It’s more likely that employees of the British Council have to sign contracts saying that they won’t do things that might make the Council’s work more difficult.

Maria Boariu - The Veil as Metaphor of French Colonized Algeria

It would be greatly appreciated.

Salaam

(And before anyone bleats about Israel or India, I mean British Muslims, Hindus etc.)

The fact that the quran says- or doesn’t say- something is irrelevant to whether something is legitimate under British law. The fact that many muslim women do not wear hijab suggests that interpretation of the relevant passages varies. The main concern expressed in Britain has not been about women choosing to wear hijab but about women being made or expected to wear hijab and about women wearing full facial coverings in places where that is not deemed appropriate.

On a similar subject, a sister e-mailed me today asking me to post info on my blog about a forthcoming Dispatches documentary. You may have received the same e-mail?

A portion of her e-mail:

“Since the bombings there has understandably been much press coverage of the attacks and other terrorist incidents. Oborne [Dispatches presenter] investigates whether this coverage has had the side-effect of portraying Islam and British Muslims in a relentlessly negative fashion, leading to the demonization of a diverse group of two million people, most of whom have nothing to do with terrorism.

Dispatches commissioned a sophisticated study of press coverage from Cardiff University’s School of Journalism. The research examined articles published in the British press over the last eight years and their depiction of Muslims and Islam. The troubling results of the study are revealed in the film.”