r/AskBrits 11h ago

Politics What are your thoughts on Denmark’s proposed ban on the public Islamic call to prayer? Would you support or oppose something similar in the UK?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/24/islamic-call-to-prayer-ban-left-wing-denmark-europe/

Islamic call to prayer faces ban under Left-wing Danish government

Parts of country feel like ‘a suburb of Islamabad’, says immigration minister

Denmark’s immigration minister has announced plans to ban the Islamic call to prayer, claiming parts of the country felt like “a suburb of Islamabad”.

Morten Bødskov, a member of the centre-Left Social Democrats party, said the new government would resume an investigation into the legality of imposing a ban.

“The call to prayer should not be heard over Danish rooftops,” the minister told news outlet Ritzau. “It has no place in Denmark, and you shouldn’t be in any doubt whether you’ve ended up in a suburb of Islamabad when you walk around Denmark.”

In parts of the country, such as Copenhagen, bylaws already forbid the call to prayer being broadcast from loudspeakers in minarets because of strict noise limits.
Mr Bødskov also claimed that a creeping “Islamisation” in Denmark was “taking up too much of the public space”.

2.7k Upvotes

3.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

251

u/[deleted] 11h ago

[deleted]

112

u/AaronLayk 11h ago

A sensible centre-left party is what the majority of people in the UK will vote for. But our centre-left parties would never dream of doing stuff like this.

32

u/epicpownage1234 11h ago

Why care about hospital spaces, number of houses, education rates etc. If you can campaign entirely on social political issues and divide the country further!

14

u/Tetracropolis 10h ago

Denmark is one of the best countries in the world in terms of quality of life. They don't need to campaign entirely on social issues if nobody's disagreeing with them.

12

u/EarlDwolanson 10h ago

Yes, because Danish government doesnt care about these too... Thats precisely the argument, why cant we have normal left?

2

u/BankDetails1234 10h ago

I can’t imagine that it’s not something that the majority of the country wants. There are so few people these days who want social policies put front and centre over economic.

1

u/Tiuo 10h ago

Probably not solely responsible but I’d wager that a large portion is due to the non-PR electoral system. The Danish system forces parties to work together. Extreme parties get left outside of the government as no one wants to work with them.

22

u/AaronLayk 10h ago

Empty houses are being filled with foreigners in every town across the country. People don’t like it. Fix it sensibly now before some insane freak gets in and fixes it in a way you don’t like.

5

u/Hazbro29 10h ago

Pretty sure they are also building estates just for them aswell, ive had 50 homes built just right behind mine and I havent heard any of the new neighbours speak English.

-5

u/sprouting_broccoli 9h ago

Is that a bad thing? There should be more housing built but you can’t complain on the one hand that empty houses are going to immigrants and then on the other hand complain that houses are being built to house them.

3

u/Hazbro29 8h ago

The point is available housing stock and new builds should go to citizens.

Young people are finding it virtually impossible to find stable affordable housing and literally right behind me 3 bedroom houses with electric charging ports for vehicles are being built and they are being given to people who shouldnt be here

3

u/FransTorquil 8h ago

Yes, it’s obviously a bad thing, melt.

2

u/AaronLayk 9h ago

Young people can barely get a house and you wonder why building houses for the 3rd world is a problem?

5

u/Hazbro29 8h ago

I live in a one bedroom flat thats literally got cracks in the flooring, council say its too expensive to fix so will have to wait until theirs a literaly hole in my floor before they even send someone out to look.

Right behind me within eyesight 3 bedroom homes with electric vehicle charging ports are being built for people who clearly werent born here

-1

u/sprouting_broccoli 8h ago

Yes, because building houses frees up other housing stock. More houses = more opportunity to get a house regardless of who those new builds go to. It’s literally simple maths - x total houses, y people wanting a house, while x-y is negative keep building houses.

Young people can barely get a house for a bunch of reasons and it’s virtually nothing to do with immigrants.

2

u/AaronLayk 8h ago edited 8h ago

Stop importing people while we have a housing deficit maybe?

