Well I think this (and the apparent Labour support for it which is unbleievable) is appalling government:

[urlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/15/dwp-law-change-jobseekers-poundland[/url

Whether you agree with the workfare program or not the idea the government should react to being found to have acted illegally by changing the law is outrageous. It just smacks of dictatorship to me. We will act illegally and if found out will will change the law! Really? Is that that we have come to in this country?

What should happen is given the DWP's illegal act was going to cost £130m was heads rolling in the DWP and minsters as well. The idea such incompetence can be shielded by retrospective changes to the law and thus deny those deemed by the courts to have been wronged their recompense [utotally undermines the rule of law[/u.

I was also pretty appalled by this comment from the article:

A DWP spokesperson said: "This legislation will protect taxpayers and make sure we won't be paying back money to people who didn't do enough to find work."

The DWP spokesperson should be the one out trying to find work as of now. That is just outrageous as well.

It's both disgusting and repugnant, but sadly not unexpected. IDS said they'd do this pretty much as soon as the judgement was made against him.

It's also disappointing but not surprising that the spineless Labour party have decided to support this change to the law. They're so terrified of being branded as being 'soft on skivers' that this was entirely predictable. I reckon that's finished any remote chance that I might vote for them next time around.

I am afraid you are right there. Cow-towed by a combination of the government, the press and sadly the people.

This is the bit I find incredible:

[iOfficial notes to the bill admit the legislative mess was caused by the court of appeal's ruling. "The effect of the court's judgment is that the Department for Work and Pensions had no right to impose a sanction on claimants who had failed to meet their requirements," they say.[/i

The legislative mess was not caused by the court of appeal, it was caused by ill-thought out legislation. The blame lies with IDS and the DWP.

I must take issue with the OP's use of the word "dictatorship" though. As much as a I find our recent executive legislatures repugnant, we are still far from living in a dictatorship.

I can also see the retrospective legislation and bar to any compensation ending up at Strasbourg

You'd expect this kind of thing from a git like IDS but wtf does Miliband think he's doing?

Running scared of the media and media-led public opinion.

It's worth pointing out that IDS claims to be a Christian.

The question 'what would Christ do' is presumably not one that he would recognise.

The Christian approach is that they deserve it, no?



Seriously though, Christians appear to be very selective and mostly ignore the "love one another as I have loved you" theme.

For too many of them, a conscience isn't necessary because they have a God instead.

I believe that IDS is a Catholic. If he is, then I wonder how much time he has to spend at confession each week, bearing in mind all the hardship and misery that his bedroom tax will bring to so many decent people and their children.