To Veil Or Not To Veil?

fulla, originally uploaded by chantelle.

I was watching Tony Blair sweating, saying there's a problem with wearing a veil when I remembered the Fulla Doll. Egypt is just one country which has seen sales of the Fulla, an Arabic version of Barbie, overtake sales of the original girls toy. I have not, in all fairness, been listening much to what the government or media have been saying about Jack Straws recent comments regarding Islamic dress. When France banned the hijab, I was disgusted but thought 'that could never happen here.' Due to the right wing views that infiltrate many echelons of French society, it was surprised but not shocked. Had anyone suggested a public vote of this kind in the UK, i'd have gone as far as to say 'never'. I understand England is not half as liberal or multi-cultural as it's portrayed to be. You only have to visit villages in, for instance, rural Bedfordshire or Norfolk, neither that far from London, to find the token black or Indian family - that's if you see a non-white face at all. I'm not saying this account for people's ignorance, yet still it seems, many of the UK population still live in what many of us dwelling in London would deem the dark ages. A combination of this ignorance interwoven with fear and propoganda, apparently warrants 50% or more of us to agree with the banning of the veil (not most news programmes don't even mention 'hijab', PC's way out of the window). I was going to look at the various arguments supporting this case until I came across a clip of George Galloway doing his recent Respect Party speech. Think he says it all... well a lot of it. I'm currently looking for a good deal to go to the middle east, perhaps Abu Dhabi, love that place, so if anyone see's any cheapness, holla. Thanks. P.s. Has anyone been on holiday to Oman?