http://smarturl.it/smartphone-giveaway Comedian Mike Ward’s joke about the boy who sang for the pope might not be funny, but is that any reason to fine him $42,000? Do you think it’s OK to say someone’s ugly? Not to their face (if you could bear it), but in a context they might hear about. Or on TV, which might be saying it to their face if their face happened to be watching it on TV and the screen didn’t shatter. Some people would say it isn’t OK. Others would say it is. The rest of us would be a lot better off without either of those groups, in my opinion. What I think the rest of us would say is, “It depends on your definition of ‘OK’.” If we take “OK” to mean “nice”, “polite”, “admirable” or “kind”, then it isn’t. But if, by OK, we simply mean “legal”, then of course it’s OK. And quite right too. It may not be a pleasant thing to do, the rest of us would say, but it should certainly be allowed. It’s ironic that Ward’s joke has been broadcast so much more widely as a result of the tribunal’s ruling Related: Give a big cheer for our political correctness | Barbara Ellen Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/07/mike-ward-comedian-ugly-jeremy-gabriel-freedom-of-speech