Chancellor to cut funding for jokes

The Tories have, apparently, agreed to overturn the Chancellor’s recent decision to cut the Arts Council’s humour funding.

For those who think that the development of the Arts Council’s recent ‘humour strategy’ is not appropriate, I would cite a strong case recently made by Matthew Taylor at the RSA (a former head of the no.10 Policy Unit, and rumoured to be responsible for pushing the humour strategy across Whitehall). As Taylor puts it, joke-telling is an important, albeit minor, art form:

“A well told, well-timed joke is a minor art form. It can create a bond of subversive intimacy between teller and hearer. It can be a harmless release from constraints of identity and taboo. The exchange of jokes can be a special form of gift in which you keep the gift you give and appreciate it even more.”