Can Stephen Harper stoop any lower on the niqab?: Editorial http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2015/10/07/can-stephen-harper-stoop-any-lower-on-the-niqab-editorial.html The Star spares no effort in attacking the Conservatives; having brought back the Islamist Haroon Siddiqui expressly to sling his arrows; even a cameo performance by your publisher John Cruickshank; backed up by today’s “editorial” (with which, of course, he had no involvement). I am not a Conservative, nor a “Harper-fan”; but your totally one-sided anti-Harper diatribes irk my sense of fair play. While The Star occasionally let a critical letter pass muster; when it comes to a direct criticism of your editorial policy –forget it. Nevertheless; I will vent my frustration with your singularly one-sided leftist political stance. Today; you have plastered he niqab-wearing woman across your front page and atop Mr. Cruickshank’s missive. While I agree that this has become a ridiculous election issue and a wedge item for the Conservatives (and a huge Quebec setback for the NDP); I do think you are missing a major point here –even partially acknowledged in your editorial; viz.: “Let’s be clear: A lot of Canadians are uncomfortable with the veil. Some see it as oppressive to women. Others see it as a sign of alienation from the wider culture. Some even take it as a positive rejection of our society”. Yes; indeed, and I am one of those scoundrels. Let me make one thing clear: I have absolutely no problem with Sikh turbans; Jewish skullcaps; or any other head coverings, including the hijab. What I object to is the blatant temerity of women who hide their faces behind a veil, and do so amongst non-Muslims in the public sphere. To do so is an insult to our society and individuals. It is an inherited instinct to recoil from covered faces; harking back to our human beginnings, when reading facial expressions could define friend or foe and life or death. You cannot wipe out thousands of years of evolution in one swipe. I also agree we should prohibit the niqab in the public service and allow the prohibition of it in business, for the same reason. I feel sorry for store check-out clerks who have to deal with a walking, talking sack from which only two eyes peering out. The niqab is, at its worst, inimical; at least, a distraction; even potentially a danger to the public safety and peace. How would you like to sit across from a person with the head covered; peering at you from under a black cloth? If you want a civil uproar; you might just get it. You are not allowed to prance naked down the street or work in the nude; but you are free to do so in the privacy of your home. Ditto for wearing the niqab. I don’t expect The Star to have the courage or fairness to print this. But I do think you will read it. Perhaps some of it will sink in –for John Cruickshank. Sigmund Roseth