Honey & Spice is set within the real cultural and political context of race relations and debate in the 2020s in the UK, when increased public pressure led to more formal scrutiny of the ways in which UK society and institutions discriminated against people of color, whether consciously or unconsciously. Efforts largely centered around challenging white privilege and recognizing the lived experience of Black people and people of color in the UK, especially unequal opportunities and the barriers of traditional white-centric power structures and predominantly white institutions. This context is central to the novel’s campus setting, made explicit in the name “Whitewell” and its exploration of racial identity, race relations, and access within the university community.

An important part of this context is the Black Lives Matter movement, which is significantly referenced in the novel. This movement originated in the United States in 2013 and increasingly influenced anti-racism movements in the UK in the 2020s. Black Lives Matter was established in response to police brutality toward Black people in the US, with the slogan “Black Lives Matter” becoming a wider anti-racist call for social justice and raised awareness. The movement increased in global awareness in May 2020 after footage showed police murdering a Black man named George Floyd—the police were called because a clerk suspected Floyd had used a fake $20 bill.