Compare and contrast

Student jailed for six months for looting a case of water in London, The Journal, 11 August 2011:

A student HAS been jailed for six months today for stealing a case of water from Lidl during a looting spree in Brixton in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The Telegraph reports that Nicolas Robinson had no previous criminal record, and had taken the water as he walked home from his girlfriend’s house. He threw the water away when he was confronted by police, and was arrested and charged.

In handing down the sentence the judge said that he was taking 23-year-old Robinson’s previous good character and early guilty plea into consideration, but also said that the student wilfully contributed towards “the atmosphere of both chaos and sheer lawlessness”.

MPs' expenses: Jeremy Hunt to repay £9,500, The Telegraph, 10 December 2009:

Jeremy Hunt, the shadow culture secretary, is to repay more than £9,500 in second home expenses after a sleaze watchdog found him in breach of Commons rules.

But the Tory MP will escape further punishment after MPs accepted an earlier apology over allowing his agent to stay rent-free in the taxpayer-subsidised home.

The Committee on Standards and Privileges said that while public money had not been diverted to the benefit of the Conservative Party there had been a personal benefit to the agent.

So, steal £3.50, go to jail. Steal £10,000, and you just have to pay it back (oh, and you keep your cushy Cabinet job). The hypocrisy of "justice" in the UK is plain for all to see. And then they wonder why people riot...

[Hat-tip: @d_incurable]