[Margaret Pilkington]

Please forgive me.. I have been out all day dealing with the needs of my elderly mother.
Rainbow six.....when I see a woman in a burkha my first thought isn't that she may be carrying a bomb.
I know that people wearing western clothes can conceal anything they want under them....and I do recognise that wearing western clothing means there may be less to suspect.
I just think to myself 'there goes another member of the community that does not want to integrate and is doing her utmost not to be spoken to, to have social contact with me'
My second thought might be for security. How do we recognise each other?
We recognise each other by looking at faces. These people hide their faces for what reason?
Well, no please don't trouble to answer because I know what the answer is.

I find them offensive and intimidating. Now maybe that is my fault, because we all choose what will offend us.
But I am offended by the fact that this person chooses to live here in the freedoms which this country affords, but yet they do not want to be part of that country.

Yes, Eric. Of course there are bigger more serious problems in the world. But sometimes starting little allows you to move onto bigger things.....and the seriousness of a situation really depends on how much impact that problem has on your life.
No, there have been no bombings carried out in Clayton by Burkha wearing women, but the wearing of this garb is becoming far more prevalent than it ever was in the past.
Go into Blackburn on any day of the week and you will see more burkha wearing women than you would see in A town in Pakistan.

As for the Amish and the Hutterite sects.....they dress modestly in a style of years gone by but the difference here is that they do not cover their faces.
(I had to look up the Hutterite sect as I an neither as well educated as you, or as well read)