As part of an anti-Labour sting, a Daily Mail journalist poses as an educational inspector. He goes into a State School and asks to see a normal class at work. Once in the classroom, he asks one pupil a question.

“Who knocked down the walls of Jericho?” he asks on one kid.

“Not me” says the kid, “I wasn’t nowhere near there”.

The hack turns to the class teacher.

“What do you make of that?” he asks.

“Well” says the teacher, “He’s a good lad, and if he says he didn’t do it, then I for one believe him.”

Disgusted, the Mail journo stomps off to the headmistress and describes what’s happened.

“Well” says the Headmistress, “That teacher’s a very good judge of character, and if he says the lad didn’t do it, then he didn’t”.

Outraged, the hack goes to the local Education Authority and demands to see a senior manager. His wish is granted, and so he states his case.

“Look” he begins, “I’ve just been into one of your schools. I asked this kid who knocked down the Walls of Jericho, and he said not him. I asked the teacher what he thought of that answer, and he told me he was confident the boy was innocent of the crime. I did the same with the headmaster, and he said the teacher was a fine judge of character, so probably the lad hadn’t done it. Do you have a comment for my readers?”

“I do” said the Authority spokesman, “and I guarantee that we’ll have a couple of brickies in Jericho tomorrow, and they’ll have the walls back up again in no time”.

This gag has been updated from the original, and is dedicated to Mike Harding, the Lancashire Cowboy.