'I don't think race figures at all now for Britain's youth.' Discuss.

'I don't think race figures at all now for Britain's youth.' These are the words of BBC News Presenter, George Alagiah. I'm very much looking forward to his three-part series which starts on BBC 2 this Thursday. It's called Mixed Race Britain and examines mixed-race relationships in Britain today. There's a turgid interview about the show on the Guardian website here.

I was rather disappointed with the interview. There seemed to be conflicting views between the interviewer and George 'I'm not going to give you a sound bite' retorts George to the Guardian interviewer, all too familiar with the journo game.  Had they got on better I think George may have revealed a gem or two about why he actually decided to make the programme in the first place. The interviewer seemed more preoccupied with the concept of race. George doesn't want to get into the sensitive issues that surround race. He wants to talk about the people that the children of the 80s have become. Of course, that's me. I'm one of those children. I'm not mixed race (as far as I know that is. My family never kept something like a family tree. Admin wasn't one of their strengths, unlike farming, craftwork and cookery... anyway, I digress). However, growing up at home alongside the cultural influence of my Moroccan parents inside, outside, I was influenced by the British culture that surrounded me. I fancied Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys, listened to Indie and Britpop and ate chip butties. 

Now, the crux of the programme is that George seems to be fairly confident that race is becoming less of an issue when it comes to forming relationships. I'm not convinced... I know that mixed-race relationships have come a long way in the past 50 years. And I'm very pleased about that. But I'm not sure we're quite there yet. I think that some cultures are progressing faster than others. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to watching George's programme this Thursday, with popcorn.