The subject of full-face veils has, once again, become a topical hot potato. This opinion is not going to be popular in some circles.
On the matter of veils
I'm guessing that this is going to get me some flak, particularly from people misinterpreting the intent. So be it.
I'm generally all for people having the freedom to wear, or not to wear, what they please (with limited caveats purely for the very least of public decency).
However, humans are social creatures, and we are hard wired for facial recognition as a mechanism of identity. I consider it no more (or less) appropriate for a person to be wandering the streets in a niqab or burkha than that they should wander around in a hoodie with a full-face scarf, or a bike-lid with an obscured visor, except when conditions actually warrant it (blizzard or actually riding at the time, for instance). Or the EDL in their branded full-face balaclavas or George Cross facemasks. It's not right. Any of it. As much as some people prefer to shy away from the subject, to deliberately hide from any possible recognition is overtly - and very literally - anti-social behaviour. It is an act of separation from the people surrounding, and whilst it does not indicate nefarious intent, per se, it doesn't harm the prospects of escape if any is planned. Unnecessary full face coverings that actually obscure recognition - not by technology, but by your average person - could, and I'd readily say should, be banned quite reasonably, provided it was applied equally across the board.
There are reports of (presumably) women facing some pretty disgusting forms of violence as a direct result of their wearing a veil, and I certainly do not advocate that. However, whilst these reports garner perfectly warranted sympathy for the victim, they still do not justify the wearing of the garment itself. It is not an either/or situation. Both are, in my view, wrong.
The argument is occasionally offered that if these full face coverings were banned in public spaces, these women would be effectively imprisoned in their own homes. As true as that may be, it would not be society at large imprisoning them, it would be their male extended family and peer pressure. That tells us one thing - there is another problem to address. The fact that one problem exists is no justification to allow another to slide by.
And finally, justification is sometimes offered by way of comparison between western wedding and funeral veils and the niqab. That comparison is specious and disingenuous. Firstly, those veils are temporary, and (literally) symbolic of a separation during an accepted social ritual. Secondly, they very rarely actually obscure recognition of the face.
