This does not deserve to be front page news, as Rindy pointed out, it may have been a quiet news day. I don't think that it's the actual joke that is the issue but the fact that it was sent using a council e mail address. I would assume that by using this address the guy was supposed to be doing some sort of council work, therefore he was dossing on work's time so to speak.
I see no harm in telling a joke. Jokes take the pee out of people whether it is Irish, Mother-in-law, blondes etc and IMO should be seen as harmless, as I'm sure that most jokes are intended to be. Unfortunately, large organisations such as government, NHS, Emergency Services etc are having large crack downs on the amount of e mails sent which are non-work related, so that the workers are not being paid to send jokes to their mates in works time. I know some smaller companies which do this too..
All of my jokes are sent from home, I have very little time to send e mail from work anyway but by the amount of jokes that I receive from my mates who work in offices for other companies.....there isn't much work going on out there..

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