The Observer Nails it on a Sunday

There is something about reading a few papers on Sunday that grounds me for the week ahead. I love knowing someone is thinking about the same things I am and writing beautifully and intelligently about thoughts that hover at the edge of my consciousness.

Today in the Observer, Henry Porter has written a brilliant article, "We must resist this culture of anti-British segregation" with quite a few fabulous points and only one I might quibble over.

Is Tavistock Crescent in Notting Hill? I would have called it Ladbrooke Grove, or "under the Westway" or North Kensington. Notting Hill to me is near the tube station and a bit west of it including the southern bit of Ladbrooke Grove, on the way UP the hill. When I lived on Sloane Street I was forcibly told I did not live in Belgravia as I lived on the west side of the street and from that I understood that these areas do have invisible but important distinctions.

What is big, enormous actually, is the slow dawning on everyone that so many Muslims who live in Britain don't want to assimilate into British culture. I consider myself an immigrant and I came over here precisely to assimilate (still working at it). When I watch tourists and listen to them I realise I've learned to fit in pretty well although living here hasn't effected my Michigan accent as much as I'd like. Sorry, I digress.

I was surprised in the first days after the bombings on the 7th by how many gals there were wandering around central London in a 'nikab' (Porter's word so I'm adopting it). I thought they were mostly female journalists out for a scoop and I have waited to hear that this is the case for weeks.

Anyway, it seems likely now that there was an element of defiance behind that. From the article:

"A proud disdain for Western society seems to have overwhelmed any meaningful desire for assimilation. There is an assertiveness which is explained away by liberals and Muslims as a kind of defence mechanism against racism and prejudice in the wake of 9/11. In my area, which has a large population from many different Muslim countries, I have noticed the increased use of the nikab."

and:

"The poll found that 6 percent of the sample - which alarmingly extrapolates to 100,000 British Muslims - insisted that the bombings were fully justified."

"If this is anywhere near the truth we have a very significant problem, and those nine young men who attacked London will not be the last. Sitting outside the pub in Tavistock Crescent, I found myself resenting the idea that one group of people had removed themselves from the values that I admire about Britain, regardless of the level of tolerance and generosity offered to people of all faiths and backgrounds."

A killer insight:

"Personally, I find the wearing of the nikab on British streets discomforting because it declares a woman to be a possession of a man. The implication that all men are lusting after all women all the time, and so Muslim women must be protected from their gaze, is offensive. I will never be persuaded that this is simply about a woman's elected modesty or that the human rights issue falls exclusively on the side of Islam."

later:

"The penny has dropped in France..."

Read the whole article here.

While Porter finds the implications behind the wearing of a nikab offensive, I find it illogical and stupid and I'm surprised when they parade their lack of intellectual ability on the street for all to see.

Who is the 18th century philosopher who proposed that a man spend all night locked in a room with a beautiful woman and in the morning, if he had slept with her, he would be hung from the gallows just outside the door. The question being, what action would be the most likely during that man's imprisonment?

I'll end with this: Porter quotes David Bell, the chief inspector of Britain's schools:

"We must not allow our recognition of diversity to become apathy in the face of any challenge to our coherence as a nation. I would go further and say that an awareness of our common heritage as British citizens, equal under the law, should enable us to assert with confidence that we are intolerant of intolerance, illiberalism and attitudes and values that demean certain sections of our community, be they women or people living in non-traditional relationships."




St. Patrick's chapel, Brompton Oratory, this past Friday.