit of the Rt Hon Earl Howe to Crown Hills Community College in Leicester in February 2016, when the Armed Forces Muslim Association highlighted the Muslim contribution to the British Army in the First and Second World Wars. Many Muslims lost their lives, including Khudadad Khan, the first Muslim solider to receive the Victoria Cross, with Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the previous communities minister, hailing his ‘exceptional loyalty, courage and determination in Britain’s fight for freedom’ (Malnick 2014). However, it was apparent that many of the children attending the school were not aware of this fact, which they deemed to be positive. Needless to say, there would be similar responses to other war heroes from other faiths too. Therefore, for the armed forces, understanding and appreciating history is an important part of their particular narrative of encounter. However, such narratives are not always universally settled. For example, the narrative of the relationship for sections of the black community in London and the Metropolitan Police is still dominated by the tragedy of Stephen Lawrence’s murder. Learning from history to carve out new connections is key.

      Recruiting from ethnic or religious minority communities, to ensure services are reflective of the areas they serve, remains a key challenge to public sector bodies despite some of the progress made. In particular, at senior management level, whether local authority, NHS, police, armed services, fire service or educational institution, there is no doubt that there are recruitment difficulties and, even if at entry level the barriers are broken, the further up the chain the less reflective they are of their respective areas. This is a significant concern, and a welcome development has been the call by Prime Minister Theresa May to order a Cabinet Office ‘review into how ethnic minorities and white working class people are treated by public services such as the NHS, schools, police and the courts’ (BBC 2016b). The inclusion of ‘white working class’ is vital in the wider context of integration and inclusion in society. How public bodies respond to the issues posed remains to be seen.

      Clearly this is not a problem confined to public bodies, with the private sector also needing to reflect on its own challenges. For example, how many bank or building society boards could be said to be reflective of UK society?