The ITV Reform Exposé Makes Me Ask: Who Gets to Decide Where I Belong?

As sickening footage of prejudice hits the headlines, and as a British-born multicultural human, I wonder what happens when politicians try to unravel the fabric of the place we call home

If you’ve seen the news yesterday and today, you’ll know about the undercover ITV investigation into Reform UK. Elected councillors, candidates, and party activists caught on camera spouting blatant racism, misogyny, and Islamophobia. Dehumanising slurs. Calls for violence and expelling even legal immigrant citizens. Describing communities as “parasites.”

It’s utterly sickening. It’s pure racism. And it also sits right at the heart of a toxic, growing debate about identity and who actually belongs in modern Britain. Recently, we’ve seen certain political figures pushing narrow, rigid definitions of identity, telling us that who we are depends strictly on bloodlines and ancestral roots. But surely we can be whatever we feel? Isn’t self-identification our basic right?

A Complex Patchwork of Identity

Look at my own story. My parents arrived in the UK in the mid-to-late 1960s. I was born here, grew up here, and when I think, I even think in English. So do I feel English? Partly, but not entirely.

I’ve spent well over a third of my life living in the Middle East, first Saudi Arabia and then United Arab Emirates. Do I feel Arab? Shweya shweya, yanni – a little bit, but not entirely.

Do I feel Pakistani, where my family originates from? Or Indian, given that my dad was born in Uttar Pradesh? Again, partly yes, but not entirely.

But does any of that matter? I feel human. And when I step back and look at my life as a human being, I feel profoundly blessed and enriched by all these incredible cultures I’ve absorbed, inherited, and lived through. Why can’t I – or any of us – just choose to be uniquely ourselves? And have the right to choose the place we decide to belong to.

Imagine political movements that make millions of people who are part of the very fabric of British society feel alien in their own home. Imagine how quickly their hatred will unstitch, unravel, and rip our communities apart, leaving this country worse off in every single way.

When Home Starts to Feel Uncertain

If you ask me where my home is, the answer has always been instant: London. I was born here, I’ve lived across the globe, but I’ve always come back here. This city has always been my base, my anchor, and my home.

Well… at least I thought it was.

Lately, reading the headlines and seeing exposed prejudices from figures in political parties actively vying for power makes you pause. You can’t help but ask yourself a painful question: if people who harbour these views ever govern, is the country I’ve loved and felt patriotic about a place that doesn’t actually want me?

And if that’s the reality, where does that leave someone like me? Who am I, where am I really from, and – most crucially, if not here, then where do I go?

Protecting Our Fabric

Imagine political movements that make millions of people who are part of the very fabric of British society feel alien in their own home. Imagine how quickly their hatred will unstitch, unravel, and rip our communities apart, leaving this country worse off in every single way.

Britain isn’t defined by narrow hostility. It is a shawl of many colours – woven from different cultures, heritage, and shared human experience.

It’s time we pull that shawl tight around ourselves. Because in its warmth lies comfort, belonging, and love – not hate.

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