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October 09, 2006
Mister Straw seems to have stepped in the ....
So much, it seems, for the whole thing of accepting other peoples cultural preferences, our formner Foreign Secretary, none other than the illustrious Mister Straw, has really created a bit of a stir, by insisting that Muslim women attending his constituency "surgeries" must remove their veils in his presence. Of dear, surely he knew this would cause offence to those wonderfully tolerant members of the Islamic Fundamentalist movement? Or, perhaps the real truth is he only pays lip service to the whole Multicultural thing anyway.
Judging by the brouhaha in the press and on television, I would suggest that this is going to be another of those little things which will lead to yet more curtailment of our right to freedom of speech and expression - just to protect the sensibilities of a very small section of the community who, quite frankly, should seriousl;y consider going and living in any country where they can practice this form of "liberation" to their hearts content. I do find it very annoying that this adoption of a form of dress more appropriate to the desert than to Europe is being pushed as being a part of the religion when thirty years back it was hardly seen in the UK. UNtil, that is, it became a fashion statement of "solidarity" with the Palestinians.
It really is time to recognise that this is not a religious matter, it is a political one and the politics underlying it are fairly simple. As long as these young women are prepared to hide behind these ridiculous veils and under the headscarves (which are not, as far as I can see, actually stipulated in the Quran) the Ayatollahs and Imam's will continue to have power over them and their voices in any public arena. One can only hope that Mr Straw's somewhat daring attempt to get a little common sense - after all no one likes to talk to someone who is hiding their face - into his "surgery" actually sparks a wider rebellion against the PC acceptance of this stupid and demeaning mode of dress and behaviour.
Fatwahs on a post card please.
Posted by The Gray Monk at October 9, 2006 03:05 PM
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