Jack Straw - Who's Saying What

A look at the reaction to Jack Straw’s interview with the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

Predictable stuff from the Respect Party:- “It is not women choosing to wear what they want that is sowing division in our society. It is poverty, racism and the despicable competition between the Tory and New Labour front benches over who can grab the headlines as the hammer of the Muslims.”

Jagdeep makes this comment on Pickled Politics:- “It’s the face thing that is unsettling. A hijab, a yarmulke or turban don’t cover the face. When you can’t see the face it can be very unsettling. Simple human biology isnt it?”

PC Bloggs - 'a 21st century police officer':- “Personally I feel that relations between communities could not get much less positive and things might be helped if both men and women of all ethnic backgrounds wore veils. That way police could not get branded racists for pulling over any particular skin colour and communities wouldn't fight each other because they wouldn't know who was who.”

Trotskyist (i thought they were all dead?):- “The problem with the veil is not that it is a barrier to inter-community relations. It is that many women do not have the right or ability to choose not to wear it. It is imposed from the outside by patriarchs - a symbol of gender oppression as well as an expression of religious belief.”

Whoopdedoo (sarah's blog):- “But if a woman chooses of her own volition to wear a veil, because she feels it represents something important to her, then she should be allowed to wear it. If anyone feels threatened by the wearer then it is their prejudice getting in the way, not the fabric.”