Maga mothers and anti-immigration uncles: How to keep your sanity when you have different politics to family

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. At work, you’re legally allowed to express your political opinions ; under the Human Rights Act 1998, “everyone has the right to freedom of expression,” says David Rice, an HR expert at People Managing People. Any of these could damage your career or even get you fired, warns Rice: “Ultimately, if you are going to share your political views at work, or even online on your personal social media channels, it’s a good idea to be aware of the rights your employer has before doing so.” He adds: “Political views can get people very riled up, so even if you didn’t mean to cause any harm initially, a discussion could end up getting very heated and, in some cases, violent, which is very dangerous territory to be in as an employee. As in, I’m ostensibly arguing with you, but I’m really playing to the people who are already on my side.” If you’re concerned that your views might cause a rift with colleagues, it’s probably best to keep your views to yourself David Rice, People Managing People It creates a distortion of political disagreement – a system in which the entire aim is to score points, “own” the other side and win the favour of online onlookers, rather than learn anything. “Start every disagreement with some amount of agreement,” he says, “like how we’re going to have the conversation – we’re going to have an equal amount of time to speak, or take it in turns so we don’t interrupt each other – and what it is we’re actually going to be disagreeing about.” open image in gallery Insults are best avoided, even when political debate gets heated Seo stresses the need to practice empathy, describing the techniques of top competitive debaters: once they’ve prepared their own arguments, they’ll put themselves in the opposing team’s place, considering what points they would make, or how they would go about picking holes in the original stance.