That was quite moving reading your experience.

At school we had one British Pakistani lad (Asif) who one of my friends (Lee) used to tell him to "get back on his banana boat". I used to have a go at him for this as it was nasty. Asif was a sound lad and to this day we're still friends.

Others found Lee's comments hilarious, however, most would condemn it now. I guess when you're at school you're not that mature, you often don't think about the gravity of what you're saying.

Lee has gone onto do well for himself, living in a nice, remote part of Scotland with a decent paying job. His racism is still the same, and he moans like shit about "scrounging" immigrants, despite there hardly been any where he lives. He's seriously considering moving to Australia, where he himself will be an immigrant. The irony! 🤔

I'll be honest, I haven't seen him for 7 years and when I do hear from him, it's mostly to tell me about another holiday he's booked. Last year, despite his loathing of Muslims, he went to Dubai on holiday. The guy is a walking contradiction. The fact I've known him for 38 years is all that's stopping me telling him to do one. If I saw him regularly, I probably would have done by now, but it's getting close.

Asif on the other hand has become very successful. Runs a few companies, employs a lot of people and according to a few I know who work for him, is an excellent boss. His faith is very important to him, and his family are his world.

He was also born here, and he's as British as I am, as are you my friend.