The Bishop of Rochester is in the news again. He wants legislation enabling officials to forcibly remove the veil from Muslim women.
Legislation should be introduced giving some officials the power to remove the veil worn by Muslim women, the Bishop of Rochester has said.
The Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali told the Sunday Telegraph that “an unprecedented security situation” called for such legislation.
Er… “unprecedented security situation”? Worse than the IRA’s campaign of terror on the UK mainland? Worse than the Nazi invasion of Europe? Not too much hyperbole then… There is no unprecedented security situation; merely the government’s paranoia, over hyped propaganda and the media’s willingness to swallow complete bollocks whole without bothering to stop for a moment and consider the evidence. Yes, there is a risk to us from Islamic jihadists. We don’t forget this. However, let’s keep a sense of proportion shall we? And, what, exactly will giving officials yet more power do? It will do as it always does, empower them to want more and to abuse that which they already have.
His comments come after it was claimed that a murder suspect may have fled the UK in a Muslim veil.
Ye gods! So a murder suspect donned a disguise. Shall we ban false beards too? One escaped murder suspect is hardly grounds for draconian legislation. So, while I can agree with the bishop that jobs requiring clear communication are not suitable for the veil (and that is a matter for the employers not the state) – the use of legislation to infringe peoples’ right to wear what they want sets an awful precedent.
As a footnote, he wades into the mythical “war on Christmas” just for good measure:
And in an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Mr Nazir-Ali said Christmas was in danger of being destroyed by “thoughtless bureaucracy and the desire to be politically correct”.
He said there were people in “Whitehall and town hall… who want to write Christ out of Christmas altogether”.
So where is the evidence of these people? What are their names? Who, exactly are they? We should be told. The irony is, that they don’t exist and never have; much like the god and prophet worshipped by the good bishop.
Happy Mithras day everyone.
You spelt his name wrong. You accidentally put an ‘r’ on the end.
I’m not convinced this episode with the veil happened.
Although I do believe that to let someone on board a plane without checking their identity is a bit steep. They go overboard with us, fingerprints etc. but don’t check a face. That is a bit stupid.
Merry christamas to you.
Yeeessssss…
I’m not entirely convinced about the escaping prisoner thing either. As for being able to identify ourselves in certain situations, a polite request is likely to elicit a polite response. Even when veiled women will not show their face to a man, there will be an opportunity for a female officer to ask in privacy. We don’t need more legislation; merely tact, diplomacy and common sense. Not as common as is commonly presumed, though…
As Reuters reported,
One wonders what the evidence for Mustaf Jama’s Mr Toad-like exploit actually is. I suspect it’s that someone using his sister’s stolen passport appears on the flight manifest of some airline as having flown out of the country on Christmas Eve last year.
Quite possibly it was him thus disguised. Quite possibly, too, he’d sold his sister’s passport to a black-market dealer (or given it in part-exchange for another passport) and it was used by a third party. I must say that, in his position, I’d probably choose a less risky method than disguising myself in a veil and using a female relative’s passport; leaving on a cross-channel ferry to Belgium using a French passport, for example, would probably be at least as likely to evade the notice of preoccupied port staff (I’ve certainly never had my id so carefully checked at ferry ports as I have by airline check-in staff).
And, as you so rightly say, a polite request is most likely to meet a polite response. I see someone’s contacted the BBC to tell them that his wife is always asked to remove her veil when checking in for a flight, which she is happy to do in a private room in front of a woman.