The solicitors’ profession, punch-drunk and cynical, has learned to expect surprises from a government that does not always give the impression of liking lawyers very much.

How else to explain readers’ reactions to the April Fool’s Day story posted on the Gazette’s website last week? Gazette newshound Jonathan Rayner’s spoof piece announced the Ministry of Justice’s ‘Fast Track to Success’ scheme to convert redundant bankers into solicitors – after just ‘a month’s intensive tuition’ and a ‘mini LPC’. Required qualifications included ‘basic arithmetic’ and ‘useful friends’.

On the day when the Daily Mail pictured the home secretary emerging from the door of a sex shop and the Guardian announced that it was abandoning its print edition for Twitter, some readers saw through the joke straight away. However an alarming number took it seriously, using the site’s new comment function to declare the scheme ‘an absolute disgrace’ which made them ‘furious’. How could these intelligent and educated professionals have fallen for our little jape? Possibly because nothing the government comes up with could shock them any more – including a scheme to fast-track bankers into the profession when so many redundant solicitors are out there looking for a job.