It's class, not race, that's the real divide in Britain: and football gets round it

WHENEVER I go to church, I witness diversity. The very young and the very old, the affluent and the impoverished, people from all racial backgrounds and ethnicities.

- Tomiwa Owolade

But it is one of the few places in London where I see not only diversity but also integration; the congregants do not just stay within their pews. They also interact with each other.

This is not the same everywhere in London. I see plenty of diversity whenever I am on the Tube and on the bus. But I largely socialise with other university-educated people with professional jobs. An Australian friend of mine recently moved to London and described to me her experience of walking through the streets of Dalston: she saw many black Caribbean people but the coffee shop she went to was mostly white.

I had a similar experience when I was living in Whitechapel a few years ago. I would walk through Whitechapel High Street and largely see Bengali people, but it was mostly young white people in the cafes. It is tempting to see these divisions in terms of race or religion. But I think it is more useful to see them in terms of class.