Hard to imagine anyone isn’t anti-burka. Other than hard core misogynists. Are we all supposed to be in favour of FGM, banning women from driving, male chaperones and honour killings too?

no false equivalence there whatsoever, nope none- at all 😉

Would May have the authority to deselect him as an mp?

I’m sure he would **** off to UKIP and nicely divide the tory vote.

Can I just ask… has anyone ever actually seen a woman wearing a full burka in the UK?

I know I haven’t. And I live in the North West of England and spend plenty of time towns like Blackburn, Rochdale and Burnley, where a huge percentage of the population is Muslim. A small percentage of Muslim women wear a veil, but I really can’t see why it generates the amount of fuss that it does.

It’s wholly disproportionate but seems like a touchstone for people like Johnson to stir things up amongst their target (racist) audience

Other than hard core misogynists.

FFS. See my comment above. If you want a lesson in mysogyny, just look at how Western women dress. Pretty much the entire fashion industry, media, advertising and every other thing which influences women encourages them to wear clothes which sexualises them. Christ we even encourage young girls to dress like this, wear makeup etc. It’s all about ‘being sexy’. I don’t think we’re in any position to be accusing other cultures of mysogyny.

Seen them out and about in Bradford, but very much the minority even among veiled Muslim women – niqab is far more common. But then Boris’ ‘letterbox’ comment was probably directed at them as much as a burqa.

But this row is not about being pro or against the burka, it is about Boris being irrespectfull to some people.

I agree with French legislation but would not call people who wear full face covers letter boxes or bank robbers. Especially in national press.

Can I just ask… has anyone ever actually seen a woman wearing a full burka in the UK?

Yes. Filming a victim of terrorism on London Brisge on her halal iPhone.

I wonder if anyone contributing to this discussion has ever asked a burka-wearer why they wear it?

Yes, I have in Edinburgh.

I think some were tourists, but I’ve seen a couple of folk in the full outfit in my neighbourhood – I live next to the central mosque.

Very small number of people overall though

Can I just ask… has anyone ever actually seen a woman wearing a full burka in the UK?

Couple live in my building, so yeah a few around

I wonder if anyone contributing to this discussion has ever asked a burka-wearer why they wear it?

Nope, but then again I don’t ask why church blokes wear frocks, or why nuns have the same outfit or why Buddhists like orange. Each to their own really.

I would like to ask Borris what he was trying to achieve there and what Bannon told him, I’d also like to ask the press why this is just a bit of Borris be Borris

Can I just ask… has anyone ever actually seen a woman wearing a full burka in the UK?

I know I haven’t. And I live in the North West of England and spend plenty of time towns like Blackburn, Rochdale and Burnley, where a huge percentage of the population is Muslim. A small percentage of Muslim women wear a veil, but I really can’t see why it generates the amount of fuss that it does.

It’s wholly disproportionate but seems like a touchstone for people like Johnson to stir things up amongst their target (racist) audience

Thats quite surprising Binners, citing the towns you mention. I’m also in the NW of England and see them fairly regularly. I think the fuss or debate about its use in the UK is two fold- its symbolism surrounding the oppression of women, and also the question of integration. Both things that are at odds with our supposed ‘values’. I find my self conflicted about it, I’d defend the right of any minority community to use a ceremonial or religious dress, but struggle with the oppression angle that makes me uneasy. I haven’t resolved that issue yet personally. I don’t pretend to have a full knowledge of this issue o f course but that’s been my takeaway from it.

I wonder if anyone contributing to this discussion has ever asked a burka-wearer why they wear it?

Nope, but then again I don’t ask why church blokes wear frocks, or why nuns have the same outfit or why Buddhists like orange. Each to their own really.

Indeed, but, as it ‘appens, a friend of mine who happens to be a Muslamic type returned to his home country and found that quite a few of the girls he’d known before as jeans and T-shirt wearers were now disguised as letter boxes and bank robbers. He asked them why they changed, and they said “because we want to”. So maybe they had been brainwashed, or held to ransom by hairy-faced mullahs. Or maybe they just, y’know, wanted to?

its symbolism surrounding the oppression of women, and also the question of integration. Both things that are at odds with our supposed ‘values’.

Has it occurred to anyone that women who wear the burqa/veil/whatever else might not want to be seen as a sexual object? There’s lots of talk about ‘our’ values and ‘their’ values in relation to how women dress. I’d ask which is worse? Women stripping off and wearing stupid shoes to please men’s sexual desires, or women covering themselves up to shield themselves from them? Who is the more oppressed? You could easily argue that women who cover themselves up are more enlightened and empowered than those who don’t, and if that is the case, what does it say about the cultures that encourage these particular styles of dress?

What he said is here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45107089

True he was not saying it should be banned, indeed he disagrees with Denmark for banning it but the following comments are (in my view) offensive:

He said he felt “fully entitled” to expect women to remove face coverings when talking to him at his MP surgery – and schools and universities should be able to take the same approach if a student “turns up… looking like a bank robber”.

“I would go further and say that it is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes.”

It’a almost as it it was carefully calculated that he could maintain a position of “It’s a serious piece” but throw in something attention grabbing and inflammatory at the end.

It’s almost as if this was actually planned out.

Of course that would assume he is a cynical piece of shit who resembles the results of extended upper class inbreeding.

But of course that is just the sort of joke I make so that is all fine there.

Spiffing

If I was attending his MP surgery, I would consider myself ‘fully entitled’ to expect him to make a bit of an effort and brush his hair!

