Iused to volunteer at a wildlife sanctuary, counting sheep and goats on an agreeable patch of chalk downland in Kent. On hot days the goats would hide in the dense, cool woodland and it could take a long time to find them. Occasionally they broke out of the reserve because our gates were of poor quality, so I was delighted to see one morning that new gates had been installed, shiny metal ones. When I got up close, though, there was a surprise in store. All of the new gates were adorned with a picture of a woman in a burka and an injunction to abide by the Countryside Code.

This struck me as peculiar, not to say borderline Islamophobic. We had never experienced trouble with Muslim women ignoring the Countryside Code. And yet here these poor people were seemingly being singled out for censu

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