Veil Ban passes first Stage in French National Assembly

Today the French National Assembly took a step towards outlawing the burqa, niqab and other Islamic face coverings. A total or 335 deputies cast their votes in favour of the bill with only one voting against. However, there is a further hurdle to leap before it becomes ratified and enters into French law, for it must also be approved by the French Senate where it will be discussed in September.

This is a positive move towards making illegal one of the most overt manifestations of militant Islam in France. As we all know, many women wear such coverings owing to their fanatical commitment to Islamism, whereas those who are compelled to wear such garb by their brutish menfolk will now find that the law comes to their aid by imposing a suitable punishment upon the latter. It seems fitting to me that the French are seeking to impose the rather modest penalties of a 150 euro fine for any woman caught breaking the proposed law, whereas any Muslim husband compelling his wife to wear a burqa can look forward to a 30,000 euro fine and one-year gaol term. Personally, I’d make such crimes punishable by state sequestration and liquidation of all familial assets followed by the deportation of all members of the family concerned.

Naturally, in its radio reporting of this positive move the BBC has exhibited a somewhat muted and crestfallen mood, and I fully expect that in the BBC’s future references to the ersatz conception of British nationality that it espouses it will feature the championing of the ‘right’ to wear Islamo-fascist uniform as a defining trait of contemporary ‘Britishness’ (I’m already feeling sick just contemplating that hoity-toity patronising English hater Sarah Montague enunciating this on the Today Programme).

Getting rid of these most overt displays of Islamist allegiance is a symbolic first step, but only once the French have outlawed the proselytisation of Islam and the immigration of Muslims will the liberty of French citizens and their way of life be guaranteed. Tomorrow is Bastille Day, so we shall see how opponents of this measure respond.

Not a French Woman, but a hostile Colonist

A real French Woman (Ooh la la!)

Private Members’ Bill to Ban Burka

Philip Hollobone, Conservative MP for Kettering, yesterday tabled his private members’ bill entitled the Face Coverings (Regulation) Bill in an attempt to ban the burka and kindred facial coverings such as the niqab. Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly), it does not command the support of his party or any other in the House of Commons, and is widely expected not even to be debated as he came 17th in drawing lots for the right to sponsor a bill.

Mr Hollobone is quoted by the Independent as saying:

I think it is inappropriate to cover your face in public, whether it's a burka, a balaclava or anything else. . . We are never going to get along with having a fully integrated society if a substantial minority insist on concealing their identity from everyone else.

His bill is bound to elicit the usual squeals of hysteria from Muslim lobby groups and those individuals and organisations of a politically correct disposition. In fact, such totalitarian voices have already attempted to silence Mr Hollobone, for the Northamptonshire Race Equality Council complained to the police about his remark about burkas earlier this year in which he stated that wearing them was "the religious equivalent of going round with a paper bag over your head with two holes for eyes". This is factually unquestionable, and yet this unaccountable Stalinist quango attempted to criminalise him. Such organisations should be disbanded, and the legislation which provides them with their mandate repealed.

Another much more powerful and equally unaccountable quango is currently attempting to destroy the BNP through a politically motivated court case. The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is using its legal mandate to prosecute thoughtcrime to claim that the party’s constitution remains in breach of the 1976 Race Relations Act. Apparently, even seeking to represent the interests of the indigenous British is deemed ‘racist’ and unacceptable by this thoroughtly anti-British anti-national organisation. Naturally, the Guardian is delighted that the BNP finds itself in this predicament, which could see its financial ruin and subsequent destruction.

Returning to the question of the proposed burka ban, I am glad that Hollobone has tabled his bill despite the unlikelihood of its acceptance. It is deeply worrying however that sinister undemocratic forces operating with a legal mandate in Britain have attempted to criminalise him and his views. Freedom of thought and expression has long been criminalised in the UK, and I see little prospect of this changing under the current administration of politically correct Tories and Liberal Democrats.