Too soon or not too soon...

That is the question. It's difficult to know when a gag is too soon to be released after a human tragedy - there are no clearly defined rules. I guess proximity is important, so you don't get many doctors telling bereaved parents, 'never mind, the kid was ugly anyway'.

Or any doctors saying that, to be fair.

But you do get loads of gags about disasters, and often quite soon after they've happened.

So with the Ahmadabad air disaster, it seems in very poor taste to make a quip within 24 hours of it happening, despite the fact that virtually everyone on the planet didn't know the people involved. In this case it's the ability to put yourself in the shoes of the passengers and their waiting relatives that makes it seem so raw.

On the other hand, the extraordinary and miraculous survival of one of the 242 passengers offers a tiny chink of light in the catastrophe - and it is on these grounds that I think it is reasonable to offer a gag, albeit a dark one couched in tragedy.

Dunno - not everyone might agree with me.