though a girl's wish to cover her hair was no less sinister than support for al-Qaida. Just over a third of the youngsters polled expressed a desire to live under sharia, reported by the Daily Express as "more than one-third want Islamic law imposed in the UK". The implication is that if you want to eat halal food, marry according to Islamic law, or get an interest-free mortgage - which is what most Muslims understand by sharia - you are a threat to the social order, legal system and cultural identity of the land.” Finally, one entry (a letter to the editor) in the Birmingham post presented a very strong animal welfare argument against religious slaughter without stunning. The letter itself was very negative about the animal welfare implications of religious slaughter without stunning, however it is important to note that this particular letter was part of a broader series of more balanced exchanges about this issue. To summarise, one can see that within the UK, newspaper articles that adopt a particular stance in relation to issues of religious slaughter and to the consumption of halal and kosher foods tend to do so in relation to issues of identity, and social integration/segregation rather than in relation to animal welfare issues. Furthermore, whilst left-wing newspapers such as The Guardian broadly support the consumption of halal and kosher foods as a sign of pluralism and multiculturalism, right-wing newspapers, such as The Daily Mail tend to express a concern that the consumption of halal (along with an adherence to other facets of Muslim religious culture) could lead to problems of social segregation and to an erosion of mainstream British culture. Looking at table 6, one can see that a range of different themes emerged in newspaper articles related to religious slaughter and to the consumption of halal and kosher foods. The most frequently occurring theme (14 times) related to issues around food and identity and in particular to whether the consumption of halal or kosher foods should be praised as a form of multiculturalism or feared as a sign of social segregation. A typical example of this theme can be found in an article from the Daily Mail (21/2/2007). The article states: “The Muslim Council of Britain said some schools were failing to respect the wishes of Muslim children when organising sex education, changing rooms and religious assemblies…. Suggestions to make schools more Muslim friendly include the building of prayer rooms, individual changing cubicles and allowing pupils to grow beards … School caterers should provide halal meals, storing and preparing halal food separately, and labelling it clearly in canteens, the council said … But the calls are at odds with Labour's leading Muslim peer who said catering for Islamic values is not helping integration. Lord Ahmed declared that ‘the veil is now a mark of separation, segregation and defiance against mainstream British culture’”. Here we can see that the consumption of halal food is bundled together with a number of other facets of Muslim religious/cultural identity (such as prayer, the growing of beards and particular views about sex education). Furthermore, we can see that the consumption of halal is framed within much broader debates about social integration and segregation.
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