Dear Miss Hopkins,

To my amazement I stumbled across your article on migration and I will never understand how you are allowed to write what you write. In your piece you mention your beloved England and how the English are superior to everyone. The reason why I have decided to write a response to your piece is because my family and I originate from Sierra Leone and I find your piece very offensive.

The first thing I will be addressing will be the statement where you say, “clearly, boats are in short supply and that’s a good thing”. I feel that this is wrong because many people are trying to get into this country to get away from their war-torn countries. They are not here to disturb you in any way – they are just seeking for better lives. Most of all I feel by letting them enter they would benefit because they would bring things which “your country” can’t supply. In addition to this i feel that your point I invalid because if your country is so good then you should have more than enough boats which would not allow you to run out and even if you did then you should just be able to buy more, so I feel that your just against the people coming in and you’re using false facts to justify.

Another statement which I disagree with is the one which says, “it’s time to get Australian”. I have one thing to say to this and that is if you want to get Australian then go and get whichever fancy plane you can afford and fly to Australia because I think that there are many people in this country who appreciate the way this country is run. Another reason why this is wrong is because if you do begin to “act Australian” then you would just be attacking fire with fire because the people trying to get in have nothing to lose and will try to defend themselves and this could lead to many people being armed just to make sure they are safe.

In one of your statements it says that if you were to see a dead body in the waters you would walk past and not care. I feel that this is incredibly sick. I don’t believe any real human would have the guts to do this. Also by you posting this and allowing people to read this, people may begin to act in a similar way and this is very irresponsible. But if any real human being decides to read this I know that they will turn away in anger and respond as a normal human would do after reading such sickening and racist opinions. The reason why this is wrong is because if feel that someone were to do this to your body or to someone you know then I feel someone will have something to say.

In one of your points you say that if you want a better life for yourself then you had better start getting creative in North Africa . This is incredibly wrong. Not only are you trying to deny access for people trying to getting a better life, you’re trying to place all the burden on a whole continent and this is self evidently wrong. It’s only a selected few who are trying to find a new life. I feel you wouldn’t stand for this so I feel that this shouldn’t be said. Most people trying to emigrate to this country are of dark skin colour. We and the UK have spent decades trying to deal with our colonial past and create multi cultural harmony. With your racist comments you are now behaving in an incorrect and thoughtless manner. This is something that your “beloved country” tried so hard to make better and I can’t stand by and allow you to peddle this nonsense.

Dear Miss Birbalsingh

Your article on racial violence is a joke. How can you a minority, use a minority to attack a whole race.

In your article it is clear that you feel that the police are not the problem with crime  From me reading other articles about the police I can tell you that this statement is not true. The ipcc( independent police complaints commission) are meant to review the police but with figures like 333 people dying in police custody and not one police officer being prosecuted, I feel that they are not doing their job. Maybe if it had been a few then you could say that there are many reasons why but the number is so large that I feel that must being something wrong.

Another reason why I feel that your statement is wrong is because of police stops and search, I don’t have the problem with the police stopping and searching people but it’s how and who they do it to. The police officers choose who they to stop and normally it is black men and women this is wrong if they are going to stop and search people then it should be a everyone who is in and around that area not just their selected few. In addition to this when they stop and search they do it incorrectly. They do it to provoke a response, this would then lead to the person getting arrested. This could then again lead to another police custody death. This led to the riots because many families have been losing their love ones from them going into custody and when mark Duggan was shot I felt the communities tolerance was up and this time they choose to react and they choose to riot in a way which action had to be taken because it’s clear other methods don’t work.

At the beginning of your article who asked the question what colour is mark Duggan and here you was trying to say that black people are a criminal race, I highly disagree with this because not every person in the black race are criminals, don’t get me wrong there are people In the black community who are involved in criminal activity but this doesn’t give you the right to say that the entire black race are criminals, for all we know mark Duggan may not have been involved in criminal activity, as you say he may just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Every race has criminals that’s how life is so to place criminal behaviour in one race I feel is completely wrong.

For me I can see that you are justifying the polices actions because of the colour of mark Duggan. This tells me that if mark Duggan was white then you would have joined the riots to protest against the police. This would cause the riots because of the nature of black people, we are using to taking actions into our own hands and this was forced into our system by the whites so if there is anyone to blame for the riots are the whites, so I feel you should change the idea in which you are trying to put across.

