The Religious Policeman

...comes this jolly joke from part-time schoolteacher and Palestinian immigrant to Britain, Mazin Albarq.

He was taking a class of 13- and 14-year-olds at St Bede's Catholic School in Lanchester, Co Durham, in the north-east of England, perhaps having a bit of a discipline problem, when he wittily quipped

"Behave or I'll put a bomb on your bus."

How the children laughed! You see, it was an example of a topical joke. The fact that on 7/7, another Muslim had actually blown up a bus in London, made it all the more funny.

What a shame that some of the children and parents tried to spoil the fun by pretending not to "get it".

The parent of one 14-year-old said: "Children who use the school bus were terrified. It was surely meant as a joke but in the present climate there was nothing remotely funny."
Another parent said his 13-year-old daughter arrived home in tears after the school bus journey.

However, the Joker from Jericho was genuinely puzzled...

Mr Albarq, father of a primary age pupil, said at his home in Darlington, Co Durham: "How sad that a joke can cause such a fuss."

Sad indeed. He repaid the hospitality of the English by trying to make them laugh, and look what happened. It just shows what a miserable lot they are.

(Daily Mirror 19/10/2005)