Sweden must copy France’s approach to Islamic intolerance

There are 960 miles as the crow flies between Paris and Stockholm, but when it comes to dealing with Islam they are separated by light years. In France this week there has been something of a kerfuffle caused by a Gap back-to-school campaign that features a young girl in a hijab. One female MP from Emmanuel Macron’s ruling La République en Marche party said the campaign left her ‘sickened,’ while Marlène Schiappa, the gender equality minister, has demanded an explanation from Gap, saying: ‘You don’t choose to wear the veil at nine to ten years old.’

Incidentally, France has looked on in bemusement at Boris Johnson and his comments about the burka. The controversy that captivated Britain for a week made the periphery of the French press but there was little in the way of in-depth analysis. France had that discussion in 2010 when it banned the burka and the word most closely associated with the garment in France today is ‘séparatisme’.