http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...html?from=top5

British banks are banning piggy banks because they may offend some Muslims.

Halifax and NatWest banks have led the move to scrap the time-honoured symbol of saving from being given to children or used in their advertising, the Daily Express/Daily Star group reports here.

Muslims do not eat pork, as Islamic culture deems the pig to be an impure animal.

Salim Mulla, secretary of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, backed the bank move.

"This is a sensitive issue and I think the banks are simply being courteous to their customers," he said.

However, the move brought accusations of political correctness gone mad from critics.

"The next thing we will be banning Christmas trees and cribs and the logical result of that process is a bland uniformity," the Dean of Blackburn, Reverend Christopher Armstrong, said.

"We should learn to celebrate our difference, not be fearful of them."

Khalid Mahmoud, the Labour MP for a Birmingham seat and one of four Muslim MPs in Britain, also criticised the piggy-bank ban.
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"We live in a multicultural society and the traditions and symbols of one community should not be obliterated just to accommodate another," Mr Mahmoud said.

"I doubt many Muslims would be seriously offended by piggy banks."

you gotta be kidding me
this is PC gone WAY too far IMO

You have got to be joking me!! The fun thing is that Khalid Mahmoud himself is also opposed to that! Nothing is sadder than politicians trying to think as ethnic minority, deviant religion, lower income people..... this is what you get!

I agree its pretty moronic...

Muslims in Britan have to accept that while the UK welcomes all faiths it is based a Christian identity. If they cannot accept this, then they should go live in the Islamic world.

its interesting that the question ir religious identity vs national has become a really big issue for Islamic in western countries. it seems, from interviews iv watched that there is a consensus that it is near impossible to be British AND muslim, and most of them put thier Muslim identity first and are feeling very out of place.
which is no suprise, really, since despite its multiculturalism, the UK is predominately Church of Engalnd, meaning that those that aren't part of the majority just have deal with it and practice thier religion in peace, they wont (shouldn't) be persecurted.
from what i understand, this is very different from many Islamic countries where because of the way the country is, everyone has to conform to the rules of that religion.
im just amazed at how mulitcultural many western Nations are and how it is causing some problems and how not multicutlural (sorry, dont know the word) other nations are, yet they make so much noise

I've been saying this for a long time now.

If these people aren't integrated succesfully, they are going to build closed societies in Europe similar to their own as it was in their home countries.

Catering to their every whim is not the way to do this. They have to realized that people in the West can be different from them, and they are the ones who should adapt to this, not vice-versa. Doing so is simply closing off their society to any form of tolerance. Tolerance which alot of them have little concept of, since they do not have this in their home countries.

This is one of the reason why I think Europe is basicly finished, since no one is doing anything about this, and are only adding to the problem.

There will come a point where the Islamic population is so large and so intrenched that no one will be able to reverse this no matter what they do, and the problem will simply compound itself till it overloads.

The only slim hope for Europe is if they entact tough policies to reverse this NOW, but they are too PC. The other is the slim chance democracy can catch on through the whole Middle East, but most Europe itself seems to not want to cooperate.

The only slim hope for Europe is if they entact tough policies to reverse this NOW, but they are too PC.

I can't say anything on this for other European countries, but Holland has changed a lot over the last two years. We turned from an open, inviting society to a tough regime society. If people have no legal papers they are thrown out of their houses, even if local governments say they can stay.
They are being rounded up and locked in waiting for their deportation. If there isn't any place they are sent to jail awaiting their home journey. This is done quite ruthlessly (for traditional Dutch hospitality) and sometimes things go wrong.

Originally Posted by Ted

I can't say anything on this for other European countries, but Holland has changed a lot over the last two years. We turned from an open, inviting society to a tough regime society. If people have no legal papers they are thrown out of their houses, even if local governments say they can stay.
They are being rounded up and locked in waiting for their deportation. If there isn't any place they are sent to jail awaiting their home journey. This is done quite ruthlessly (for traditional Dutch hospitality) and sometimes things go wrong.

A price to pay to make up for the misunderstood sense of tolerance and multiculturalism the Netherlands has been showing over the past decades. I guess the shameful murder of Theo Van Gogh and the growing islamist presence in the country started to ring a bell and wake people up..

Absolutly true, it is a bloody shame because so many nationalities and cultures get the short end of the stick because of some small minded, scary freaks.
Some overhere bagatalize Van Goghs murder as freaks work and some as organised Islamic Jihad. I, for one, am so blind as to call it some boys who like to play grown up games. They think they speak for a group, but they cry in the name of some lost souls. Thank God , they didn't shoot the guy who did this. He'll rot in his cell till he dies, thinking of this deed. I am curious how he'll see this in 40 years......

The story is actually rubbish.

Most of the media got it wrong.