Similar to you miss Birbalsingh, there is a man named starky who also feels that being black is to be a gangster or to be violent. I feel that this is wrong to say and the reason for this is because you can’t put violence on a race or a colour. You can’t do that because this says that everyone which that feature has the ability to be violent but from police statistics and figures it shows that people who are not black are also involved in violence, even certain figures show that other races have bigger part to play in certain scenes. From my own knowledge I feel that the reason in which why black people result to violence is because of the white race who made black people slaves, and for the black to change they had to resort to violence to become free. This is wrong because your saying if you’re not black then you’re not a criminal, this is wrong because if you look at people like Dylan roof and Adam Lanza who both were not black but killed 37 between each other.

The game has finished but the crowd have continued to roar as they leave. In fact, let’s start again from when the pitch was not even ready. Out come the grass cutters with their long sharp blades which cut the grass to a certain height, out come the white liners making each line as straight as possible. As the machines began to reach their finish line of 100 yards, next were the sprinklers spitting venom as if they were snakes in attack mode. As I look across the pitch, I don’t think I am able to establish a single piece of grass which has not been touched by the snake’s venom.

The pitch is now ready, out come the cleaners making sure every piece of litter had disappeared from the last game. Next come the clothes which cover the chairs which not only protect the chairs but give the cleaners an easier job and also to give you an extra hint for you to identify where you are. The pitch freshened and the stands cleared off the cleaners rush to make sure that the rich are made to feel rich.

The first hut has now opened and you can smell the oil burning, now it was time for business. The first spectator enters and before he could even find his seat he was checked by three different staff to ensure he was not breaking the law.

The stadium holds 76,000 but it feels as if the whole world had come along to see this battle commence. The darkness had now covered the sky and in domino faction on came the lights and as everyone waiting for the last light to make its entrance out came the referee with  both teams following him and the captains playing the role of the conductors with their fellow players as their orchestra. Anthems sang, twenty-two players counted and it was now time for the battle to get under way.

With a blow of the whistle of the ball went. five minutes past and chants had began to roar through the stadium, if you were outside you would have run in terror of the stadium collapsing. 3 minutes more and the small blue maestro had the ball at his feet and as he lifts his leg to stick the ball past the keeper, up to avoid the embarrassment comes the keeper but with no chance to stop it the ball is simply rolled past him and the crowd erupted.

15 minutes in and the battle was now a full-blooded affair and the diver as known to most, using his 160 pound Adidas boots he receives the ball and with a blink of the eyes the ball rips down the back of the net and the water emphasizes the finish. Half an hour of the ball going back and forth, great saves here, great saves their and people throwing their various weights around to make sure their team doesn’t lose. As my neck begins to strain , the balls hits the divers feet and he curls the ball to back post, as the crowd silence in astonishment  in comes the big monster using his hair to give him a few inches, but is not needed as his forehead sweetly connects with the black emblem placed on the center of the ball. The keeper watches in amazement as the ball fly’s into the roof of the net. The players have given their all and with the sharp blow of the whistle the game is now frozen and in a flash the players have disappeared.

The seats have now become deserted as the fans rush to make sure they fill their bellies before the players return to once again give their all. Luckily enough for me I am treated today as a king so I don’t have to wait for the staff to chop down their lines with each order. I have returned to my throne and to my delight next to me stood the real king of this palace, sir Alex Ferguson. As my body freeze, my lips are able to utter the words “may I have a picture” and with a nod of his head I am now able to move and I rush to remove my phone from my back pocket and quickly take the picture before he is able to change his mind.

20 minutes into the second half and the ball has reached the feet of the captain of the mighty reds and as he turns the little Spaniard’s opens his mouth to call and the captain in an instance the ball is now at the little man’s feet and in two magical touches the ball was now through the keepers legs. The stadium has now turned red, less than seven minutes down the timeline, the reds now have a free kick which was put straight in the box and up came the big monster but not the one with big hair but the one with low hair but big stature, the crowd was now ballistic because they the game is now won. The reds are down to ten with the big central midfielder holding a knock. The last-minute and to the delight of the blues striker the ball has now reached his feet and he has managed to squeeze it in the smallest gap possible but the game was already done and with the final blow of the whistle the game is now over.

We are now where we started and as I leave the stadium with the biggest smile on my face, in come the cleaners just have a brief look to see the task in which entails them when they return.

p.s what game was we watching?