When in Rome...

I heard Harriet Harman on the radio this morning defending her decision to wear a stab proof vest whilst touring her constituency of Peckham at 9 o'clock in the morning in the company of several police officers (which I initially thought could be an April Fool). Her explanation was that, contrary to appearances, she was not living in fear that one of her disgruntled constituents would come out and knife her, but that she wore it out of courtesy to the police who were accompanying her "just as you would wear a hard hat on a building site or Indian clothes when visiting an Indian area." This is not only poor logic but also terrible personal PR. The reason for wearing a hard hat on a building site is insurance against possible accidents. By wearing her stab proof jacket, HH not only admits that there is a possibility of being stabbed on the streets at 9am in Peckham but also that her entourage of police officers is not adequate protection. As for wearing Indian clothes to please Indians living in this country, I'm afraid I strongly disagree. We must stand up for our own culture, particularly to those people who have decided that the UK is so preferable to India that they have moved in. These people were attracted by our culture so the idea of temporarily adopting their dress for so-called political correctness is laughable.