Can I just ask… has anyone ever actually seen a woman wearing a full burka in the UK?

Now and then in Manchester, but as other say mainly veil or niqab. We have quite a lot of muslims where I work and many of the women wear niqab. It seemed to be a regular thing a while ago that most would wear traditional dress on a Friday which I always found quite jolly, but that seems to have been assigned to special days like Eid.

The other half of the Brexit tag team has chipped in. Farage has said that Borises comments ‘strike a chord with most of the country’.

Well… only really the racist ones Nige. But he then noted that it will definitely be appealing to Tory Party members and this makes it more likely that Boris will be the next PM. Well, what a purely coincidental piece of luck for Boris eh? Who’d have thunk it?

he really is a vile, self-serving opportunistic shit, isn’t he?

As Baroness Warsi pointed out when she pointed out that this will just increase hate crime by legitimising casual racism. Not that he’ll give a toss about that

Dominic Grieve has just said if Boris becomes PM he’ll leave the party. I suspect he wouldn’t be the only one.

Wouldn’t it be great if he finally got his lifelong wish/destiny/entitlement and it ended up causing the split that will destroy the Tory party? There’d certainly be a poetic justice to that. The ****!!

Boris was born in New York,could he be a Trump love child? 🙂

You could easily argue that women who cover themselves up are more enlightened and empowered than those who don’t, and if that is the case, what does it say about the cultures that encourage these particular styles of dress?

It’s a fair point, but you also have to bear in mind that this style of clothing originates (mostly) in countries that have a very poor track record of women’s rights and while a woman may, indeed choose to hide herself away from the rest of us, isn’t there a possibility that she’s doing it because of a cultural obligation towards a society that considers women in a very different (and, IMHO, quite negative) way to how we would in the West.

In short, while I recognise and respect the right of people to dress how they want, such extreme styles are not necessarily dictated by how women wish to dress, but more to how their own (male-oriented) culture thinks they should dress and the two are very different things indeed.

Can I just ask… has anyone ever actually seen a woman wearing a full burka in the UK

frequently

I was so offended by Boris Johnson’s ignorant comments about the Burka, I decided to write him a strongly worded letter.

But when I tried to post it, the letterbox screamed at me.

I think Boris is an utter knob but that did make me laugh when I read it this morning, in a topical kind of way not a Muslim hating Tory kind of way before the pitchforks get directed at me!

So remind me which of these is it acceptable to mock?

It’s getting confusing these days…

Nothing can be exempt from mockery in a free society. How you personally view the mockery and your reaction ought to be your free choice.

I think that when looking for sage advice on this subject we need to look to the authority on such matters….

”never, NEVER criticise Muslims! Only, only Christians. And Jews….. a bit”

Sadly this kind of press is just what Johnson wanted.

As for seeing women in burkas, occasionally but none recently that spring to mind .We often have Saudi students on exchange in our lab, a couple have worn ave niqabs, most just hijabs, it’s a bit harder to gauge someone at first with a veil, but they like Game of Thrones like anyone else & mock our inability to cope with weather above 30°C.

Sadly this kind of press is just what Johnson wanted.

Yep, it’s sowing a seed in the ‘brains’ of a section of the public that respond to a bit of casual racism. Seeing as their ‘brains’ are largely made out of shit, they are fertile ground for such a seed.

mikewsmith

So remind me which of these is it acceptable to mock?

I’d be a bit careful about mocking that Ninja, they have swords and throwing stars

It’s not unusual to see a lady dressed in a burka around here as we have a reasonable large Pakistani community. Even more so if you head to Keighley or Bradford. Can’t say it bothers me in the slightest.

My only comment would be that it seems a shame as many of these women are very attractive, striking and beautiful. I guess that’s the point though.

My only comment would be that it seems a shame as many of these women are very attractive, striking and beautiful.

Oh aye, & how do YOU know?

So remind me which of these is it acceptable to mock?

The first two.

1. Fake beard

2. Neck beard

3. Only one with a proper beard

I wonder what the reaction would be if a prominent member of the House of Saud, for eg,  said something mocking & disparaging about vicars & priests in dog collars?

I doubt it’d go unnoticed….

You should be allowed to mock whoever or what ever you want, as long as it isn’t inciting to violence or anything illegal.

Its the joy of living in a free society.

Why shouldn’t we mock them ? We mock Jesus, we mock scousers and brummies, plus a whole host of other types / colours/ backgrounds etc etc…..

I’m bald with a beard , im going to get overly offended and demand respect the next time someone says I’ve got my head on upside down !!!!

You should be allowed to mock whoever or what ever you want,

You are allowed to. But that doesn’t mean that everyone else has to applaud you for doing so, or vote for you. Johnson behaved like a nasty little racist arse. That is his right. But others don’t have to accept it as appropriate behaviour.

My only comment would be that it seems a shame as many of these women are very attractive, striking and beautiful.

Seems a shame to who and why ?

You should be allowed to mock whoever or what ever you want

Useful phrase from comedy: Don’t kick down

My only comment would be that it seems a shame as many of these women are very attractive, striking and beautiful.

Never before in the field of STW comment were so many issues conflated by so few words.

Good comedian can do all the jokes they want on any Subject.

Politicians writting in national newspapers, not so much. Especially one with a not so hidden agenda.

<p>I look forward to the next “imaginary friend” thread from the forum that brought you tolerance and an end to bigotry.</p><p></p><p>LOL</p>

Seems a shame to me because I like looking at attractive women. The point being that one of the reasons they do cover up is to stop apes like me gawping at them. Why so hard to understand?