The Islamic full face veil hides the wearer’s identity, unlike a badge such as a Christian crucifix
SIR – I am a Christian and take offence at Ruth Davidson’s equating the wearing of a cross with that of a burka (report, August 9).
How can the wearing of a discreet religious symbol round the neck possibly be compared with something that covers the wearer from head to foot and which masks their identity? Has she no eyes to see? Denise Hurst
Poole, Dorset
SIR – One point about the burka or niqab is being deliberately obfuscated by an unholy alliance of anti-boris Johnson political opportunists, Left-liberals and snowflakes.
This point is that of all Britain’s ethnic and religious signifiers – crucifixes, the five Ks of Sikhs, the Orthodox Jewish dress code (including wigs for women), Anglican and Catholic ecclesiastical collars and cassocks, nuns’ wimples, monks’ habits, etc – it is the only one that involves the practice, quite foreign to Britain’s non-criminal fraternity, of covering the face when in public.
It is hardly surprising that it is looked upon with suspicion and regarded by many (as suggested by several letters, August 9) as a statement of refusal to integrate. Max Sawyer
Stamford, Lincolnshire SIR – Ruth Davidson has now joined those who feel entitled to criticise Boris Johnson without, apparently, having read his article
If she had, she would have seen that not only did he categorically state that he is “against a total ban” on wearing the full face veil in public places, but that he also went on to say that a ban on burkas or niqabs would “risk a general crackdown on any public symbols of religious affiliation”, thereby making exactly the same point as she did about crucifixes. Karin Proudfoot
Fawkham, Kent
SIR – For years jokes have been made about those good people nuns looking like penguins – but no outrage.
Boris Johnson says that Muslims should be free to wear what they like but “he thinks” they look like letter boxes – and the world falls upon him.
Double standards or what? Professor Colin Harrison
Stebbing, Essex
SIR – Ruth Davidson equates crucifixes with burkas. Would she be prepared to visit a Muslim country wearing a crucifix? Hilary Stevens
Pensilva, Cornwall SIR – How many Muslim men has Ruth
Davidson niqab? seen wearing a burka or Denise Burningham
Newton Abbot, Devon
SIR – In Syria, when towns have been liberated from the Islamic State in Syria and the Levant, women have torn off and burnt their burkas. Dr Richard Clark
Durham
SIR – One difference between wearing a burka and a crucifix is that you can’t hide a suicide belt, a weapon or a man under a crucifix. Brenda Williams
Devizes, Wiltshire
SIR – I am hearing-impaired and find it impossible to understand the spoken word from behind a screen. I need to see the full face for expression and the mouth for lip-reading. Noreena Elwell
Saltcoats, Ayrshire
SIR – Instead of castigating Boris Johnson because she sees him as a threat to her premiership, Theresa May should stop fawning upon European leaders and take issue with France, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Denmark for banning the burka. Raymond Adams
Welwyn, Hertfordshire
SIR – Boris Johnson knowingly played the race card in ridiculing the niqab and the burka while pretending to defend them. He deserves no sympathy.
Theresa May has the perfect opportunity to put clear blue water between her party and the Labour leadership’s shameful prevarication over antisemitism.
She should withdraw the whip from Mr Johnson. David Harris
London SW13
SIR – I am apparently racist as I read Boris Johnson’s article and found nothing untoward in it.
As I understood it, he was arguing against banning the burka or niqab in Britain.
Is the hysterical clamour for Boris Johnson’s head motivated by axegrinding political expediency?
Remind me, is this not a country of free speech? Robert Chatterton
Caythorpe, Lincolnshire
SIR – The news that Dominic Grieve would quit the Conservative Party if Boris Johnson became leader is the best thing I’ve heard for a very long time. Clive Green
Bristol