UKIP to ban Burqas

Here is today's leader from the Times. They seem to have gotten their stance on the issue, at least on the internet, spectacularly wrong. Very few comments agree with the Times and instead support UKIP in their endeavour to ban the burqa. Myself I find this issue a bit hypocritical. The Labour party has banged on about multiculturalism for the past 12 years and pandered to the needs of the minorities be they religious or ethnic. As Lord Tebbit said, a society is defined by its culture. Therefore it is an oxymoron to say that a society is multicultural. The same applies here. For voters to turn around now and say that they do not want people dressed a Darth Vader or mobile tents, is a tad hypocritical. If they did not like the agenda set forth by the Labour party then why on earth did they give them three consecutive terms?

There are inherently two sides to this. One is that motorcyclists have to take of their helmets when entering a bank e.g. or a high security establishment - burqa clad women do not. Neither do burqa clad robbers, of which there have been many of late . Further the burqa is a cultural attire and is not inimical to the practise of Islam. The Times chastise Mr. Farage about his supposed lack of knowledge about the Qur'an "UKIP argues further that the burka has no place in Islam and that the religion does not require it. The Times had not hitherto realised that Nigel Farage was an authority on such matters, or that the party leader Lord Pearson of Rannoch, who was visited by God when on the operating table in 1977, thereby gained not only his Christian faith but also a mastery of the Koran." In my reply to the Times on this; you do not have to be an authority on the Qur'an (yes, it is actually the Qur'an not the 'Koran' - speaks volumes about the Times' religious authority), like a mullah, to know that the burqa is not required by the religion. I should know I have read the book, which I daresay few people at the Times have. You do not believe me? Well, read this very insightful piece by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

On the other hand however to ban the Burqa like Islam4UK goes against the very essence of the British modus operandi. The Labour party has successfully destroyed pretty much everything we once used to be proud of in this country, there is not even a reason for me to do a 'including..' for all you need to do is look around you. Is it cold? Yes? How much are you paying your privatised gas/electricity company for keeping you cold? More than in France I guess seeing as EDF subsidise their French customers in favour of their British. But I digress. Do not let the Labour party take away this final virtue of this once great island. The Times cannot really put their finger on what exactly this British value is, that they are defending, and they put their reasoning in the words of a chav "picking on people quietly going about their business in religious garb of their own choice and banning it" (well a lot of them as said are not going about their own business, and what is more they have not chosen it - if you know anything about Islam it is that it is a hierarchical system or a male dominated oligopoly, the majority have not chosen anything but their husbands and close male relatives have). No, this virtue is better explained by understanding that tolerance is at stake here. One of my lecturers once asked us what we most liked about the UK, he said he particularly liked its tolerance. Unlike most European countries we will stand for a lot - good and bad. Mostly good, which rejuvenates society and makes it a lot more interesting than the homogenous grey that is Switzerland for example. This is a defence of liberty itself and that the shackling of one form of freedom, the burqa, will inevitably lead to far more sinister bans, which a respectable society could not properly defend.