A couple of weeks ago I received an email from the Hemmons Road Residents Association in Longsight, the area of Manchester where a large number of Romanian Roma have settled over the past few years. They feel their situation has not been well reflected in the work I’ve been doing on the issue, so I offered to post their letter on my website, and to carry it alongside the original story (I have also added it into the PDFs – here and here – of my original Big Issue in the North stories).  I have a lot of sympathy for the community in this area – it’s a very difficult situation and the vast majority of locals are being incredibly tolerant given the circumstances. There are always many perspectives to issues like this and theirs is no less valid. I do hope to find a way to represent their views properly – I am thinking how to do this in a positive and productive way – but I do nevertheless stand by the work I’ve been doing so far on this subject.