Anniebach - I'm not one of those who would want the death penalty restored, or deny women the right to abortion.
However, getting back to the subject which is niqabs and burkas. I mentioned this before, when I was wandering around the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem a few years ago I was asked to cover my lower arms. I did this by borrowing my husband's jacket. My point in mentioning this is a) I did not want to offend anyone there who expressed the wish that I should be covered more fully than I was and b) I accepted that it was my place to fit in with the customs of a different culture and different religion where I was a visitor. Similarly if I were an ex pat in somewhere such as Saudi and I was asked to cover up in a more extreme way, even though I would find this rule not to my liking, I would see little point in arguing by saying "this is what I choose to wear". Sometimes it's simply best to go with the flow, "when in Rome" is as apt now as it ever was.
Again it was brought up before not only by me but someone else, there is a man in this country who likes to ramble naked, irrespective of the fact that he my stumble across the general public most of whom would find the sight of him wandering along with all his bits swinging in the wind alarming. Does the individual have the right to do whatever they want at the expense of the rest of society? Many muslim journalists such as Yasmin Allibah Brown state that the veil is a barrier and a hindrance to social cohesion and the onus should be on the incomer to remove them for the greater good. Of course we know that some women are not able to do that because of the restrictive practices their menfolk impose on them. However, there is another sector of women who do choose to wear them, those who are born here and have turned back to the fundamental part of their religion, often against their own parents' wishes. They know that wearing these clothes are a cause for concern on many levels and that a proportion of society are not comfortable with this way of dressing for many reasons, not least the association it has with terrorist acts. It wasn't so long ago that an MP was stabbed at his own surgery by one of his constituents who was able to conceal a knife in the voluminous garment she was wearing, not that I'm saying that it couldn't be hidden under a coat, I just think there is more scope when everything is covered and we should acknowledge we live under the cloud of terrorism. Possibly I feel more like this now as I know someone who was injured in the London tube bombings and I know that person has been deeply scarred by their experience. I did work in London at the height of the IRA campaign and I know how jumpy it made me. Surely the safety of the general public should be paramount and if this annoys a small minority by asking them to not enter public buildings and malls etc. in unacceptable clothing then I'd say that was justifiable . Frankly we could go round and round forever on this subject, you are of course entitled to your opinion, I don't agree with you for the many reasons I have given, that's it really.
Turning to the subject of education and informed choice VQ, there's little hope of that when hard line muslim societies seek to deny their female counterparts any sort of schooling and think nothing of shooting a little girl in the head for defending her rights to an education.
Also we have to come to terms the fact that there are those who reject our western life style which they see as broken and decadent and possibly they have a point, but whatever the downsides, and yes there are many,nowhere is a utopia, it still a whole lot preferable to life in say Saudi or Afghanistan.