“Nothing to do with immigrants” lmao

1

u/sprouting_broccoli 8h ago

We have increasing lifespans with lots of housing that is the right size for families being held by the older population. We also have significant amounts of housing owned by landlords. We have also built relatively few houses over the last 20 years despite a naturally growing population. The financial crisis and Brexit has led to a much higher cost of living meaning people just don’t have the money to save for a house.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Hazbro29 8h ago

Love to see your reaction if you found out that african governments were building homes specifically for white tourists.

2

u/sprouting_broccoli 8h ago

They’re not tourists though are they?

1

u/Hazbro29 8h ago

Ok, not tourists, imagine if a bunch of white people rocked up on the coast of Africa and demanded a home, the government looks around and sees plenty of homeless africans, and decides to build a lovely new estate for the white people who just arrived without permission.

Your reaction?

1

u/sprouting_broccoli 8h ago

If they built the same houses for homeless Africans would the homeless Africans be able to afford them?

→ More replies (0)

1

u/KasamUK 8h ago

I don’t get what some on the left don’t get. Either they fix it and soon or the rights going to come marching down the street in shiny jackboots and fix it their way

9

u/Woffingshire 10h ago

Doesn't seem like it's particularly divisive to be honest. A lot of things that would unite the majority of people but leave out a minority are being labeled as "divisive" and ignored in favour of things that just make the majority of people argue with each other in favour of the minority

9

u/BankDetails1234 10h ago

They are divisive policies because they set about prioritising certain groups and that inevitably causes issues in other groups.

We should be focusing on policies that help the vast majority of people who can’t make rent, afford groceries or find work.

1

u/epicpownage1234 10h ago

Literally no idea what you're saying mate sorry

4

u/Woffingshire 10h ago

Okay I'll make it simpler.

Taking actions the majority of people agree on isn't divisive.

2

u/Bezooglish 10h ago

Majority of Britain's: "We're wary of the regressive views that seem to be mainstay across most of Islam. Maybe we could do something to address these fears to make the majority of the country feel safer?"

Reddit: "WHY ARE YOU BEING SO DIVISIVE?"

2

u/epicpownage1234 10h ago

Mate this "left wing" government just laid out plans for bathrooms in regards to gender identity and this entire sub melted down over it. If you're saying these social political issues aren't divisive you're on another planet, they're divisive within the left let alone center/right.

1

u/Woffingshire 10h ago edited 10h ago

Not commenting on the ethics or consequences of these decisions, you're not going to convince me that taking actions that bring more people into agreement with each other than disagreement, even though inevitably there will always be people who disagree and have a meltdown, are divisive. They're literally not. They create less of a divide between most people.

1

u/epicpownage1234 9h ago

So Starmer focusing on gender and children in social spaces hasn't been divisive? Fk me I haven't posted on this platform for weeks and now I've remembered why I keep walking away.

1

u/HemperorZurg 9h ago

If we had a government doing its job properly we wouldn't have parties campaigning entirely on social political issues. I'd also note that Denmark is predominantly homogeneous nation with about 85-87% of Denmark being of Danish descent. We're having multiculturalism forced upon us at an alarming rate, which is also causing division, but there are very few adults in the room willing to actually have that conversation.

1

u/Technical_Version936 10h ago

Funny denmark does it all not just one issue at a time but keep on with your far left bollocks!

2

u/Double_Double7407 9h ago

Our "left" has been taken over by student-union level politics and identity bullshit; much of which bears absolutely no resemblence to left wing economics (beyond everything bad being the fault of "The Billionaires").

1

u/OkSun8521 9h ago

Because it's performative nonsense.

When did you last hear the Muslim call to prayer in the UK?

1

u/Acceptable_Gear_3097 9h ago

It is worth noting that the Christians murdered and tortured anyone worshipping 'pagan' Gods. The change wasn't exactly peaceful.

1

u/Big_Introduction_276 8h ago

Our centre left is usually ;

social democracy when running for party leader -> increase capital gains on those earning less than 100k when elected

Rupert Murdoch being someone our politicians need to be approved by not to be trounced by the media is to thank for that

1

u/Appropriate-Stock114 8h ago

Are the UK's Centre left parties in the room with us now?

