So much for the Mother Country

We understand that British ways are not our ways, but scheduling a Muslim - in full veil, or niqab - to give the Alternative Christmas Speech on England's Channel 4 seems a bit stranger than usual.

The background: Every year the Queen gives a Christmas address. It is televised. We suppose it once was broadcast on radio when the Queen's father was alive. Since 1993 the BBC's Channel 4 has immediately afterward aired "alternative" Christmas speeches. Whether this is to mollify critics of the Queen or merely to provide the audience with a more entertaining exposition, we do not know.

Or care.

Past "Alternative Christmas" presenters have included Sharon Osbourne, wife of the bat biter; the late Quentin Crisp; Ali G; the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and the Simpsons. The latter two are puzzling enough since Jackson and the Simpsons are merely artistic creations of other people. Oops! Our eagle-eyed staff here in Command Central has informed us that Jesse Jackson is, in fact, a real live person. We stand corrected.

Apparently someone decided that since a British official (Jack Straw) suggested eliminating the Islamic veil in Britain, it would only be appropriate to have a veiled woman - a freelance lecturer in Islamic studies and the Koran, no less - rebut the Queen. Chosen was the Zimbabwe-born Khadija. All in the name of political correctness.

England is lost, or nearly so.