It beggars belief that Boris Johnson’s thoughts on burkas were adjudicated by hate crime police
SIR – The verdict of Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, that Boris Johnson did not commit a criminal offence by his choice of words in his recent article on burkas (report, August 10) is not in the least reassuring.
It beggars belief that she thought it necessary to refer the matter for adjudication to “experienced officers who deal with hate crime”. If this is the way the wind is blowing, we’re all going to need to be issued with legal guidelines on what we are and are not allowed to say. Chris Sackett
Saint Martin, Guernsey
SIR – How chilling it is that in 21stcentury Britain a Muslim woman finds it necessary, through fear, to write a piece for your paper about the burka (Comment, August 9) under a pseudonym. Tim Rann
Mirfield, West Yorkshire
SIR – Many of the PC brigade question Boris Johnson’s assumption that oppressed women are coerced into wearing the burka or niqab, on the grounds that he can’t possibly know without asking them all. I think the fact of forced marriages tells its own story of their position. Gerry Doyle
Liverpool
SIR – I can’t believe that I, a Laboursupporting clergyman, could ever applaud Boris Johnson, but I do.
People can poke fun at death, sex, politicians, the clergy, royalty and even the Christian God. Nothing is beyond humour. Since when has causing offence been an inhibitor to our nation’s sense of humour?
I would go to the stake in support of a woman’s right to wear the niqab
– but tie me to the same stake for the right to poke gentle fun at the women who wear the niqab. It is true that they cover their faces like robbers and bear a resemblance to letter boxes. What is the harm in stating the obvious? Rev Geoffrey Howard
Manchester
SIR – David Waller (Letters, August 9) writes that he thinks “the Archbishop of Canterbury looks a complete idiot in his tea cosy and his grandmother’s curtains”.
The point is that, unlike Boris Johnson, Mr Waller can make such a remark without recriminations or censure. Christians are fair game. Keith Chambers
Basingstoke, Hampshire
SIR – We humans are still animals, having evolved over many millions of years. Our nearest relatives, great apes, use facial recognition to communicate and to understand who is friend or foe.
It is only natural and a base instinct that if we cannot see a person’s face it is difficult to engage fully with that person. We convey so many messages by a raised eyebrow, curled lip or a frown without even realising it. If we cannot see another person’s face we are instinctively perplexed. Fenella Ignatiev
London SW7
SIR – Mr Johnson was not in error in saying that people wearing the burka or full face veil look like bank robbers.
Has everyone forgotten that people wearing such an outfit raided Selfridges in daylight a few years ago? E R Dring
Tadworth, Surrey
SIR – In 2006 Yassin Omar, later convicted of conspiracy to murder, escaped from London to Birmingham dressed in a burka. Unfortunately for him, being 6ft 2in tall, he rather stood out in the crowd dressed as he was. David Crawford
Llandudno, Denbighshire
SIR – I am confused. I live in a Christian country where my sovereign is head of the Church of England. Yet as a Christian, I am forbidden to wear a symbol of my faith when working, or talk about my faith, in case I offend people of other faiths or none.
The reasoning behind the ruling on wearing a cross is that it is not a requirement of the Christian faith to wear any symbol. As I understand it, it is not a requirement of Islam that women should wear the burka, yet not only are they permitted to wear them, no one else is allowed to express an opinion on them.
Who can explain this reasoning? Gillian Lurie
Westgate-on-sea, Kent
SIR – During the commemoration at Amiens cathedral on Wednesday, the most moving story was a Canadian military chaplain’s account of tending the wounded and dying.
After offering water to many of the, mostly Catholic, German soldiers who lay wounded, he offered his crucifix to the dying as he said the Lord’s Prayer in German. One young man with severe stomach wounds kissed the chaplain’s hand.
Ruth Davidson, a former Sunday school teacher and member of the Church of Scotland, knows only too well that the burka can in no way equate to a crucifix. She is merely jumping on the anti-boris bandwagon, preparing for her own bid to become leader of the UK Conservative Party. Patrick Tracey
Carlisle, Cumbria
SIR – There are many instances where covering one’s face in public is unacceptable. At every garage I visit, motorcyclists are asked to remove their helmets before filling up.
