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.