the corner office

If you ban burkas from public transport then is this likely to cause all burka-wearing women to suddenly throw off their burkas and start showing their faces, or is it likely to result in those who've genuinely been forced or pressured into wearing them, to no longer use public transport?

Without the ability to travel, are these most vulnerable of burka wearers not likely to become even more dependent on their male family members, more isolated from the society we want them to integrate with, less able to see the world and be less exposed to the ideas and freedoms we enjoy?

The security reasons for banning burkas on public transport strike me as being tenuous, but even if you could make a convincing case, you'd have to do it knowing that you're actually making life worse for many of the women most in need of 'help'.

As for wearing burkas in any other situations, I think the answer is simple: in a free society, as long as others aren't harmed, you don't force people to do or not do things, and you especially don't try to change behaviours or beliefs by forcing people to do or not do things. That means you don't ban burkas, but equally, you allow people to choose to be or not be customers, students, colleagues, patients, employers or employees of people whose faces they can't see.