Laurence Fox@LozzaFox
Last night I went out to dinner with my wife and some friends. Some of whom happened to be black and some of whom happened to be gay - not that that should make any difference to anything in in Britain in 2026 - where everyone is so incredibly kind and everyone is so included and welcome.
When we arrived at the restaurant I could tell immediately that the manager recognised me - and he wasn’t a fan.
In these rare circumstances I tend to overcompensate and be extra polite and courteous to win people round, but nothing worked with this bloke. He was rude to the point of open hostility. Wanting to enjoy the evening - which we did enormously - I just tried to ignore him.
As the meal finished and we were leaving, I asked for the gentleman’s name so I could write to the management of the restaurant with my thoughts about the service - or lack therof - He refused to give me his name and proceeded to tell me that he didn’t need to be polite to racists and a homophobes - even after I politely reminded him of the fact that i was sat at a table well stocked with homosexuals and black people.
So instead I took a photo of him and said if he refused to give me his name then the photo would help identify him in my correspondence.
The minute I did this his entire demeanour changed and he started to realise that there were going to be potential consequences for being so rude and unprofessional. He began to apologise profusely and - long story short - we ended up sat together at the bar with him telling me he was sorry for jumping to conclusions and that he had had a horrible day he had and before I left we gave each other a hug. He even texted when he finished his shift to apologise again. New friend made. So it’s all good!
But it reminded me what irritates me about the media. This man had read the one sided dross that the dying media put out and despite the fact that I was sat having a laugh with a very “diverse” table of friends, he refused to let go of his own bigotry and prejudice, to the point where he was happy to potentially jeopardise his job over it.
I get that we live in a world where the media likes to make monsters of certain people, and I don’t expect everyone to agree with what I say. I get recognised quite often and commentary goes with the territory, people express strong views - both positive and negative - about what I think, which is great. You may have noticed, i’m very pro free speech and people expressing different views! The more the merrier! I am still however a human being, with feelings and emotions, and I don’t think it’s too much to ask to be able to go out to a restaurant to eat with my wife and friends without a waiter trying to do everything he can to ruin our evening.
We don’t often go out to restaurants we don’t know well for just this reason and after last night, it will be a while before I do again.
So might you do yourselves a favour dying media? Try to be at least balanced when you write about people. You would have saved this poor chap and myself an unnecessary and unpleasant experience. You are already on your last legs. Perhaps you should ask yourselves why your audience is getting smaller and smaller with every passing day?
Many thanks. Happy Sunday. 🙏
