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Normal Human Interaction With Burqa Wearers Impossible - Farage’s Pal Blaiklock

© AP Photo / Fred ErnstIn this Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006 file photo Unidentified women are seen wearing a niqab during a demonstration outside the Dutch parliament against a proposed ban on the burqa, in The Hague, Netherlands. Belgian politicians will vote on April 22, 2010 on whether to ban the burqa and other body and face covering attire. The proposed ban could become law by July and apply to all public places, including streets
In this Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006 file photo Unidentified women are seen wearing a niqab during a demonstration outside the Dutch parliament against a proposed ban on the burqa, in The Hague, Netherlands. Belgian politicians will vote on April 22, 2010 on whether to ban the burqa and other body and face covering attire. The proposed ban could become law by July and apply to all public places, including streets - Sputnik International
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Oxford educated political activist and most recently partner of former UKIP leader Nigel Farage in launching a new pro-Brexit political party, Catherine Blaiklock, also argued food banks should be abolished because they create a "dependent, obese population".

"She is a strong believer in Brexit and freedom of speech. She hates political correctness" — that's how Blaiklock is described on her own website.

In a number of articles, Blaiklock has addressed a variety of social issues, including whether wearing burqas is appropriate in all cultures. 

She has raised concerns over the garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions and argued an encounter in Detroit with a person wearing one, made her "feel uncomfortable." Blaiklock suggested wearing a burqa connotes the "I don't care what you think' attitude" and is "provocative."

"Firstly, I cannot talk or have a normal human interaction with anyone in a Burqa. They might as well be in the next room or in a tent. I am a friendly person and I am interested in people's lives. So I always ask delivery people or supermarket workers or whoever — what time do you finish? Are you busy? Is it a hard job? Are you tired? Normal human conversation. Even to porters in Nepal who speak another language, I communicate with via signs or facial language. With someone in a Burqa, I can communicate less with them than I can with my cat," the activist wrote.

Her comments recall the statements made by former Foreign Minister of Britain, Boris Johnson, who in August 2018 wrote that Muslim head veils were 'oppressive' for women and said it is "absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes."

He also added that he would "feel fully entitled to ask" a female constituent to remove her veil so that he "could talk to her properly."

"If a female student turned up at school or at a university lecture looking like a bank robber then ditto: those in authority should be allowed to converse openly with those that they are being asked to instruct," Mr. Johnson said.

READ MORE: British Public Largely Against Burqas, Don't Think Johnson Should Say Sorry

Dependent, Obese Population

The founder of the Nepal in Need charity "bringing health care and education to Nepal's poorest," Blaiklock has also addressed the issue of the rising number of food banks in Britain.

She criticized the ‘food poverty myth' in Britain, saying that the problem in the UK is not lack of food or its cost, but the wrong attitude of the people.

"But a visit to a food bank of the type that millions are supposed to rely on shows you the problem. It is full of cans of sweet custard and packets of PopTarts and the like. They do not stock raw potatoes because they might ‘go off'… The problem is much more basic. People have chaotic lives. They spend money on the wrong things. They do not cook and it would seem that many cannot cook. If the numbers are anything to go by, they cannot even be bothered to buy and cook some potatoes or an egg for their hungry children," she said on 1 January.

 

© AP Photo / Alastair GrantA pyramid of 468 cans of soup during a media event outside the Palace of Westminster to highlight food bank dependency.
A pyramid of 468 cans of soup during a media event outside the Palace of Westminster to highlight food bank dependency. - Sputnik International
A pyramid of 468 cans of soup during a media event outside the Palace of Westminster to highlight food bank dependency.

She added that food banks create "a dependent, obese population, [while] teaching their recipients how to shop for raw ingredients and to cook ‘meat and two veg' would be more helpful."

Blaiklocks statements caused an uproar among her critics, who voiced their condemnation online.

A strong Brexit supporter, Blaiklock partnered with Nigel Farage earlier in January to register a party with the Electoral Commission that will be ready to "fight any snap general election or the local elections across England in May."

READ MORE: 'Huge Demand': Ex-UKIP Head Farage Aims to Lead New Pro-Brexit Party — Report

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