Woman's Hour - 30/06/2009

With Jane Garvey. President Sarkozy has declared that the burkha and the niqab - both forms of Muslim veils - are no longer welcome in France. In a speech to parliament, the president said he regarded such extreme veils as 'subservient and debasing' and the women that chose to wear them 'prisoners behind a screen'. The comments may be inflammatory, but it is a debate that is gathering pace on the continent. So what is it like for those women who wear the burkha in western countries? And is this debate one that we in Britain could, and should, be having? To discuss the issues Jane is joined by Um Abdullah, who wears the burkha, and Maryam Namazie, who wants it banned. The National Portrait Gallery asked ten high-profile gay men and women to name people who have influenced or inspired them. The choices they made can now be seen in an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Called Gay Icons, it includes a fascinating range of photographic portraits embracing gay, straight and bisexual figures from Quentin Crisp, Joe Orton, Daphne Du Maurier and Tchaikovsky through to kd lang, Kenneth Williams, Lily Savage, Nelson Mandela and the Princess of Wales. Sandi Toksvig was the chair of the selection panel and she joins Jane, along with the gallery's Deputy Director, Pim Baxter, to talk about the exhibition and about what makes a good gay icon. There was a big reponse when a listener rang about the devastating impact that her husband's Alzheimer's has had on their friendships. She described how their social network had fallen away to virtually nothing in the 14 years since his diagnosis, and talked about their friends' reluctance to visit them at home. Those responding included Tony Bowland, who has had two friends diagnosed with Alzheimer's and discusses the difficulties of visiting them. Stewart Malcolm, whose wife Wendy has had fronto-temporal dementia for 12 years, feels that unlike Kate's relationship with Christophe, she is not the same person. Jane also talks to Lorna Coulson, a therapist and trainer working in the field of dementia.