Bad

As Mark Earls writes on page 16, the rush to mourn Michael Jackson has been matched only by the surge of instant jokes about the singer — many of them in catastrophically poor taste. Our very own Taki lets one or two out of the bag this week (see page 44).

Some say these one-liners about a recently dead superstar are despicable. We beg to differ. They are a necessary corrective to the frequently silly and disproportionate wailing and rending of garments that follow the death of a global celebrity nowadays. It is sad that Michael Jackson is dead. But it is not, with respect to him and his family, a global catastrophe. We will all soldier on.

Second, it is hard not to feel a measure of pride at the lead Britain took in producing these gags. The nation may be in the grip of a dire economic crisis. Our political system is in ruins.