Another good idea goes the way of all wheezes

Coercing the long-term unemployed into work placements is not a stupid idea. Nobody thinks it is. And by ‘nobody’ in this context, I mean Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, and Liam Byrne, the shadow work and pensions secretary, and they’re pretty much the only people worth listening to. Doubtless, quite a few of the actual long-term unemployed have differing views. But they would, wouldn’t they?

I’ll tell you what is a stupid idea, though. Telling a woman who already has a work placement in a museum that she has to quit it and go and do one in Poundland is a stupid idea. And telling a trained mechanic that he has to spend six months polishing furniture is another stupid idea. This week, a panel of judges ruled that two people who had been in just these situations were wronged. Clearly, they were. As a result, a plethora of left-wing voices who have been shrieking about ‘slavery’ for the past couple of years feel vindicated. But they haven’t been. It’s immensely vexing.

It’s a cock-up, but it’s not a unique cock-up. So many coalition failures have this shape. Worried that much disability benefit goes to people who don’t deserve it? That’s an argument you can win. Outsource its removal to a firm that gets it wrong more than a third of the time, with horrendous consequences? Oh look, you lost it. Announce you want universities to charge fees commensurate with the education they offer? Great idea! Blithely let them charge any damn amount they fancy? You look like fools. Fancy elected mayors? Cheer! Do nothing whatsoever about it? Boo, disgrace, disarray.

I could go on. In fact, I will. In the past three years this government has executed U-turns over new exam papers they didn’t manage to write in time, a new military budget based on an aeroplane nobody had invented yet, and a radical restructuring of the NHS based on GPs doing exactly what Andrew Lansley wanted them to, of their own volition, for no reason at all.