England Racism Row

1)I don't see why Muslim women shouldn't have their headscarves on in their passport photographs, in fact it makes sense if they normally wear a headscarf anyway.

2) I don't have a problem with supermarket workers wearing trousers. The issue here, I assume, is that many strict Muslim women will only want be seen in public wearing either loose-fitting trousers or an ankle-length skirt. I don't know whether this is actually obeying the word of the Koran, or just some scholar's interpretation of it. So if the unform included a short or medium length skirt, this might make the job incompatible with their religion.

3) I agree that the media fury over Big Brother was over the top and was far more shocking than the original "bullying" and alleged racism that provoked it. But this is just another example of the nastiness and hypocrisy of the tabloid press generally, and not a case of them being anti-white. They build people up only to knock them down again.

And as for Jermaine Jackson . . . well I'd always got the impression that it was mainly white people who used that phrase "white trash" anyway, it's just the same as calling someone a "chav", "scally", "pikey", etc. It's not saying, "I think you're inferior because you're white", it's saying, "I think you're inferior because you're poor/unemployed/stupid/ill-mannered/badly dressed/dirty" or whatever.

4) Going back to the main point of your poll. The comments I've made do NOT make me a multiculturalist. I don't believe that multicultural societies are necessarily better places to live in than those that aren't (Finland? Portugal?). Maybe in 150 years time, we'll all be just a very light shade of brown, all have the same religion and language. But for the time being we are a multicultural soiety whether you like it or not, and I believe that a society should have a tolerant and acommodating attitude to people of other religions and cultures.

And another thing . . . I assume "county" is a mistype for "country"? I don't recall having to go through Customs last time I crossed the Pennines. Perhaps I'd better make a false bottom in my suitcase in case the Lancashire border guards try to confiscate my Wensleydale cheese and bottled Black Sheep l.o.l!

Having said that, I think the face-veil does raise serious problems for security.