Education: Tajikistan bans Islamic headscarf in schools

The former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, has joined the current fashion of banning the use of the Islamic headscarf in schools. The education minister said the ban was to prevent the spread of Islamic ideology.

The minister also warned that students disobeying the new rules risked expulsion from their institutions. Tajikistan is 98 per cent Muslim - but hey, what difference that make.

When I was a ten year old in Britain, I used to get into a lot of fights in school because I "fancied" an Indian girl who had moved next door to me. The kids used to tease her about the way her mum and dad dressed and of course I would rush to the rescue - usually unsuccessfully!

Nearly forty years on, the song remains the same. Altogether now for a rousing chorus of -

"Disgusting innit, shouldn't be allowed
Ought to be a law against it, ought to be a law.
Disgusting, why can't they be like us
Why can't they be like us.
You know what some bloke down the pub told me?
Ya dont want to know
Disgusting it is. Disgusting
Ought to be a law, that's what I say
Ought to be a law"

For those of you who are wondering what happened to my romance - sad to say it ended in a broken heart. It was a cultural difference. She wanted to play on the swings and I wanted to go inside and watch England vs. Mexico in the 1966 World Cup!