No sharia here

Tories in the UK say they won’t allow sharia courts if they get into power. Oh, good. And they’ll also clamp down on Islamic extremism, according to one of their big cheeses.

She’s Pauline Neville-Jones, a former head of the Joint Intelligence Committee.

“We are not going to have any status for sharia courts. Absolutely not,” she reassures us in a story in the Telegraph. (See also our previous posts here and here on the subject.)

After reading Ophelia Benson’s Butterflies and Wheels blog section this morning, you’d be hard-pressed not to say no to a mere hint that Islam is creeping ever further into our culture. She lays into authorities in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier, who have banned male doctors from carrying out ECG and ultrasound scans on women, in case they become aroused or in case women take advantage.

US-based Benson has a way with words – especially adjectives. She’s fun to read, but also makes excellent points with no bullshit but plenty of rage.

“Listen, you stupid evil pile of dung,” she storms, “anybody could do anything.” She then warms to her point:

You could get a hard-on every time you open your foul malodorous mouth to explain why you and your horrible friends want to see women forbidden to use medical technology – and I bet you do. Men could derive sexual pleasure from rubbing themselves against the nearest goat, and some women could “lure” men by being alive within 50 kilometers of one – but that's not a reason to impose yet another idiotic prurient goggle-eyed jerk-off restriction on women and their ability to get health care.

Read the whole piece. It’s worth it.