A French mayor’s defence of the burkini ban
Béziers’s mayor Robert Ménard is adamant that France’s highest court has got it wrong. ‘The burkini should be banned, it’s a provocative symbol, nothing to do with modesty,’ he says. ‘Two years, a year ago, burkinis didn’t exist on our beaches. Now people are wearing them to make a point. But this is a Christian country. If we go to the Middle East we must abide by the rules and customs of that country. I think people who come to live here should do likewise.’ He is possibly France’s most interesting and controversial politician, a former journalist who is demonised by the left and increasingly idolised by the right. He was