A laugh a minute? Not

John Bolch's blog Family Lore draws attention to the unfortunate position of a certain High Court Judge in a family case who has been removed from hearing a case for some supposedly jocular remarks about one of the parties (not just bad jokes, but thoroughly bad jokes). The case is commented on in the International Herald Tribune and rather more salaciously in the Daily Mail . Thankfully, their Lordships have not banned all jokes from the court room - just the thoroughly bad ones which might give an impression of racism, however unintentional. The full judgment delivered today is available as a pdf file on the Judiciary's website (in the what's new section) together with a statement from the Judge.