[Archived] Would you like to be treated by a doctor/ nurse wearing a veil ?

[Mike E]

What has race got to do with it ? You couldn't tell what she was saying and were trying to be helpful.

There's nothing more divisive than that thing, yesterday in Blackburn a woman (I'm assuming it was a woman) also had a thin gauze over the letter box bit to render her completely covered from head to toe. Absolutely ridiculous for this day and age, pity we haven't got balls like the French.

While I agree, it's unusual to see that sentence in reference to our cheese-eating surrender-monkey friends

[broadsword]

people who wear it, or insist on others wearing it, are excluding themselves from society.

it riles me, they should be stood up to, we are too liberal and accommodating.

stop dressing like a bloody ninja, turn your bloody brain on, grow a pair and join society.

this is the problem when religion is allowed to take precedence over common sense, and dominates people's lives. People should be free to follow whatever religion they wish, but within the over-riding, and reasonable, parameters of society.

militant islam is particularly worrying for its inculcation of radical values in the young, and wearing a frigging tent is one outward symptom of it. I can only think that it's tolerated by the law as it makes it bloody obvious who the frigging idiots are whose husbands are potential recruits for blowing themselves up like @#/?.

and playing the race card in the face of a reasonable request is just so lame, predictable and moronic. keaners

[thenodrog]

What we all need to consider is that only a decade or so ago one hardly saw people dressed in these clothes. Were asian women in this country before the turn of the millenium somehow bad muslims? Were their husbands and fathers remiss in the eyes of allah to allow them to wear traditional Indopak costume rather than strange and unfamiliar Saudia garb? Are the countless millions of muslim women of India / Pakistan / Bangladesh today also bad muslims and somehow less devout because they dont wear burqas niqabs etc? Or is it just yet another case of certain people choosing to 'cocking a snook' at the age old sensibilities of an English society that has offered the hand of freindship by inviting them to settle here?

btw The PM was asked to comment on the Andrew Marr programme this morning and it appears the Times and the Mail are on the case........

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Society/article1320580.ece

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2437198/Wear-hijabs-class-Pupils-state-Islam-school-forced-cover-Muslim-headscarf.html

[T.J.Newton]

What we all need to consider is that only a decade or so ago one hardly saw people dressed in these clothes. Were asian women in this country before the turn of the millenium somehow bad muslims? Were their husbands and fathers remiss in the eyes of allah to allow them to wear traditional Indopak costume rather than strange and unfamiliar Saudia garb? Are the countless millions of muslim women of India / Pakistan / Bangladesh today also bad muslims and somehow less devout because they dont wear burqas niqabs etc? Or is it just yet another case of certain people choosing to 'cocking a snook' at the age old sensibilities of an English society that has offered the hand of freindship by inviting them to settle here?

btw The PM was asked to comment on the Andrew Marr programme this morning and it appears the Times and the Mail are on the case........

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Society/article1320580.ece

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2437198/Wear-hijabs-class-Pupils-state-Islam-school-forced-cover-Muslim-headscarf.html

in regards to the 1st line- what an absolute load of rubbish, when I think what the largely Asian areas of Blackburn where like in the 80s when I was a kid(In my case particularly around queens park as I lived up shad so spent a lot of time down at that park) Back then id say the majority or at least halve of women wore the full get up(face veil and all) If anything they are now worn far less in my view.

maybe you just wasn't paying much attention until the propaganda driven media got hold of such things and made an issue of them.

[T.J.Newton]

people who wear it, or insist on others wearing it, are excluding themselves from society.

it riles me, they should be stood up to, we are too liberal and accommodating.

stop dressing like a bloody ninja, turn your bloody brain on, grow a pair and join society.

this is the problem when religion is allowed to take precedence over common sense, and dominates people's lives. People should be free to follow whatever religion they wish, but within the over-riding, and reasonable, parameters of society.

militant islam is particularly worrying for its inculcation of radical values in the young, and wearing a frigging tent is one outward symptom of it. I can only think that it's tolerated by the law as it makes it bloody obvious who the frigging idiots are whose husbands are potential recruits for blowing themselves up like keans.

and playing the race card in the face of a reasonable request is just so lame, predictable and moronic. keaners

and whats so great about the society we live in?

