Update on the Straw Veil Flap from the Associated Press:
LONDON: Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Thursday that he had no regrets about the article he wrote on Muslim women’s veils that triggered an emotionally charged debate around Britain and as far away as the Middle East….
“I would write the same column again,” Straw, who now serves as leader of the House of Commons, said at an interfaith forum in London.
He said the piece he published in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph newspaper had been thoughtful and respectful, and that he had never challenged women’s right to wear a veil.
He emphasized that he only requested “” and never demanded “” that women remove the veils in his office and said he did not support banning the coverings.
He said those living in Britain should have a stronger sense of shared identity based on the country’s democratic values.
Yes.