Celebrating Britain's 101 Most Influential Asians 2021

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Sunder Katwala


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IT HAS been a strange year for Sunder Katwala, founder of leading identity and integration think-tank British Future.

As the coronavirus pandemic swept across the UK in March last year, people across the country adapted to their new ‘normal’. The British Future team, headed by Katwala, was no different.

Pre-pandemic, the think-tank had coordinated a public letter which called for a “decade of reconnection”. Steps were put in motion to launch the /Together coalition – a campaign encouraging social connection – in March. A steering group, chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury, it included a number of organisations and individuals from the NHS and ITV to the Scouts and Guides.

“At the time, people were very concerned about the fallout of the Brexit referendum and the different political polarised things that have happened,” Katwala explains. “Without knowing the world we were entering into, we were really focused on this challenge of reconnection in our society.”

Unfortunately, the initial launch date was not meant to be – it coincided with the first national lockdown and was subsequently cancelled. The /Together campaign eventually launched in July, to mark the 72nd birthday of the NHS. Although the message of connection remained, the campaign took on a whole new meaning in light of the pandemic.

“It is very interesting how that campaign has to respond to Covid,” Katwala muses. “Social connection was something we already thought was important, but I think everyone can agree that it’s more important now than ever.”

The independent think-tank has had to adapt to the restrictions triggered by the coronavirus outbreak, meaning that all its events have gone online. Although there are obvious downsides to virtual meet-ups, there have been positives too.

“We’ve got more reach than we used to have as we prioritise the audience in the room,”

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