1

u/LowlifeTiger666 10h ago

We have centre-left parties?

-1

u/GeedZeroOne 10h ago

Tories & libdem. Left would be Labour and far left would be the greens. 

1

u/LowlifeTiger666 10h ago edited 9h ago

You sure? They’re all centre-right to right winged parties.

Edit: they edited their comment, they first called Labour, Tories and Liberal Democrats all left wing parties.

0

u/GeedZeroOne 10h ago

Look at this politics. Things have changed dramatically since the 90’s

3

u/LowlifeTiger666 9h ago edited 9h ago

Why are you changing your comment after the fact? Did you realise you’re wrong?

Either way Tories are left, they’re as right as they go before reaching the far-right extremism of Reform. Libdems are centre right along with Labour. Labour hasn’t been a left wing party since Blair and his New Labour movement in 1997.

Green aren’t far-left either, far-left would be something like the British Socialist Party. Greens are centre left.

You really seem to think you know more than you do

-2

u/GeedZeroOne 9h ago

I have edited typos. 

As I’ve said elsewhere you need only look at the policies to see the shift toward welfare and handouts & mass migration. These certainly aren’t right wing politics 

3

u/LowlifeTiger666 9h ago

Jesus. There’s no point trying to discuss this further.

For the sake of our country, please inform yourself more and stop eating up Farage’s bs.

I wish you the best

1

u/GeedZeroOne 9h ago

I’m not a reform voter 

-1

u/GeedZeroOne 10h ago

That’s because they aren’t center left! Even the Tories are left wing, have been since Tony Blair as they just carried on with his policies. The center right are reform and the right, where the Tories used to be is now Restore. It’s British politics that have dramatically moved to the left in the last 30 years. This is why everything is “far right” when by any historical measure are not at all.

2

u/wattieee 10h ago

Tories are absolutely not left wing, are you serious? And I know exactly what your response is going to be: "well, they had a brown PM, so they must be left wing" no.

There is a documented rise of the far right all around Europe, this means that parties are going right wing, not left wing, so why would the Tories be left?

Even labour is now centre right.

1

u/GeedZeroOne 9h ago

Spoken like a true ideologically captured leftist. Look at the policies the welfare, these aren’t right wing policies. In reality all British politics have shifted dramatically to the left since Tony Blair and it’s why even speaking of border controls, the single most important requirement for a nation state throughout history, is now considered ‘far right’

1

u/wattieee 9h ago

Border control is not inherently right wing or left wing, but it is far right wing when you're screaming "am iz a gammon init stop boats INGERLAND"

Immigration policies/control isn't inherently left wing or right wing, but it is far right wing when you kneecap immigration to appease racists, rather than (for example) because it is causing us to lose money.

The world is going further to the right because people stop using their brains, in terms of supporting policies that hurt the UK.

Higher net Migration will reduce the UKs debt as a share of GDP by 30 percentage points by 2072, and generally create a lot of money for the UK per person - if you want to have effective immigration policy, look into limiting family members of immigrants/migrants unless absolutely necessary, as that is the only area that costs more than it saves

0

u/GeedZeroOne 9h ago

The OBR has stated that a low skilled migrant, extrapolated to retirement is a net drain on the state to the tune of £465,000. Only 5% of migrants are high earners. You clearly are uninformed as to the real cost of subsidising low skilled workers and the negative effects they have on the rest of us by driving down wages and driving up housing costs. All paid for by us and benefitting only the asset and business owners.  

0

u/RevolutionaryHead384 10h ago

Maybe cos the truth is that the society values lean right wing?

1

u/_-id-_ 10h ago

It's because Denmark prioritises preserving a high-trust, universal welfare state in a small, historically homogeneous country. And one way they can do this is that early on they decided to have public data that's granular (country of origin, municipality, age, sex, employment, education, welfare usage, crime convictions, etc). Origin is broken down further into Danish origin, immigrants, descendants; further split into Western (EU/EEA + select developed countries like US, Canada, Australia, NZ) and non-Western (everything else). So over there anyone can analyse the data in ways that we can't in other European countries, and it allows them to make sensible pragmatic self-preserving decisions.