[thenodrog]

in regards to the 1st line- what an absolute load of rubbish, when I think what the largely Asian areas of Blackburn where like in the 80s when I was a kid(In my case particularly around queens park as I lived up shad so spent a lot of time down at that park) Back then id say the majority or at least halve of women wore the full get up(face veil and all) If anything they are now worn far less in my view.

maybe you just wasn't paying much attention until the propaganda driven media got hold of such things and made an issue of them.

Absolute rubbish. Whats your angle on spouting such garbage? It was just about the early 80's when muslim girls were first allowed to wear trousers instead of skirts to school (some might waive the race card here because white English girls still had to wear skirts!). Now look at them.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

and whats so great about the society we live in?

Nothing. Millions of people each year try to get into this country for no reason.

[adopted scouser]

in regards to the 1st line- what an absolute load of rubbish, when I think what the largely Asian areas of Blackburn where like in the 80s when I was a kid(In my case particularly around queens park as I lived up shad so spent a lot of time down at that park) Back then id say the majority or at least halve of women wore the full get up(face veil and all) If anything they are now worn far less in my view.

maybe you just wasn't paying much attention until the propaganda driven media got hold of such things and made an issue of them.

What an idiotic statement. Around 83/84 I lived just off Fecitt Brow near the Toll Bar, near the end of (even then) a massively asian populated Audley Range. You hardly ever saw the silly veil at all, and not on at least "halve" (sic) of asian women back then.

Nothing. Millions of people each year try to get into this country for no reason.

+100

[T.J.Newton]

Hmmm, well what can i say.

Halve may of been an exaggeration, but there was definitely more then than there is now from what i remember.

[tkturner]

This is an interesting debate...

To answer the original question, it wouldn't bother me so much that I would ask to see another doctor/nurse, however, I do think there is great power in being able to see/read facial expressions and in a caring/medical scenario I think thats important...

Now, where I work (with around 600 people) we recently recruited an asian girl who wears full niqab, it actually created quite a major storm and we needed to consult the home office etc as to how to proceed.

In short, we are required to wear a security pass and gain access to our site this way and the concern was from a security point of view, how does anybody know who this is and in a security sensitive industry its a real worry.

A photo has apparently ben taken without niqab and was done so away from everyone.

This was put onto her pass in the same way as usual but she is allowed to wear the pass reversed in its holder so nobody see's it.

I guess there is always going to be that risk though that the person under the niqab could be anybody?

[T.J.Newton]

I mentioned it slightly a while back, my issue with women wearing the full get up is that i cant believe so many women choose for themselves to wear it and i dont think from a religous point of few they have to wear it, so my interest in the issue is why do they wear it.

Maybe some women find it liberating not having to worry much about there physical appearance or at the other end of the spectrum maybe they are forced to wear by there husbands.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

There weren't many women at the protests to Jack Straw's comment on it a few years back.

[thenodrog]

Hmmm, well what can i say.

Halve may of been an exaggeration, but there was definitely more then than there is now from what i remember.

Complete and utter piffle. Either you have the memory capacity of an average goldfish or you have an agenda. Which is it and what is it?

A photo has apparently ben taken without niqab and was done so away from everyone. This was put onto her pass in the same way as usual but she is allowed to wear the pass reversed in its holder so nobody see's it.

So it's a completely pointless exercise then. Not good enough tkturner is it? Get the union in if you are putting yourself in a risk situation ... if you have one.

Maybe some women find it liberating not having to worry much about there physical appearance or at the other end of the spectrum maybe they are forced to wear by there husbands.

I don't know the ins and outs of this kind of malarky but is sexual discrimination Ok these days?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

in regards to the 1st line- what an absolute load of rubbish, when I think what the largely Asian areas of Blackburn where like in the 80s when I was a kid(In my case particularly around queens park as I lived up shad so spent a lot of time down at that park) Back then id say the majority or at least halve of women wore the full get up(face veil and all) If anything they are now worn far less in my view.

maybe you just wasn't paying much attention until the propaganda driven media got hold of such things and made an issue of them.

I can't speak for Blackburn but in Rochdale where I live this is a fairly recent phenomenon, ten years ago you very rarely saw women dressed in this fashion. This also applies to the fashion for young guys to wear a long, unkempt beard.

[T.J.Newton]

Complete and utter piffle. Either you have the memory capacity of an average goldfish or you have an agenda. Which is it and what is it?

Yes, I clearly have an "agenda"

I don't know what agenda it is yet, but it will involve Goldfish, piffle and a big dollop of balderdash.

I don't know the ins and outs of this kind of malarky but is sexual discrimination Ok these days?

that was the issue I was skirting around