Cracking Nuts with Sledgehammers

So, here we are again. Another round of dog-whistle politics dressed up as concern for women’s rights – this time in the form of banning the burqa. Because nothing says “liberation” like the state telling women what they can’t wear, under the pretence of saving them from being told what they must. Orwell would have a field day.

Let’s start with some basic arithmetic. The number of women in the UK who actually wear a burqa or niqab is vanishingly small – a fraction of a fraction. You’ve probably got more people in Britain still playing the lute. And yet, somehow, this has become the battleground for “British values.” It's the sort of manufactured outrage we excel at – a crisis with a costume, designed to rally the fearful and distract from the real rot.

Now, if this were really about secularism or integration, as France and Denmark love to claim, you'd expect a bit of consistency. But no one’s banning nuns’ habits, Sikh turbans, or Haredi wigs. Apparently, full religious dress only becomes a threat when it’s worn by a Muslim woman. A cassock is quaint. A niqab is a crisis. Denmark talks up “social cohesion”, but doesn’t bat an eyelid at a mitre or a yarmulke. This isn’t about religion in public life – it’s about policing particular religions that make certain people uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, the UK already has laws to deal with actual coercion. Since 2015, coercive control – including emotional abuse and forced dress codes – has been a criminal offence. Add to that forced marriage laws, domestic abuse protections, and trained social services, and we have all the tools we need. What we don’t have is consistent enforcement or proper funding. Much easier to swing a legislative hammer and pretend a ban will solve extremism, integration, and gender equality in one go.

And let’s not kid ourselves about who’s pushing this. It’s not the women involved. It’s not the charities helping victims of abuse. It’s Reform UK and their kind – the ones who conflate hijab with jihad, who think a headscarf is the thin end of the caliphate wedge. They don’t care about women’s rights. They want Muslims out of sight – and if possible, out of the country. This isn’t about liberation. It’s about projection – the projection of fear, cultural insecurity, and political failure onto the nearest convenient scapegoat.

So let’s be clear. If a woman is coerced into wearing a burqa, the law already allows the state to act – with support, compassion, and legal force. What we don’t need is another bout of grandstanding that punishes the very women it pretends to protect. Because when you start banning what women wear “for their own good” while leaving other religious dress untouched, it’s not secularism. It’s bigotry in a powdered wig.

And let’s think this through to its logical end. If we start banning the burqa here, under the guise of cultural assertion, what exactly do we say when countries that don't currently mandate it turn around and insist our women must cover up when visiting them? Do we suddenly become champions of cultural sensitivity? Or is that different because – well – we’re the ones doing the dictating? You can’t have it both ways. Either women have the right to choose what they wear, or they don’t. And if our stance is “our country, our rules,” don’t be surprised when the same is thrown back at us – only this time, it's your daughter being handed a headscarf at immigration.