ALL I did was ask a simple question: Was it appropriate for a hijab-wearing presenter to front the Channel Four News on the night they were covering the Nice massacre by a Muslim?

A reasonable inquiry you would have thought with the sensitivities that currently exist in this nation and the rest of Europe.

Then the Twerperati got involved and it became a national debate with a record number of complaints to the press regulator Ipso.

5 Should presenters be allowed to wear artefacts which advertise their religion? Credit: Getty Images

Strangely, colleagues would come to me asking how I was standing up to the pressure.

What pressure?

I wasn’t an ambulance driver on the Promenade des Anglais nor a bereaved family at the Bataclan.

Nor a fireman at 9/11 or a bus driver on 7/7.

As I made clear in Monday’s column I am not hostile to reporter Fatima Manji — it wasn’t her call to be rostered on that day — but thought the editor (a bloke called Pear, perhaps he should grow one) made an error by putting her on air.

So I have another simple question, this time for the TV regulator Ofcom: Should presenters be allowed to wear artefacts that advertise their religion?

If, for instance, one of the regular presenters was a Christian (I’m joking since at C4 you wouldn’t get an interview) would they be allowed to wear a huge cross outside of their shirt or blouse to the same prominence as a hijab?

After all it only seems like yesterday that a middle-aged lady employed by British Airways at Heathrow was under fire for wearing a hairclip-sized crucifix.

Wearing a hijab is a matter of choice for Western women.

My friend Yasmin Alibhai-Brown doesn’t, nor does Mishal Husain of Radio Four’s Today programme, nor London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s wife.

Instead of accusing me of Islamaphobia C4 should try finding a Muslim presenter to front a documentary about how women are treated as second-class citizens in Muslim countries

And there’s the bizarre case of a BBC reporter who finally decided to go hijab- free in London and learned that she had been posted to Pakistan where she had to wear it again.

I’m told feminists in the Muslim community are really worried at the march of the hijab as they see it as a rejection of progressive values.

I thought it worth quoting Ms Alibhai-Brown from an article in The Guardian: “All religions cast women as temptresses.

“Conservative Islam has revived the slander of our times.”

She makes the excellent point that those who choose the hijab should think of the women in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Iraq who are flogged, tortured or killed for not wearing it.

Instead of accusing me of Islamaphobia (yawn! yawn!) Channel 4 might like to try finding a Muslim presenter to front a documentary about Islam’s attitudes towards the gay community, or perhaps on how women are treated as second-class citizens in Muslim countries.

It would be fascinating viewing.

Or they could listen to the wise advice of their presenter Jon Snow, who explained in his own blog why he wouldn’t wear a poppy on air ahead of Remembrance Sunday: “I do not believe in wearing anything which represents any kind of statement.”

What statement does the hijab represent Channel 4?

Do tell me.

And if you keep it short I’ll print it in my column.

That’s called free speech.

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5 Kate Middleton's sister Pippa recently got engaged to hedge fund manager James Matthews Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

— PIPPA Middleton has more carats than Morrisons.

How vulgar that her ring is not defined by love but by size.

At 32 she still hasn’t achieved anything in her life with the sole exception of landing a hedgie in her bed and a three-carat engagement ring worth £250,000.

5 Her three-carat sparkler is worth £250,000 Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

A few years ago I sat next to the girlfriend of a Goldman Sachs banker who was on the verge of getting engaged.

I asked if they had a ring in mind.

She replied: “Anything less than two carats won’t cut it.”

I wonder how that marriage is going?

It's all pun and games ON a haulage van in Chatham, Kent – Shakespeare Removals – As You Like It. Record shop in Accrington, Lancs – Linyl Vinyl. Van outside hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks – French and Launders. Pet grooming van in Basildon, Essex – Star Paws. Septic tank in Alnwick, Northumberland – Shit Happens. Motor repair van in Denton, Gtr Manchester – Wreck-a-Mended. Roofer in Manchester – The Raining Champion. Pet sitting service in Wigan – Pussy Pop Ins. Fishing tackle shop in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex – Hook, Line and Sinker. Corbyn can’t be the only thing to make us laugh. Do send your punnies to kelvin@the-sun.co.uk.

The 'why me' view of life

5 When Keith Richards' dying mum said 'Why me?' he replied: 'Because you're 93' Credit: Getty Images

LOVED that anecdote told to the Radio Times by Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards concerning his mum.

On her deathbed she turns to doting Keith and asks: “Why me, Keith?”

His reply: “Because you’re 93.”

I first came across the “why me” view of life when working for the Daily Express in Manchester.

The Night Editor was a brilliant journalist called Tony Fowler who carried the world’s problems on his shoulders.

A chain smoker, he worried about every detail.

One night in the middle of a hectic edition a vital member of the staff slipped while hurtling down the stairs and was carted off to hospital.

On being told that his colleague had in fact broken his leg Tony put his head in his hands and said: “Why me?”

Why indeed.



Shave a lot of money

5 The Dollar Shave Club has just been sold to Unilever for $1billion

IF, like me, you rail against the price of Gillette razor blades costing 5p to make but selling for around £14 for four you should have joy in your heart today.

Just four years ago Michael Dubin and a friend’s father were discussing what a racket Gillette ran and decided on the spur of the moment to start the Dollar Shave Club where you agree to have sent to you the Humble Twin for 70p, the 4X for £4 or The Executive for £6.

Thanks to some clever YouTube advertising by Mr Dubin (it’s great, you must watch it) business boomed and on Wednesday he unbelievably flogged the California-based firm to Unilever for $1billion.

The price of razors is one of the great consumer swindles of our time in which supermarkets and chemists are major participants through the huge mark-ups they earn from carrying the overpriced products.

Do shops have to join in the exploitation of their customers by companies like Gillette?

Perhaps a Dollar Shave Club over here might bring Gillette to its knees.

I do hope so.

— THE reason Boris Johnson got the Foreign Office was that when drawing up a list of Cabinet hopefuls Theresa May’s chief of staff wrote FO by his name and mistakenly the Prime Minister thought it was a suggestion instead of a criticism.

— THANK you! Sue Perry, who runs a waterproof ponchos business called Stay Dry in Hartlebury, Worcs, says due to aspokesmansaid.com she saved £869 on her home energy and an incredible £2,275 on her business bill.

I promise if you haven’t switched in the last two to three years you will save at least £400.

And you won’t be surprised to learn that the Halifax have been at it again, exploiting old dears.

Sue Ingall tells me her 88-year-old mum faced an insurance renewal of £173.33 for her council flat and went to aspokesmansaid.com where she got it for £38.17.

Keep those saving stories coming to kelvin@the-sun.co.uk.