No-One is Above the Law, But Some are Further Beneath it than Others

The appeal court has upheld a claim by some scroungers against the brilliant Iain Duncan Smith and his Department for Workfare and Privation. It will be remembered that the DWP's minions had sanctioned a young woman because she refused to work for free at a Poundland store. Her excuse, if one can call it such, was that she was already volunteering at a museum in order to gain experience for a paid career. This prompted much huffing and puffing about university-educated job-snobs who refused the dignity of unpaid labour, rather than falsifying their CVs and marrying money like good Christian souls. Having been informed that the sanctions were in fact illegal, the brilliant Duncan Smith rushed emergency legislation through Parliament to show that he had been right all along, with Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition naturally abstaining. The DWP will now, of course, spend more taxpayers' money appealing against today's ruling; but it is just possible that there are some actions whose consequences even the brilliant Duncan Smith cannot escape, even with all the cowardice of the Labour Party on his side.