For a chain, Gaucho is startlingly expensive, the final bill ending up pretty close to one from much more stylish, individual restaurants
Boris Johnson has taken the extraordinary step of defending one of his deputy mayors from 'malicious smears'
More...
Salman Rushdie says Muslim veils 'suck'
Last updated at 14:01pm on 10.10.06
Salman Rushdie: 'veils suck'
The row over Muslim women's dress codes reignited today after author Salman Rushdie declared that "veils suck".
Rushdie, whose book The Satanic Verses triggered death threats from Islamic clerics, gave his full backing to Leader of the Commons Jack Straw for raising the issue.
Rushdie was forced into hiding for 10 years after Iranian cleric Ayatollah Khomeini served a "fatwah" on him over his book's alleged slight on the prophet Mohammed.
He had round-the-clock police protection costing nearly £1 million a year, although that has been downgraded in recent years after Iran indicated the death sentence no longer applied.
But Rushdie has always insisted he was right to publish The Satanic Verses and today he risked fresh Muslim anger with a savage attack on the wearing of veils.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, held to mark the opening of a new joint exhibition with sculptor Amish Kapoor, he backed Mr Straw to the hilt.
"Speaking as somebody with three sisters and a very largely female Muslim family, there's not a single woman I know in my family or in their friends who would have accepted wearing the veil.
"I think the battle against the veil has been a long and continuing battle against the limitation of women, so in that sense I'm completely on [Straw's] side.
"He was expressing an important opinion, which is that veils suck, which they do. I think the veil is a way of taking power away from women."
Mr Straw triggered anger last week when he revealed he asked Muslim women visiting his constituency surgery to remove their veils.
He said that seeing someone's face made it easier to communicate and felt the garment was a barrier to integration and good community relations.
The publication of the Satanic Verses in 1989 triggered not just the fatwah from Iran but also riots in Pakistan, India and Turkey among Muslims who felt he had insulted the prophet.
In the following decade, the book's Japanese translator was murdered and its Norwegian publisher and Italian translator seriously injured in separate attacks.
Publisher Penguin received 5,000 abusive or threatening letters and 25 bomb threats.
Rushdie is to open a joint exhibition with Kapoor at a London gallery, with a sculpture based on the story of Sheherazade, the Arabian woman who told stories to avoid a brutal death at the hands of a tyrant.
Kapoor said today that he disagreed with Rushdie over the veils issue.
He agreed, he said, with John Prescott, who said that he would find it rude to tell someone wearing sunglasses to remove them.
Reader views (15)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
I think the majority of people are missing the whole point of the veil. Wearing the veil chooses what clothes you wear, for example I couldn't wear a short skirt and singlet top with the veil, therefore it is a lifestyle choice. Most women get done up and wear their nicest clothes to go out to look good for strangers and when they come home change into trackies and take off their makeup, in our case we go out looking presentable and when we come home we get dressed up to look good for our husbands. It is about modesty and I being someone who never used to wear the veil would feel naked leaving the house without it.
- Khadija, Victoria, Australia
I am a Muslim and have lots of Muslim as well as non-Muslim friends. Most of my Muslim friends choose to not wear the veil while some do. It is strictly a matter of personal choice and nobody can or should tell them what to do. The way you dress is part of your freedom of expression. I agree that it is oppressive when Saudis tell women to cover their heads because it takes away the woman's freedom to choose.
But just because Saudis do that does not mean that England should follow suit, that's no justification for taking away anybody's rights to choose what they wear.
I find this view to be extremey funny, that people think they can choose what they want other to wear!
- Maliha Aqueel, Lahore, Pakistan.
The sunglass analogy does not reflect the veil situation well. In my mind the veil is more akin to a ski-mask, which would, I think, be intimidating and frightening if it became street fashion. 'Banning' it, however, is also scary. Maybe if people were just more honest when they deal with people wearing them like 'hey, that mask is giving me the creeps; do you have to wear that thing in public?'.
- Mike, Boston, MA
10°c
19°c
