IT is hugely encouraging that Lord Ahmed has chosen to speak out on the issue of Muslim women wearing the veil, a topic that has been largely avoided by leading politicians since Jack Straw tried to kickstart the same debate last year.
In making his comments, Britain's first Muslim peer has underlined what to many is self-evident, that to question a symbol of separation's place in a society striving to improve community relations is not, in itself, an attack on Muslims or Islam.
Too often this debate has focused on the right of a woman to wear the niqab when, in truth, men and women in 21st century Britain can dress as they choose. The real issue is the consequence of their choices. The case of the Dewsbury teaching assistant who insisted on wearing a veil even when speaking to young children was a rare exception. In that instance, all but a small band of supporters backed the school's sensible view that whatever her right to cover her face, it simply hindered her ability to do her job.
The views offered by Lord Ahmed follow a similar line of thinking. He points out there is a considerable body of opinion that wearing the niqab is not a religious requirement but rather represents a decision to assert certain cultural values. That being the case, he argues, there is room for debate within the Muslim community as to whether its cause is being helped by women continuing to wear the veil.
While the state should not dictate how individuals should dress, it does have an obligation to ensure that people are free to discuss how the choices made by members of different communities can help or hinder harmonious relations.
Lord Ahmed is correct to ask British Muslims whether exercising their right to dress as they see fit is necessarily always in their, or the wider community's, best interests.
Heart of the matter
Dual crisis predicted
DESPITE the apparent conviction among ministers - from Tony Blair down - that every aspect of people's lives can be made to benefit from their intervention, one thing after another proves to be obstinately resistant to it.
Consequently, more and more of their pet schemes are falling by the wayside.
The latest casualty looks as though it might be the plan to overcome the pensions crisis - to which the Chancellor made such a significant contribution when he raided the pension funds - by encouraging people to work beyond the present retirement age.
According to the charity Heart UK, it could be thwarted by an elderly population succumbing to heart disease.
Medical advances mean that many heart conditions which in times gone by were quickly fatal can now be managed on a long-term basis, but not so well that those who have them can buckle down, remain useful and pay for life's necessities without resort to the threadbare state pension.
Furthermore, the incidence of heart disease is rising and resulting in more people leaving the workforce prematurely - precisely the opposite of what is supposed to happen - and the number of people living with debilitating heart conditions is predicted to more than double in the next 25 years.
The strain on the NHS will get worse, and so too will the pensions crisis.
Heart disease is not of the Government's making, and it would be foolish to think that it is in the Government's gift to prevent people developing it.
While it is not beyond the hubris of certain ministers to think they can, in reality they are limited to noting the work of organisations such as Heart UK, and planning accordingly.
Thriving Yorkshire
County set for boom
The predictions of a successful year for Yorkshire's leading companies are particularly welcome at a time when indicators are offering a less than rosy outlook on the country's short term economic position.
The Yorkshire Report prepared by BDO Stoy Hayward, a new annual barometer of the region's economic performance, gives the county a clean bill of health.
Amid ongoing concerns about inflationary pressures and rising interest rates, it is reassuring to hear that the 150 firms underpinning the region's economy have already invested heavily in their future and are now in a good position to reap the rewards.
While the overall figures are healthy enough, they actually hide even stronger performances by individual businesses over the last 12 months.
The report credits benign economic conditions, in particular low interest rates, for the 60 per cent increase in investment by the county's firms last year.
Yet, at the same time, the Bank of England is warning the Treasury that it may become harder to sustain the low inflation seen in recent years, forcing interest rates higher.
It is to be hoped the firm foundations laid by Yorkshire businesses in the last year will ensure they can weather the difficult times which may lie ahead. The well-being of thousands of families depends on their continued success.
IT is hugely encouraging that Lord Ahmed has chosen to speak out on the issue of Muslim women wearing the veil, a topic that has been largely avoided by leading politicians since Jack Straw tried to kickstart the same debate last year.
In making his comments, Britain's first Muslim peer has underlined what to many is self-evident, that to question a symbol of separation's place in a society striving to improve community relations is not, in itself, an attack on Muslims or Islam.
Too often this debate has focused on the right of a woman to wear the niqab when, in truth, men and women in 21st century Britain can dress as they choose. The real issue is the consequence of their choices. The case of the Dewsbury teaching assistant who insisted on wearing a veil even when speaking to young children was a rare exception. In that instance, all but a small band of supporters backed the school's sensible view that whatever her right to cover her face, it simply hindered her ability to do her job.
The views offered by Lord Ahmed follow a similar line of thinking. He points out there is a considerable body of opinion that wearing the niqab is not a religious requirement but rather represents a decision to assert certain cultural values. That being the case, he argues, there is room for debate within the Muslim community as to whether its cause is being helped by women continuing to wear the veil.
While the state should not dictate how individuals should dress, it does have an obligation to ensure that people are free to discuss how the choices made by members of different communities can help or hinder harmonious relations.
Lord Ahmed is correct to ask British Muslims whether exercising their right to dress as they see fit is necessarily always in their, or the wider community's, best interests.
Heart of the matter
Dual crisis predicted
DESPITE the apparent conviction among ministers - from Tony Blair down - that every aspect of people's lives can be made to benefit from their intervention, one thing after another proves to be obstinately resistant to it.
Consequently, more and more of their pet schemes are falling by the wayside.
The latest casualty looks as though it might be the plan to overcome the pensions crisis - to which the Chancellor made such a significant contribution when he raided the pension funds - by encouraging people to work beyond the present retirement age.
According to the charity Heart UK, it could be thwarted by an elderly population succumbing to heart disease.
Medical advances mean that many heart conditions which in times gone by were quickly fatal can now be managed on a long-term basis, but not so well that those who have them can buckle down, remain useful and pay for life's necessities without resort to the threadbare state pension.
Furthermore, the incidence of heart disease is rising and resulting in more people leaving the workforce prematurely - precisely the opposite of what is supposed to happen - and the number of people living with debilitating heart conditions is predicted to more than double in the next 25 years.
The strain on the NHS will get worse, and so too will the pensions crisis.
Heart disease is not of the Government's making, and it would be foolish to think that it is in the Government's gift to prevent people developing it.
While it is not beyond the hubris of certain ministers to think they can, in reality they are limited to noting the work of organisations such as Heart UK, and planning accordingly.
Thriving Yorkshire
County set for boom
The predictions of a successful year for Yorkshire's leading companies are particularly welcome at a time when indicators are offering a less than rosy outlook on the country's short term economic position.
The Yorkshire Report prepared by BDO Stoy Hayward, a new annual barometer of the region's economic performance, gives the county a clean bill of health.
Amid ongoing concerns about inflationary pressures and rising interest rates, it is reassuring to hear that the 150 firms underpinning the region's economy have already invested heavily in their future and are now in a good position to reap the rewards.
While the overall figures are healthy enough, they actually hide even stronger performances by individual businesses over the last 12 months.
The report credits benign economic conditions, in particular low interest rates, for the 60 per cent increase in investment by the county's firms last year.
Yet, at the same time, the Bank of England is warning the Treasury that it may become harder to sustain the low inflation seen in recent years, forcing interest rates higher.
It is to be hoped the firm foundations laid by Yorkshire businesses in the last year will ensure they can weather the difficult times which may lie ahead. The well-being of thousands of families depends on their continued success.
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