ON the subject of the banning of Muslim dress in France (The Issue, Wednesday’s Oxford Mail), there is a well known saying which advises that ‘when in Rome do as the Romans do’.

This is good advice, it seems to me, because, by doing just that, it indicates to everyone that I am, or want to be, one of you.

On the other hand, someone with a covered face seems to be giving out a message that says, I’m not part of your society and don’t want to be.

As we read so much into a person’s face, those with face covering become inscrutable. So how do we approach them?

When I read your item, I failed to see any sense in the view of Arzu Merali.

Apart from that, covering the whole body can hardly be described as a healthy practice, since we need to be exposed to a certain amount of sunlight to generate enough vitamin D to survive. This is most important if we have dark skins.

As humans are tropical animals, our earliest ancestors could hardly have gone about clothed, and it would seem odd if any animal had evolved to wear clothing.

One of the reasons people in colder climates have to wear clothes was originally a way to recreate the necessary tropical temperature to survive.

Derrick Holt, Fortnam Close, Headington, Oxford