From what I have read / heard (please do feel free to check) if you want a loan from a muslim bank they won't charge you interest. They will however charge a whacking great arrangement fee which can often be surprisingly close to an interest rate on the whole loan.

With regards to the burka, I believe it stems from a general principle of women not being overtly flaunting with their bodies, and subsequently this being taken to its logical extreme. Within certain Islamic groups it may well be that an imam has decreed that women should wear a burka, however I don't know within Islam what degree of authority that then gives it. I am certainly not aware of vicars / bishops giving edicts in quite the same that imams appear to, but my knowledge on Islam is running out here .

The bishop of Rome has been known to make the odd recommendation about how his flock should live their lives. Yet his opinion is often ignored among the followers of other Christian sects. Anglican bishops have little in common with Orthodox patriarchs, none of you would get on all that well with a Copt or Anabaptist.

Christians have killed each other by the thousand because they have disagreed about whether some wine literally becomes Jesus' blood, or only figuratively. Or the question of whether Jesus was human with a little divinity, or mostly divine with a little humanity. Or whether it's right to paint a picture of Mary and address the odd prayer towards it.

The divisions within Islam mirror those of Christianity. There is no respected, unifying, central authority within either religion. Various sects form, and over time they develop a heritage - which is a nice way of saying that they tend to develop new ideas in fits and bursts, and then sit tight on them as they stagnate for a few centuries.

The Koran requires women to dress modestly, but is, so far as I know, rather light on a definition of that term, leaving much to interpretation. Wherever there is interpretation, there must always be controversy, because everyone has an opinion, and nobody has access to any facts.

The idea of some sanctimonious Frenchman giving the islamic world a lecture on how to interpret their own holy book seems absurd to me. If various competing Christian interpretations of the bible are to be tolerated, then not to accept the same for the Koran is naked, stinking hypocrisy.

There's nothing wrong with people choosing what to wear.

However, in a very few special circumstances all forms of face covering should be temporarily removed. i.e. when you get your passport photo taken, and when you go through the security check. No need to ban anything, just 10 seconds to check identity. Refusing to do so should result in not being allowed to fly.

All airports have (or should have) a special side-room specifically for this purpose.

Remember that the burka is only worn in public - in the home, at a friend's house or whilst driving it can be removed, lifted or opened depending on design.

I don't know how anybody can get so wound up about clothing that they wish to ban it, if the person in question chooses to wear that clothing.

It's not a difficult situation. No ban, definitely no band on burkas or hoodies for that matter, but make it possible for people to be identified in buildings where they need to be for security reasons. For frak's sake even in Turkey you aren't allowed to have your face covered in Official buildings, such as University Libraries, so why not just strike a balance?

It's not really an issue but then I'm not religious. It annoys me that people bang on about Christian England, well it's not always been and not all of us are.