The British Press Will Monster Anyone

But only when it's a useless benefit scrounging member of the House of Lords is there anguished soul-searching about the inhumanity of it all.

Am I alone in having some sympathy for Lord Sewel (aka Lord Coke, Lord Sewer, The Cocaine Peer, Baron Sewel of Orange Bra and, doubtless, plenty of nastier nicknames in pubs across the land)?

Yes. And your column also missed this bit:

Equally damaging, he is alleged to have made a sweeping racial slur suggesting Asian women “look sort of innocent but you know they’re whores”.