Why ban balaclavas, but not burqas?

One of the more visible signs of Britain’s creeping lawlessness is the proliferation of men in balaclavas. In Nottingham, the authorities have finally decided that enough is enough and are launching a crackdown on ‘face coverings’. As of next week, police will have the power to compel people to uncover their faces. Failure to comply can result in an on-the-spot fine of £70 or even prosecution.

Nottingham has been eager to reassure residents that they will only be asked to show their faces if police have reason to believe their identity is being concealed for ‘criminal’ or ‘anti-social’ purposes. Face coverings worn for religious or health purposes will be exempt. As Nottingham City Council leader Neghat Khan explained, only coverings that are ‘worn in a manner that intimidates, harasses, alarms or distresses others’ will be impacted.

While there are good arguments for and against a ban on face coverings, one thing is for sure: young men in balaclavas and skeleton masks – often congregating outside train stations, or charging down the pavements on e-bikes – are an increasing menace. Not all of them are committing crimes, of course. No doubt many of them are simply trying to look tough. But this is clearly an act of intimidation. We live in a society – or did – in which to conceal your face from the gaze of your fellow citizens is seen as an inherently hostile act.

Given this, it is hard to understand why there should be a religious exemption for a garment like the burqa. Of course, few people view a veiled Muslim with the same trepidation as they do a gang of youths in matching tracksuits and masks painted with a skeletal grin (just as we don’t usually feel a shudder when we see the local hypochondriac buying groceries in an N95 mask). But that doesn’t make the burqa any less ‘anti-social’ – it is, after all, a form of segregation and discrimination, often forced on women against their will.

Covering your face is clearly an affront to trust, openness and civility. Progressives know this, of course – although they only say so when it suits them. And their double standards aren’t only on show when it comes to the burqa.

The recent anti-immigration protests in Dover and Portsmouth were condemned as ‘thuggish’ by Labour’s crime and policing minister, Sarah Jones, who admonished the protesters for being ‘dressed in all black and wearing face masks’. But when hundreds of Islamic sectarians – dressed in all black and wearing face masks – marched through Whitechapel in east London last year, there were no such complaints from the left. Nor has there been much criticism of the thousands of protesters who have covered their faces with keffiyehs while calling for the destruction of Israel on pro-Palestine marches over the past few years. It seems it’s only when white working-class men start masking up that we hear all the talk about law and order, and the importance of seeing each other’s faces.

Whatever we as a nation decide to do about face coverings, we should at least be consistent. The proliferation of face coverings is bad enough. A two-tier approach to them could be even worse.