.... What a lot of fuss over a piece of cloth. And we haven't seen the last of this debate in the UK. Last year, Conservative MP Philip Hollobone introduced a private members' bill proposing a ban. Its supporters include Nigel Farage of Ukip and, more surprisingly, Saira Khan, the entrepreneur and one-time Apprentice contestant, a British Muslim.
They all parrot the French argument. Khan says a ban is "not racist, it's common sense". They claim the veil is a symbol of a "divided Britain", that it's a potential security threat and oppressive to women.
But the women's rights defence is a ridiculous excuse for something very close to racism. As Ed Balls, then schools secretary, put it last year: "I wouldn't want to be part of a religion myself where we said to women and girls, 'You have to wear a veil.' But I also would not want to be in the kind of society where people were told how to dress when they walked down the streets." [Guardian Cif] Read more
