From the very beginning it was important not to be another free newspaper.

We always thought many Asian publications wanted credit for just being an Asian newspaper. Funnily many in the UK still do.

That just by having Asian written on the front meant that somehow Asian people would read it. But we learnt early on that readers are very picky and as the internet and 24-hour news channels took hold the job of an ethnic minority publication became ever more difficult.

So we decided to make Asian Image unique and to instil some humour into many of the articles. And above all to make Asian Image an interesting read.

In Asian Image there are articles and features that are unique to this newspaper and they don't appear anywhere else. And that gives the readers an affinity with the newspaper.

The writers and columnists all have a certain edge to them. I always thought it strange how Bollywood, forced marriages and racism were the only issues affecting the Asian community living in Britain when we were growing up. And that everything else was simply brushed under the carpet.

It was also important to tackle issues that really got under our noses. And once we started to explore them more and more readers began ringing up with stories.

We wanted to portray both the negative and positive sides of the Asian community. And this is where we hit a chord with most readers. It was also important to become a voice for the Asian community without claiming to speak for everyone and anyone. However, I am pleased that after all these years people do still respect the newspaper for taking a balanced and fair view of important issues. They also realise that to make changes we must stick our neck on the line and not be afraid to speak out when injustice has been done.

Just because you are an Asian publication does not mean you should only be read by Asian people.

Asian Image now has I feel one of the largest non-Asian readerships of an Asian publication. The reason for this is the writers tend to portray a simple and concise message that regardless of your background and religion we are all essentially the same.

Regardless of what I and a hundred different editors across the planet might think the reader is always king. The reader is what makes a newspaper what it is.

So before anyone else I would like to thank the most important person, you the Asian Image reader, for helping us reach this landmark of ten years.