Maybe part of the reason is that he gets the same bloody questions al the time? The Qanda appearance was a good example. The theists line up with the same old questions thinking they are going to be the first to trap The Dawk with some tricky theological mumbo jumbo. The Big D steps to the crease, a little wearily mind you, but still smashes the question over the boundary.

But Dawky does get misrepresented. They call him “shrill” and “aggressive” but he quite soft spoken even polite. And the writing I most admire of his is in books like “The Devil’s Chaplain” where he has some very moving pieces. I wish journos had a better appreciation of the scope of this works.

Whilst I agree that Sharia Law has not place in a secular society, I’m not convinced that the act of wearing a burga is solely based on the husband. I have heard testimonies of Muslim women stating that they chose to wear the burqa for various reasons but ultimately it was their choice. Now I may think the reasoning may be wrong but I’d say the issue in Australia or the UK is far different from Afghanistan were women do not have much of a choice.

The questions of identity is an interesting one but can a woman who wears a burqa still be making a statement about her identity? Even if we find the burqa distasteful and offensive a modern secular society should not ban the wearing of one. That has can make the burqa a symbol of defiance and likely harm feminist actions within the Islamic communities aimed at reducing misogynistic practices.

I did think though that Mike Carlton’s piece in Saturday’s SMH was a good one. Dick D does seem quite humourless at times.