Never mind the fury which erupted on Facebook, imagine the anger amidst the mayhem of Christmas shopping when the person queuing for ten minutes with a groaning trolley is told she must go elsewhere. Imagine too being the poor cashier who has to tell the customer. Clearly this one wasn't going to survive 24 hours.
And so it has proved. M&S now apparently say Muslim staff will be allowed to work in other areas of their stores (no doubt not shifting crates of champagne around in the back office). With any luck the tide of ill-will which has flowed their way won't dent their Christmas figures too much.
Personally I have no objection whatsoever with someone not wanting to sell alcohol or pork. The best way for an individual to avoid this is probably not to apply for a job with one of the UK's biggest food retailers. Marks and Spencer selling wine and sausages? Who would have guessed?
A pluralist society requires all sorts of tolerances. Perhaps surprisingly for someone who regards Islam's treatment of women with a certain amount of dismay, I think France's ban on the burqa is wrong. I don't like the headscarf very much, but I wouldn't patronise those who wear it by assuming that all of them are coerced or brainwashed. But selling pork and alcohol is not the same thing as eating them yourself (if it were so, tens of thousands of Pakistani corner shops would have gone out of business years ago); and declining to serve those who do sends out a signal to wider society about Islam which is totally counterproductive.
What were Marks and Spencer thinking of? Michael Marks, a Belorussian Jew who founded the company with Thomas Spencer in 1894, must be turning in his grave.
