Face to face with a taboo issue

If Jack Straw were a Conservative politician, New Labour MPs would today be howling for his resignation on the grounds of racism. Instead, the Leader of the Commons is widely applauded for raising the issue of the veils worn by some Muslim women.

Mr Straw likes to talk to people face-to-face. How can he or anyone else do that when the other person’s face is obscured except for a tiny eye-slit?

Mr Straw has asked Muslim women at his surgery to remove the veil before they talk. He says many of these women seem relieved to be asked and are happy to oblige.

As night follows day, some Muslim activists say this is discriminatory and proves that Britain is not a free country.

Nonsense. This is a simple difference of cultures.

In some (but not all) Muslim countries, most women wear the veil and no-one gives it a second thought.

But in Britain and the West, the covering of the face, from highwaymen to hoodies, has always had sinister connotations.

We do not like masks. We like to see the faces of those around us. Those who mask up for valid reasons are expected to remove their safety masks, balaclavas or full-face helmets before mixing with others.

To show the face is a sign of equality, openness and honesty.

The veil, as Mr Straw says, is a “visible statement of separation and difference”.

Some such statements are perfectly acceptable. Britain would not be Britain without Sikhs in turbans, Scots in kilts or Muslim schoolgirls in headscarves. But covering the face is, for many Brits, a difference too far. In our culture it is irritating, unnerving and even threatening.

Politics is a devious game. Jack Straw may well be using this issue to raise his profile and win popular support in the race to take over John Prescott’s job as deputy prime minister.

Even so, he has done the nation a favour by speaking so frankly on an issue that many politicians consider taboo.

Unless we discuss such things openly, how are we to understand each other?

Terrible cost of neighbour noise

Anyone whose sleep has been shattered by noisy neighbours will sympathise with Roger Dosiak.

He is a hard-working family man with no previous convictions. Week after tortured week he was kept awake by ear-splitting music played by students next door.

Finally, at 2am, Mr Dosiak snapped and attacked one of them. It was a savage beating. But did it really merit the 14-month jail term imposed at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday?

This was a crime which was sparked by ignorant and inconsiderate neighbours. Mr Dosiak is paying a heavy price for the selfishness of others.

Popular stories:

• Patients go on the run
• Video - EXCLUSIVE: Heather Small interview
• Find bargains with StarBidz
• Video - Sandlers special part 1
• Gridlock plan that will cost us dearly