Swim in the Dark...So You Won't Offend the Muslims

It's like Super Whacky Muslim Fun Time turned upside down.

But now council staff have covered 250 windows with dark-tinted film following complaints from Muslim swimmers. But other users say the move has plunged the pool into almost permanent darkness and branded it 'political correctness gone stark-raving mad'.

Pauline Poole, 65, a retired legal secretary from Walsall, said: 'I returned to swimming after having a cataracts operation some months ago and was looking forward to looking out on some lovely trees while swimming. 'What I found was a situation that reminded me of how it felt like before my operation, like looking at a horrible cloudy view. 'If it was done for a minority of people, then why was there no vote on it?'

Retired building surveyor John Ewart, 63, from Walsall, added: 'I cannot believe this council has agreed to something so loony. 'The whole thing smacks of political correctness gone stark raving mad. 'A lot of the people who swim are elderly or retired and they now have to swim in the gloom.'