Excerpt:
And so it came to pass that a sensible decision was made by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and Gloucester Old Spots were seen flying in neat formation over Strasbourg. No, seriously.
Judges at the ECHR have upheld France's ban on the burka. The court accepted the French argument that the ban on face coverings in public, which was introduced in 2010, encouraged citizens to "live together". France had submitted that the face "played a significant role in social interaction" and that individuals might not wish to see, in places open to all, practices or attitudes which could fundamentally call into question the possibility of an open, interpersonal relationship that formed "an indispensable element of community life".
In other words, many of us are offended and perturbed by the sight of a woman wandering around in a bin bag, condemned to be cut off from normal human interaction in a modern democracy.