If I were hospitalised, possibly after getting all opinionated and superior around the wrong people and being viciously beaten (it's only a matter of time), I would be pleased to know that the staff conformed to health and safety legislation. Maybe 'pleased' isn't the right word, since I would expect basic levels of hygiene to be maintained as a matter of course. It's a fracking hospital.

If, on the other hand, a nurse were to change my dressings and his or her jewellery happened to fall into one of my gaping wounds, I would be a bit cross (no pun intended). Not for any religious or ideological reasons, but because any kind of jewellery is a clear hazard in a job like nursing.

Shirley Chaplin is not one of the many Christians who suffer terrible discrimination every day for their beliefs. In this country, it is in fact very rare that a Christian will suffer terrible discrimination, unless you count "disproportionate representation in the political and cultural sphere" in that category, and I don't see many Christians complaining about Thought For The Day or the 26 bishops in the House of Lords. Her discrimination case was based purely on paranoia, entitlement and a persecution complex the size of the Colosseum. It is reasonable to expect medical staff not to wear jewellery; it is by no means reasonable to expect your employer to make exceptions for you that may endanger the health of their patients. It's not even as if we're talking about kirpans in schools here: crucifixes (crucifices?) are not compulsory attire for Christians. They are a matter of individual choice.

If you choose to ignore the rules of your workplace in the interests of expressing your identity through the medium of jewellery, you don't then get to complain when you get disciplined for it. You want special treatment? Go join the priesthood.