Ms Dickinson Wright was at Northfield Farm at Cold Overton, Leicester, Leicester Mayor

The fat lady was at Northfield Farm at Cold Overton, near Oakham, on Saturday
days after Muslims had expressed upset at comments in her book about Leicester.
the Mayor of Leicester added to her publicity by calling her comments cheap.

Has the Mayor ever walked in the suburbs of Leicester City on his own without his escort?
I have and I can empathise with her findings.

I can remember walking in the underpass near to the station now filled in. being grabbed by a man.
Venturing of  into a side street just of London Road to take photographs of a heritage street, only to witness a woman drinker vomiting and a drunk black man shouting abuse, all very scary.

I once photographed a drug crazed Japanese man dancing  in a side street off  Granby Street. I did not venture up the road as it was partially blocked by lager and cider swilling men and woman outside a drop in centre.

Walking along Granby Street a white homeless person once approached me and warned me I was in leicester  and I was highly likely to have my camera stolen. Of course it was not stolen in Leicester, it was stolen here in peaceful surroundings of Oakham Library.

Walking down New Walk, I photographed needles and piles of condoms used by drug users.
The list goes on, I think the mayor needs to open his eyes.

A drunk gay man at Leicester Pride told me not to photograph the event.

Then there are the gated housing estates I once ventured past the gates into a very different world.

These things don't scare me, because I lived and worked in Bloomsbury London for a number of years and witnessed a lot worse and as for those ladies in the black outfits they used to walk on their own in London Borough of Camden. I worked for a church backing onto Little Russell Street, as the ladies walked past they would spit over the barrier and shout something not using English. Back then I used to listen to our MP Mr Dobson speaking about community integration.

In the fat ladies book she described a visit to the city "as one of the most frightening experiences of my life".

Ms Dickson Wright said she came off the ring road to escape a traffic jam and found herself lost in a part of the city she described as a "ghetto" where she felt like a "complete outcast".

I think if people like Ms Dickinson Wright left their protective bubble a little more they realise there is more to our country than they care to see.

Ibrahim Mogra, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, described her comments as hurtful.

If Ms Dickinson Wright's comments are true for her? they do say the truth hurts, Is she experiencing the ever continuing loss of ones right of  freedom of expression?

I have made a few attempts to visit the Mosque in Leicester, each time I have been turned away.

This did not happen when I visited and photographed a some in Birmingham, were I was welcomed and shown around the mosques I visited and permitted to photograph. Just like so many churches throughout England.

I also visited the area of Leicester around what is called the golden mile, everyone made me feel welcome, at the time I published the photographs I said I felt like I was visiting a foreign country, due to all the different types of shops on and strange foods on offer. I probably can't say that these days?

Being long term unemployed I don't do holidays, but when I get to visit Leicester I enjoy it as I would a
holiday due to its diverse and separate communities.

I do hope the Leicester Mercury don't invite the author to their sterile fortress, she would be very scared if she had to pass the prostitutes and drug users in nearby car parks and there is the likely walk through the church yard opposite the Curve often frequented by homeless drinkers and beggars. but in the Mayor's world this is not Leicester.