The simple fact is there are no laws you can pass to stop people racially abusing black footballers. So the solution is to come up with something that doesn't make people want to abuse black footballers in the first place.

I'm quite laid-back but some people say I'm unemotional. I don't get carried away with success and similarly I don't get depressed when something bad happens. I didn't take it personally when rival fans threw banana skins at me when I was playing for Liverpool. I can't control 50,000 idiots shouting at me, so why would it bother me?

The teams which embrace the socialist ideology rather than having superstars, are the teams that are successful. Or if there are superstars they don't perceive themselves to be that. That's why I use Messi as an example. As much as he's a superstar he respects his team-mates and their collective efforts.

Policing language and even legislating against certain behaviours will only go so far to address the pervasive problem of racial bias. To get at the root cause we must have open, honest and sometimes painful conversations.

In the 1970s people were afraid to call me black because they thought it was an insult. They would say 'coloured.' Now it has gone full circle. It's not an issue. The intention is the most important thing.

For most footballers, they just have to give their all for 90 minutes two times a week, and apart from a few training sessions spend the rest of the time resting. They only train intensively for six weeks before the new season.

I grew up in a middle-class family in Jamaica, I had no self-worth issues whatsoever.

My mother made me believe in reincarnation, in karma. If I live a good life, I believe I will be reincarnated as a higher being. If I live a bad life, I believe I will be reincarnated as a lower being.

We are the first on the frontline to go into countries to liberate people in the name of freedom - that's what we've claimed. And now, all of a sudden, they need our help and we turn them away. Yet the rest of Europe stands ready to help. Why are we the first to jump ship?

The fight against racial bias in society will not be won by hounding Liam Neeson or boycotting his films. It will be won by allowing honest discussions about why people hold biased views and exposing the flawed logic behind them.

When you talk about kicking racism out of football, people automatically assume you are talking about on the terraces and on the football field. But all racists have to do is keep their mouth shut for 90 minutes and they're fine.

Until we get rid of racial bias, sexism, homophobia in society, it will exist in all walks of society.

We all have preconceptions of people based on what we have been told about them and their race and ethnicity.

The racism I am really interested in stamping out is in everyday life. Joe Bloggs, who nobody knows, walks down the street and gets racially abused. He goes into a shop and people think he is going to steal something. He cannot get a job.

My dad came from Trinidad to Jamaica when he was 19. He had to go to Jamaica to join the British regiment, where it was based. After Sandhurst, he returned to the Caribbean as a junior lieutenant, based in Jamaica. He met my mum and became a Jamaican citizen.

Mass migration and the refugee crisis is one of the biggest problems facing the world. In this country we assume that everyone just wants to come to the U.K. - but it's an issue in Germany, Greece, Sweden, all across the E.U. Why should we be the first to turn our backs on the problem?

Yes, you have people shouting racist abuse and throwing bananas on the field, and there are issues regarding the number of black coaches and managers in the game, but which other industry allows a young black boy the exact same opportunity as a young white boy?

I got racist abuse at Liverpool when I played for Watford. Then I played for Liverpool and didn't get it. If I had played for Everton against Liverpool then maybe the Liverpool fans would have racially abused me.

My feelings towards Manchester City will never change; I'm eternally grateful to them as a football club. They took me as a 19-year-old boy from Shrewsbury Town, took somewhat of a punt on me, and I've had some fantastic times.

I've always found that you can enjoy your life a lot more if you can get on with people. If I don't get on with someone, I don't necessarily go out of my way to be best friends, but you learn as you grow up how to get on with people.

Criticism certainly doesn't affect my life, and whatever the pundits have called me, I'm sure they have been called a lot worse in their day.

I don't really know football from the Seventies and Eighties. It's all myths and legends to me.

I think it's important to feel good so that the football can take care of itself. If everything else is organised and ready to go, then you're free to play football.

I always supported England as a boy; I think it's great to support your national team.