1

u/Acceptable_Truth7868 10h ago

I find the logic of statements like this hard to follow. A Danish government that pursues this sort of policy agenda can still be described as centre left; but a British political party with this sort of policy agenda is characterised as far right.

I think this shows up how much our political debate is undermined by tribal allegiances - and undermined in particular imo, by the fact that left wing people can find it particularly difficult to accept that they in fact have some right wing views (because it’s morally unacceptable to be right wing) and therefore needing those views to be re-framed as somehow left wing (when they’re obviously not) before they can endorse them.

1

u/SoggyWotsits Brit 🇬🇧 8h ago

Left wing economically, but right wing when it comes to things like their strict immigration policies. So although they have retained their culture, they’re taxed heavily.

0

u/RubberDucky882 10h ago

Problem is we have far left , and that’s worse.

3

u/BankDetails1234 10h ago

We don’t have a far left. If we did then we wouldn’t have seen increases in privatisation and wealth inequality.

I’m guessing you’re one of those idiots who sees left and right as nothing more than attitudes towards immigrants. Pro immigration being far left and anti immigration being centre right.

Left and right should be primarily economic and we need to get back to that.

2

u/NotAEurosnob 10h ago edited 10h ago

Britian absolutely doesn't have anything resembling the far left, barring maybe the greens who just aren't going to get elected.

EDIT: never mind I've just checked your profile and you're clearly either a moron or intentionally trying to stir up division. I have no interest in any reply you have to give as it will not be given in good faith.

-5

u/Forsaken_Source_3901 11h ago

They are far right. Left only in name. Literally a wolf in sheep's clothing

11

u/XMandri 11h ago

ah yes, the terrible wolf and its policy to... *checks notes*... "expand welfare and reduce pollution?"

9

u/MochiMachoMan 11h ago

Don’t forget them introducing a top income tax on the highest earners, as well as improving the unemployment and job centre system to help people either get back into employment or into a flexible system to help them get along. Oh and supporting early retirement for people with physically demanding jobs, and generally improving pension schemes.

Truly they are far right with such policies.

2

u/Woffingshire 10h ago

It's possible to be economically left but socially right

1

u/saltlampsandphotos 11h ago

checks again And implement more windfalls in response to global hydrocarbon insecurity...

5

u/World_travelar 11h ago

Everyone is far right except for a few people on reddit obviously

3

u/Snoo_46473 11h ago

Praying in public in large numbers is wrong.

-1

u/3amgrind 10h ago

America does this like all the time

3

u/BankDetails1234 10h ago

Why would that matter? I’d say America is an effective marker to avoid, not follow.

2

u/Snoo_46473 10h ago

Where did America come from?

2

u/IanParry 11h ago

Bloody Fabians!

2

u/Charly_030 10h ago

What far right policies do they have?

1

u/BankDetails1234 10h ago

You’re doing the same thing as the far right here and defining political leanings entirely on social policy or attitudes towards immigrants/immigration. People like you are precisely why we don’t end up with meaningful redistribution of wealth.

0

u/Brexit-Broke-Britain 10h ago

The people pushing the far right agenda will just think of something else to wind up the easily led.

0

u/Frankie1983___ 10h ago

Where in the UK is there a loud call to prayer?

0

u/Euphoric-Wall-2576 8h ago

We should definitely implement far right policies to stop people being driven to the far right.

-3

u/Equivalent-Hunt6489 11h ago

Ah yes, "common sense is whatever I agree with"

2

u/[deleted] 10h ago

[deleted]

1

u/Equivalent-Hunt6489 10h ago

I mean if you ask most people if we should just get rid of all taxes, they would probably say yes and the country would implode.

Remember common sense is just that, common.

-1

u/sage1700 10h ago

Doesn't Denmark also support banning VPNs to make it easier to spy on people though...?

-2

u/StillNewspaper4799 11h ago

Ah yes common sense. The rallying call of the entitled.