"Extending the categories is good"

Neil Noronha, 24, lives in Brockley and works for an advertising agency in Soho. His father is from Goa in India and his mother is part Portuguese, part English and part Indian.
He said: "At university most people stuck in the their own racial groups. The Asians hung out with Asians and the Greeks with Greeks. It was incredibly cliquey but I tended to hang out with everyone.

"I don't know if it's because I'm mixed. If my Asian friends wanted to ask a white person a question, they would come and ask me to do it.

"I see myself as Asian. My Asian friends do treat me differently, though. I've got green eyes and people always say stuff about them, and how I look different.

"I see being mixed as an advantage. It means you can fit in anywhere rather than not fitting in at all. People think if you are mixed you are unsure of who you are, but I've never had that problem. It's a good thing the categories have been extended. People are quite happy for you to tick one box and say, 'That's where you belong.' They want to categorise you. But it's a bit more complicated than that."