But multi-racialism is a tricky balance to achieve. On the one hand, there has to be a measure of economic equality and genuine parity of esteem. But on the other, it should not mean obliterating differences or pretending differences do not exist. Britain would be the poorer without its different races and their different cultural traditions. But it would also be a mistake to try and iron out these differences in the name of multi-racialism. Of course, a vexed question is of the relative merit of different cultures and cultural traditions. It is very difficult in these cases to distinguish where objective judgement starts and prejudice begins. In European societies, the bias tends to be that European culture and tradition are necessarily superior. But in the words of the American blues songs "It ain't necessarily so."

But with all the difficulties in practice, multi-racialism is still an ideal worth striving for. Because you can look around and see where ethnic tensions and rivalry can lead. The civil wars in Africa get plenty of coverage. One of the original ethnic conflicts was the Ibo insurrection in Biafra in Nigeria. But the fighting in Yugoslavia is just as much an ethnic conflict as any African bush war. And the prospects in Yugoslavia are a nightmare. Serbs, Croats and Muslims are so intermarried and intermixed that Yugoslavia seems destined to shatter into a multiplicity of mini-statelets. All ethically pure in themselves but in almost every other way, unsustainable as modern nation states. So a multi-racial society is not just a rosy and possibly unrealistic ideal. It is vital to understand how a multi-racial society can be made to work if we are going to avoid further turmoil across great swathes of Africa, Asia and Central Europe.

To have a genuinely multi-racial society there needs to be genuine economic equality between the races. It's unbelievable that one can talk about a multi-racial Britain or anywhere else unless there is a measure of economic empowerment for all groups within Society. This means making sure that there is genuine equality of opportunity in education for all races. And that the barriers for black and ethnic minority advancement in business and in the profession are taken down. But economic empowerment for minorities is a necessary precondition but not sufficient to bring about a genuinely multi-racial society. Because nationhood and society is as much about ideas as anything else, the role of culture, literature, philosophy and the arts in building a multi-racial society is key. The first step is that the influence of black and ethnic minorities in the culture of a country like Britain is properly acknowledged.

There is no doubt the history of twentieth century popular music is very much the history of African music as it has been mediated through North America. There is almost no sort of pop music that doesn't owe something to black American influence. And in art, the influence of African art has long been acknowledged on modern abstract painters like Picasso. More recently, the literary establishment has been willing to acknowledge the contribution of black and ethnic minority writers like Ben Okri, Alice Walker, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Arundathi Roy, Salman Rushdie and Nobel prize winning Toni Morrison. And at the level of popular culture, different races have enriched British life greatly.

There is no doubt that the presence of ethnic minorities in Britain and much more foreign travel have transformed the British diet for the better. Noticeably fish and chips have been overtaken by curry as the most popular British takeaway. For many years, Britons have got used to seeing black athletes like Linford Christie representing them internationally. And much of the famous "Cool Britannia" that mix of music and fashion, which is admired internationally, derives from different ethnic street styles. We are also seeing an unprecedented level of intermarriage between the races. It is noticeably more common to see mixed race couples in Britain than in the U.S., which has had a larger black population for longer. There can be no doubt that as more and more British either have a black person in their family or at least knows someone that has a black person in their family, ideas about the desirability of racial purity will have to be examined by even the most die hard conservative.

So multi-racialism is easy to talk about but hard to achieve. Yet as we have approached the end of a millennium, Britain is a more open, more multi-racial society than ever before. And one where different races and cultural influences are beginning to be positively acknowledged and given equal respect. British society have come some way but there is still further to go. Martin Luther King dreamed of an America where a man's character would be more important than the colour of their skin. The indication of Britain's becoming a genuinely multi-racial society is when the skin colour of a British MP is no more significant than the colour of their eyes.

While preparing the essay the following publications and resources were used:

1. Diane Abbott, MP. Multi-racialism in Britain Oxford, 1995.

2. R. Rees Davies, M.A., D.Phil. The Matter of Britain and the Matter of England, Oxford, 1996

Internet resources:

1. www.bbc.co.uk/history

2. www.planet-britain.com