Mr. Peter Emerson

Mum was an English Catholic, dad an Irish Protestant, so in 1975, Peter Emerson, ‘a political bastard’, moved to Belfast, where he now promotes cross-community consensus voting. Given the similarities between so many ethno-religious conflicts – most of which are at least exacerbated by binary questions – he has also worked in conflict zones like the Caucasus and the Balkans (he speaks Russian and what was Serbo-Croat) and most recently in China (where his language skills are fewer).