The future of Britain is inextricably linked to its ability to understand and accommodate the experiences of its "mixed-race" citizens. The future of Britain is inextricably linked to its ability to understand and accommodate the experiences of its "mixed-race" citizens. It is easy to overlook the fact that for all its conservatism, Britain has one of the highest levels of mixed-race relationships in the western world. Between 1980 and 1990, the number of mixed-race babies increased from 70,000 to 287,000. By all accounts, young people today are far more open to being involved in a mixed relationship. The numbers of people of mixed parentage will continue to rise in the decades ahead. Nevertheless, race mixing remains a sensitive subject, rarely addressed openly.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's Mixed Feelings is a welcome attempt to force the issue on to the public agenda.Her book is based upon an impressive range of interviews with people in mixed relationships and children of mixed parentage. The stories these people tell indicate some good, and some bad news. The good news is that "mixed-race families and couples have never had it so good." They are accepted and even admired by a significant section of society.The bad news is that individuals involved in a mixed relationship are often subject to intense hostility and stigma. The assumption – often unspoken – that people who mix have created a problem, for both themselves and their children, still prevails.Making sense of the experience of mixing is one of the most difficult problems facing a social scientist There is even controversy about the term we use. Many experts believe the term "race mixing" represents a concession to the idea that humanity can be divided into biological races.

Others claim that children of mixed parentage should all be called black, while others prefer the term multiracial.Debates about terminology are often driven by identity politics, which is distant from the real experience of the people it purports to define. It is evident from the accounts here that there is no such thing as a distinctive mixed-race encounter. People of mixed-race background often have different experiences with families and peers. The influence of class and culture often leads to unique patterns. Support and tolerance from some quarters coexists with exceptional episodes of discrimination.Our knowledge of race relations tells only a small part of the story. The phenomenon of mixing is inseparable from the process of individuation, the dynamic of social mobility, and the complex domain of desire. It is as much about the erosion of old affiliations as the creation of new ones.