Mr Rusbridger has no more right to be cross than any other middle-class malefactor

Last week the Press Complaints Commission delivered two judgments which, taken together, seem highly perplexing. It exonerated the News of the World for paying £10,000 to a convicted criminal who was implicated in the alleged plot to kidnap Victoria Beckham. And it censured the Guardian for paying £720 to a former criminal for writing an article about life in prison alongside Jeffrey Archer. As a result of this second ruling, the paper’s editor, Alan Rusbridger, has reportedly blown several gaskets and has had to be soothed in a darkened room.

The News of the World’s escape is fortunate, to say the least. Readers may remember the case. The paper’s legendary sleuth Mazher Mahmood (he who likes dressing up as a sheikh) asked a 27-year-old Kosovan parking attendant called Florim Gashi to find him a story. Florim did. He came up with a plan to kidnap Victoria Beckham, and produced tapes in which he and his pals are heard discussing the idea in a rather lacklustre way.