Sunday 24 January 2010

UKIP, Niqab, Beekeepers and Hairy Men.

The Times (19 January 2010) has a rather tongue-in-cheek article by Robert Crampton about the recent comments by Nigel Farrage of the UKIP party about banning niqab:

It isn’t just (a minority of) Muslim women who wear the veil. What about weddings? Lovely summer Saturday, happy bride arrives at the church, ding, dong, over here for the photos please, hold on, here’s PC Plod, what’s he up to? No, surely not, oh I say, that’s outrageous, he’s ripping off the bridal veil, he’s jumping up and down on it. Groom rushes out to intervene, inevitable fracas, would-be Mr and Mrs So-and-so spend their big day in the cells.

How about long fringes? Heavy make-up? Sunglasses? Furry animal suits as worn by mascots at football matches? Cricketers facing fast bowling (but not the spinners)? Am-drams putting on Equus? Pantomime horses? People who run the London Marathon dressed as medieval knights? Who’s under that helmet? Is she oppressed? Has she got a bomb?

A couple of miles north of my house is Stamford Hill, an area of North London popular with orthodox Jews. Big bushy beards, thick specs, oversized black hats, plus the women are fond of wigs. I have to tell you Nige, their faces are pretty well covered, it’s hard to say who’s who under all that gear, all that hair. What shall we do? Ban the big hats? The specs? Best be on the safe side, best chop those big beards off as well, like the Nazis did with the rabbis on Kristallnacht.

Nige admits that the razor-sharp minds staffing UKIP’s policy unit haven’t yet fully thought through how such a ban might work in practice. Too right."

You can read the full article here.

1 comment:

  1. Salaam sister,

    I read this article and found myself smiling several times during the process.
    Another article from The Times worth reading http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/dominic_lawson/article6999908.ece.

    Salaam.

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