On the one hand, the recent comments by the Prime Minister David Cameron are absolutely welcomed if people in the UK can stop living up to the pretence that we are a multi-cultural society. On the other hand, Mr Cameron only results to the same tired argument and does not really offer any real alternative solutions.

I feel that the speech produced a lot of fast thoughts without much thinking on how these comments will be picked up on in the media. We should acknowledge that it is wrong to pander to certain voices if those voices are wrong. My other concern is that the left in the UK are not actively providing the counter balance to the immigration argument.

The debate is always centred around the ideas of immigration, the war on terrorism and being British – our core values, whatever they may be. Are we living in a more troubling time than before? One thing that I can agree on is the fact that people don’t really talk to each other. I’ll speak for myself but due to rushing around the city, I don’t spend time getting to know new people and very rarely would I speak to a stranger in the street. This is not down to the fact that people dress in a different way from me but rather my time is being pushed to the limits at the moment.

I just came back from Berlin, which is a great city but one thing that really stuck out for me was the lack of visible others around the city. On returning to London, I almost feel safe in the sea of otherness, which allows me to be the person who I’m meant to be. We should be proud of London’s success in giving people the space to live how they want without society or the state imposing itself too much. There is an alternative story to the one being peddled at the moment that is not being told to us right now. We need more people to actually discuss the benefits of having a global network of friends rather than having the small minded, stuck on the island mentality.

On Friday I sat at a dinner table with what could only be described as a multicultural mixing pot with people from different races, ethnicities, social backgrounds, cultures and the like. The funny thing is, to me, eating with friends is far more important than the colour of one’s skin. At times, who we think we are, is completely different from who we really are. After reading the headlines surrounding the multicultural debate, I wondered how many people actually spend time with people who don’t look, act or talk like themselves.

So we can acknowledge that London is a very diverse place. I would have had more appreciation if the debate was moved around to the idea of equality. A person being equal is something that rarely gets spoken about and no-one seems to want to tackle inequality. I am not suggesting that people need to earn the same wage or anything like that but being able to walk into a shop and to be addressed as a person, is a fairly good start.

I am glad that the debate is back on the agenda; maybe we can start to talk about equality, racism and whether we should respect all forms of diversity. We need to iron these issues out, at least in the short term as others around the world want to categories and collate everyone. If we read any history, we all know what happens when we start to play that game. We have to care about people of whom we have no connection with, in order to stop ethnic wars.

Most people do not understand the country as it is, they focus on what it was. I am very fortunate to live in a city like London and want to celebrate that fact, not create the same divisions that are in place in other countries around the world. I do not want London to be turned into a little America!