The burkini is not a new concept, having been created in Australia over a decade ago, so why is it suddenly creating a furore on beaches across Europe? It is mostly the far right who are banging the drum to ban the burkini — do they have a point, asks John Lloyd

The fear of terrorists lurking in the community is leading politicians to back futile and perhaps illegal bans, such as that on the swimming costume, the ‘burkini’, writes John Lloyd