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I categorically reject the naysayers on multiculturalism. I’ve written about this extensively and repeatedly through the years, but it bears repeating because it’s so significant — and because its opponents grown ever louder.

Britain is, and has long been, a multicultural society. For a start, the United Kingdom comprises three countries on the British mainland, one province in Ireland and various smaller islands. Furthermore, the United Kingdom is a sovereign state in which numerous indigenous languages are spoken, amongst them English, Welsh, Scots, Gaelic, Irish, Cornish and Shelta. It also accommodates many faiths and none, including multiple Christian denominations, long held to be indigenous to these isles.

These realities alone should be enough to silence the vocal proponents of a unitary British identity. But in fact our own lived experiences are just as likely to throw doubt on those suppositions. While some might wish to characterise British identity as a love of booze and football, we’re actually hugely diverse, our cultures influenced by social stratification, education, upbringing, religion, region, wealth, hobbies, employment, and so on.

It has often occurred to me how different my family culture was to that of most of my peers, by virtue of ours being very religious. We had traditions, morals and expectations which set us apart even from our neighbours. And even then, in some respects, our household culture was different from that of my Methodist grandparents on one side. On the other side, while my Irish grandmother may have become more English than the English, a true blue patriot, her roots in rural southern Ireland were inescapable.

The rallying battlecry against multiculturalism is entirely political, obscuring our own diverse history and present. Clearly it targets particular groups more than others, who are problematised in the nation’s psyche. A century ago, that role was fulfilled by Jewish communities, despite amounting to well under half a million people. Even earlier, that role was taken up by Catholics, who were targeted by discriminatory penal codes.

Today, that unenviable role is largely occupied by Muslim communities, despite them making up less than 6% of the British population. All other non-Christian faiths make up less than 3.5%. Given that these groups make up such a small proportion of the population, you have to ask yourself why our press appears to give them disproportionate coverage, much of which is overwhelmingly negative.

If it is said that it is because these populations are becoming the majority in our largest cities, the actual evidence does not affirm this to be the case at all. The latest census reveals the capital to be over 50% white, of whom 37% self-identify as white British. Those identifying as Asian, which includes all Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese communities, make up 20% of London’s population. The African and Caribbean constituent makes up less that 15%.

Overwhelmingly, the narrative set for us by the dominant voices proclaiming a unitary British identity is that there is a vast constituent which does not belong, and is undermining our cohesive identity. Only, the latest census reveals that 82% of people in the United Kingdom are white, which naturally leads me to conclude that the problem so often spoken of, in which a clear minority is blamed for the problems of society at large, is vastly exaggerated. Rather, I would suggest, they are just useful scapegoats.

It is okay to maintain your cultural identity, to retain links to elsewhere, to speak multiple languages, to dip in and out of different cultural milieus — as we all do — to practice different faiths, to think for yourself, to enjoy different social circles. It is okay to be both British and internationalist. It’s okay to feel fraternal love both for your neighbours at home, and for humanity at large. It’s okay to not like beer, or to not be very interested in football: Britain can accommodate all kinds of weirdos. Relax, and be yourself.