For ID purposes and so on, absolutely you’re right. I think it should be done sensitively, but it should be done.

The proposals in France are for all publicly provided services – including things like buses. That is going far too far. It is not about checking someone’s identity when their identity needs to be checked; it is about making it impossible to go about your daily life wearing a burka.

xD.

In some countries, that might be considered acceptable but in Britain and presumably in France it is not considered acceptable. For ID purposes, people are required to show their faces and as the face is not a sexual organ that surely cannot be regarded as in any way objectionable.

As I understand it, the French are considering banning the Islamic face covering in such circumstances or in others where a covered face might cause alarm or comprehension difficulties. All that seems perfectly reasonable to me and I only wish our own government would stop pussyfooting around and would have the courage to enact similar rules.

Of course some Muslims will play the prejudice card just as some black people do when rightly challenged for antisocial behaviour but that should not deter anyone.

Whether the burka is a symbol of female subjection is a hotly debated question and I don’t think it is an argument that the government should get into. On the other hand, for the purposes mentioned above it is right for government to be involved because banks, transport companies, etc. do not possess the authority on their own to make such rules. A global “show your face to establish your identity” rule is perfectly reasonable and I would welcome it. If women want to cover their faces at other times, I wouldn’t object.

There are times when hair-splitting philosophical discussion is too punctilious for its own good good and fails to see the wood for the trees.