Before Mr Khatami's election, the government had frowned on innocent-seeming pleasures like the theatre, western music and novel-reading, fearing that such art forms would subvert the austere Islamic order established in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution 20 years ago.

ECONOMIST: The arts in Iran

Tennessee rolled out a system this year that ties most teacher evaluations, even those in subjects like music and gym, to schoolwide math and reading scores.

WSJ: Teacher Evaluations Pose Test for States

Last year 5, 000 music fans trying to buy tickets for festivals like Reading, Leeds and the V Festival were caught out by fake websites.

BBC: MPs want new ban on sport ticket touts