The BBC has a "have your say" on this topic where a number of posters professing to be Muslim women are insisting that wearing the niqab IS their choice and they should be free to do so. Well, if someone else claims the freedom to wear what they like, then I claim the freedom to speak out and tell them that it causes me difficulties. The reactionary minority seem to feel that the women wearing the niqab can wear what they want... but that other people shouldn't be allowed to say what they want. "It's really difficult for me to understand you when your mouth is covered, would you mind removing your veil/mask/whatever?" is NOT an expression of religious hatred, nor is it an insult or discrimination or incitement to violence. It's a polite and reasonable request that I have the freedom to make. Of course the person with the obscured face has the freedom to say "no, actually I would mind." This is the point at which the issues about separation, segregation, and willingness to integrate come into play.