[Margaret Pilkington]

For me the issue should not be about banning an item of clothing, it should be about making women feel that they do not WANT to wear it.

Banning the Burqa is not the right way to go about changing an ideology....it is the ideology that needs changing and this cannot be done using sledgehammer tactics....it needs to be done with subtlety.

These women are not identifying with the country they have chosen to adopt.
They are identifying with the country they have left behind(and in the case of those born here, never belonged to).
By wearing this garment they are making a statement....and that statement is

' I am different and have no intention of fitting in...no intention of integrating. I want to remain isolated from western life'

While we think we would like someone like this in power, it is not really a step forward...it is a step onto a slippery slope.

it is a kind of fascism...and that is the last thing we need.