Covering one’s face in public should be outlawed. The implications of this extend from demonstrators who wear masks to those who choose to wear a certain form of cultural dress (which, incidentally, has no religious mandate). Rev David Ackerman
London W10
SIR – I have lived for 35 years in Oman, a conservative but liberal-thinking Muslim country with a large expat population. I have seen no great clashes of cultures, except when ignorant visitors breach basic codes of
behaviour, such as by topless bathing.
Omani women of different backgrounds wear the hijab (headscarf), niqab (headscarf with “bank-robber” face mask) or burka (the all-over cover or “letter-box”).
There can be no objection in Western society to the hijab. The niqab is more contentious as it hides a person’s identity. It should not be worn in a bank or to job interviews or any one-to-one meeting. The burka is an abomination, but should be subject to the same set of rules as the niqab.
Those who criticised Boris Johnson lack one of life’s great peacemaking attributes: a sense of humour. HN Moulton-thomas
Muscat, Oman
SIR – On a bus in Tehran, I got into conversation with a young woman wearing a burka and asked whether she did so because she was very religious, or as a political statement. She said: “It’s neither. In your family, do you go home for Christmas with your parents?” I said I did, always. “Wearing the burka for me is the same. You go home for Christmas; in our family we wear a burka as it’s our family tradition.”
To Boris Johnson, the burka means women go around looking absolutely ridiculous. When he was foreign secretary many thought that going around looking like Boris Johnson was absolutely ridiculous. Dr Geraldine Prince
North Berwick, East Lothian
SIR – As one of those women who went out in the Sixties and Seventies to protest for women’s rights to selfdetermination, I am appalled to read that 50 years later, we women have to express approval of other women being clothed from head to toe by order of dominant men, in a free and liberal Western society. Sandra Simkin
Woking, Surrey
SIR – The country is being run by idiots. Save us, Boris! Elaine Nobbs
Midhurst, West Sussex
SIR – The row about Boris Johnson’s use of language is really much ado about nothing. And I am a Muslim. Hyder Ali Pirwany
Okehampton, Devon
SIR – I cannot be alone in fearing that we are drowning in a sea of political correctness. Paul Millett
Newby Bridge, Cumbria
SIR – The very latest politically correct precision instruments have been brought out to measure Boris Johnson’s little hill, and it is now officially a mountain. David Watt
Oakley, Buckinghamshire
SIR – If Mr Johnson faces a party code of conduct investigation for an expression of views held by many party members, what should Theresa May face for letting down all those who voted to leave the EU? John Crouch
Crowthorne, Berkshire
SIR – Why are the Conservatives determined to discredit the only politician with charisma who could save their party at the next election and help achieve a positive Brexit? Alan D Marsh
East Boldre, Hampshire
SIR – Everyone seems to miss the point. This furore is not about racism or politics. It is a question of courtesy.
It appears that Boris Johnson, because of his importance (or selfimportance), believes that good manners don’t apply to him.
I am with Dominic Grieve. I have voted Tory all of my life, but if Boris Johnson were ever to become leader, I would cast my vote elsewhere. Russell Fitt
Flackwell Heath, Buckinghamshire
SIR – I know some people do not think Boris Johnson has been the greatest foreign secretary we have ever had, but that does not mean his views are of no importance.
His column in The Daily Telegraph was, as usual, masterly, stating what I am sure is the opinion of most of the country, whatever cries go up from the mortally offended, or on behalf of those who might be offended.
It is surprising that some people, who can’t have read the piece, seem to think he was calling for a ban on women wearing the burka, which he was not. Quite the reverse.
That he is now to face an inquiry, with the possibility that he might be expelled from the Conservative Party, reflects more on those who participate in such an inquiry than it does on him. Ann Cranford Smith
Le Valongis, Alderney
SIR – Are the people baying for Boris Johnson’s blood also actively protesting against the governments of countries like France and Belgium that have banned burkas in public places?
I think not. If I was being cynical I would think they were all Remainers who don’t want to upset the EU. Margaret Clark
Preston, Lancashire
SIR – My forebears fought and died for our freedom of speech. What has happened?
Having known Boris Johnson as one of his constituents, I am saddened at the way he is being treated. I agree with him, as do so many other members of the Conservative Party.
Our nation could do with more outspoken, positive leadership. Penelope Glen
Forest Hill, Oxfordshire
SIR – If I were Boris Johnson, I’d resign right now and disassociate myself from this rabble of a Conservative Party before it implodes. Wendy Mellish
Bradford Abbas, Dorset
SIR – Je suis Boris! Robert Warner Ramsbury, Wiltshire