RICHARD ORD: Not all 'funny' posts are the cat's whiskers

A high five for genuinely funny social media posts.

There’s a ‘funny’ photo doing the rounds on Facebook which shows a boat filled with grey-haired old grannies making for the UK shoreline because ‘they want a nice warm hotel this winter.’

The joke, in case you can’t join the dots, is that asylum seekers are being treated better than the old folk here in dear old Blighty.

I’m assuming it has struck a chord with many because I’ve seen it shared on social media several times… and I wince every time I see it.

If you follow the Facebook paper trail of images like this online, they invariably lead to the home pages of rabid far-right agitators who, I’ve no doubt, are rubbing their grubby hands at the xenophobic traction their message is enjoying.

And yet it is totally false.

This computer-generated image of seafaring blue-rinsers does not highlight double standards or expose a government favouring refugees while waging war on the pensioners.

Two completely separate issues are being conflated to, once again, incite hatred and division where none should exist.

While pensioners have every right to question the removal of the winter fuel allowance, I doubt not a single one of them would happily swap places with those desperate souls risking a perilous sea journey to seek a new life in the UK.

And the suggestion that those awaiting a decision on whether their asylum status has been granted are living in the lap of luxury is absolute nonsense. They are living hand to mouth in basic accommodation and, given the scenes of violence across the country last month, likely also living in fear.

There are, of course, those who will argue that the ‘funny’ image is just that – a jokey comment on the way the new government is treating pensioners.

Well, I like a joke as much as the next person (I mean, look at the state of my byline photograph) but when the ulterior motive is to sow division and discontent, it needs to be stamped out.

So next time you spot one of these ‘funny’ images on your social media account, take a moment and please think before sharing.

And if in doubt, just don’t do it. Share a video of cat being scared by a cucumber instead. Much safer and, unlike these divisive posts, always funny.