Sure, it may have been the "best ever" Notting Hill Carnival and was enjoyed by more than one million revelers, but let’s not kid ourselves about what it represents.

The head of the Commission for Racial Equality Trevor Philips was right when he dismissed the idea that the carnival exemplified “the triumph of multiculturalism”.


''I don't think so, though it's a fabulous party,” Mr Phillips said in a speech to the Royal Geographical Society, in London, last night.

“Carnival can hardly be said to represent the everyday culture of most of London's communities. It is largely about a celebration of the historic culture with which I grew up in the Caribbean.

“We wouldn't, frankly, think of participation in a day's Morris dancing or caber-tossing as a valuable exercise in building a modern multicultural society.

“We must not confuse genuine experience of a multicultural community with what is, in effect, domestic tourism."

I must admit I didn't attend the carnival, but I’m all for a celebration.

However, we shouldn't allow it to mask the real issues of immigration and integration which still face the capital.

I don’t believe London is full of racists, but the way some communities are separated by their background – sometimes by their own doing – is a problem.

Thankfully, they are issues being tackled proactively by the London mayor Ken Livingston - even if his loose lips often don’t help the cause.

Coming from Australia, I acknowledge that my home country’s past treatment of the Aborigines was disgraceful, but I do believe racism has ended there.

In fact, I think Australia is one of the few examples in the world of a successful multicultural society and I was shocked by the race riots in Sydney late last year.

So when the eyes of the world turn on London at the 2012 Olympics will they just see an example of “domestic tourism” or will they see the “true” London?

And is that something Londoners should be ashamed or proud of?