TALKING POINT: Burkas are not British - do you agree?

Sir—Regarding the letters of Andrew Griffin and Michael Conlan (see Advertiser, August 6).

Does Andrew Griffin include Anjem Choudary, Abu Hamza al Masri and Omar Bakri when he says: “The world wars were fought against dangerous, racist, bigots not for them,” or is it only white people who are to be described as such?

Despite other countries taking steps to ban the burka, Damian Green says to ban it would be “un-British.”

What do you think about the burka? Use the "write a comment" button to post your views.

It is not the banning that is un-British but the wearing of it that is un-British!

Messrs Griffin and Conlan will defend the rights of other people to have self-determination and preserve their cultures, but when the indigenous people of this country try to claim the same rights they are branded racist and bigots!

Mr Conlan recommends that Marlene Guest read Robert Winder's book Bloody Foreigners.

He and Mr Griffin should read Do We Need Mass Immigration, by Anthony Browne of Civitas.  

I ask them one question: Were the people of this country ever consulted that it was to be made, by mass immigration, into a multiracial, multicultural one?

As Jim Fletcher and Mrs W. Cardiff have said it really is time for people who oppose what is happening to our country to speak out, or they may bitterly regret not having done so.

When asked to support a ban on the burka, MP Denis MacShane’s terse comment was that the burka was not his cup of tea!

A. Richardson, Robert Street, Masbrough, Rotherham.

Doubts over story

Sir—You were kind enough to print my letter (see Advertiser, August 6) in response to Marlene Guest’s tale the week before of the burkas and the screaming child.

At the time of writing I thought her story was akin to a tabloid fabrication, invented to exacerbate an already inflammatory situation, but, apart from never being comfortable with resorting to personal insults, I second guessed Mrs Guest and suspected that if I stated my belief that she had made up the story she would produce a witness.

Over the weekend I had more than one phone call in response to my letter, all from people who said they know, or know of, Mrs Guest.

They all wished to maintain their anonymity (which I shall respect) because of “the type of people” Mrs Guest associates with.

The callers said that Mrs Guest never travels by bus, not wishing to be in contact with those who do, such as those in her letter of July 30. She goes everywhere by car.

I wonder if Mrs Guest has verifiable proof to back up her story? Has any other reader witnessed such an event? Don’t they have cameras on buses?

Surely if such an incident happened on his bus the driver would have reported it, or at least made a note of it.

We are proud of the fact that we welcome to our country those who have escaped from oppression and intolerance in their own lands.

We cannot continue to have that pride if we are to show them that intolerance here.

It may not be racist, but it is certainly hypocritical. Neither one is something to be proud of.

Norman Duff, Heighton View,  Aughton.

Editor's note: In a recent poll, we asked if the burka should be banned in England and Wales. Almost 400 people took part - the vast majority agreed that it should. Click here to add your vote.