It states on my birth certificate that I am half English and half Iranian.

But seeing as I never knew my natural father - who gave me my Persian blood - was born and raised in England and adopted to English parents at the age of three, I have never considered myself Asian.

But a teenage youth, full of pent-up racial hatred, decided to think differently in the early hours of Saturday morning.

I was walking alone in Newcastle, following a night out, when the youngster, no doubt trying to impress two girls he was with, aimed a torrent of abuse in my direction.

He followed it with punches to my head, before telling me to "go home with the Pakis".

I was stunned. I have worked and lived all over the country, and abroad, and never, not even once, have I been the victim of a racist attack.

No-one has ever called me a 'Paki'; never had anyone even asked if I had foreign blood in me.

Understanding my own roots is one thing. Realising it makes me a target is something entirely different.

I have lived in Stoke-on-Trent for nine months now, coming to work for The Sentinel after spending four years working in Essex and Suffolk.

It was immediately noticeable to me, mainly through my work and the work of others for this newspaper, that there are strong racial and political divides in the city and surrounding area.

The rise in prominence of the BNP, the racial assaults that occur, and the general aura of ill-at-ease ethnic minorities living in these parts, has shown me that something is very wrong.

I find it difficult to comprehend why there is so much of a problem here, and can only put it down to hatred breeding hatred.

When it started I do not know but I cannot see a solution.

Statistics show that North Staffordshire is not overrun with asylum seekers, ethnic minorities or foreigners. Other cities have figures that are the same as ours or higher.

I have lived and worked around North London and South Essex, where there are so many creeds and colours, but there is nothing like the amount of hatred that there is here.

Most of us will frown over the wars and atrocities being carried out across the world, whether it be in Iraq, Kosovo or Israel. But these started due to religious and racial differences.

Can we not see the cells of extremism growing so rapidly on our own doorstep?

I have to be honest and say that up until the moment this drunken racist attacked me on Saturday morning, I could not.

Everything I read on the subject was shoved to the back of my mind. I had not witnessed a racist assault myself, my Asian and black friends had not been subjected to it, and it was something I believed I would not encounter.

But this has affected me very deeply. I cannot believe dark hair and olive skin made me a victim.

The more I think over what was a relatively minor incident, the more I want to distance myself from Stoke-on-Trent.Whenever I was asked what I liked best about the area, I always replied it was the people. My opinion has changed.

I have played the incident over in my mind countless times since, mainly for police statements, and I shudder at the thought it could have been a lot worse.

Having got away with one incident, what will stop this youth taking a further, perhaps more serious step, next time?

But thank you, drunken teenager, for making me so painfully aware of your feelings towards non Anglo-Saxon whites in North Staffordshire.

With two punches to the head you have destroyed much of the warmth I felt for this city.

And we wonder why some people's perception of North Staffordshire is so bad.

Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail pastill@nep.co.uk