Oscar Wilde, who died this day a century ago, would likely have had something to say about the British government's handling of police reform in Northern Ireland. When it appointed the members of the independent commission, not only did it let through the net Dublin's candidate, Dr Gerald Lynch, but Prof Clifford Shearing, too. Thereby, it created two rods for its own back. As Wilde might have said, one might be regarded as misfortune; both looks like carelessness.
The SDLP, if not Sinn Fein, endorsement of the police service is critical to London's strategy. Some suggest the SDLP is holding back for fear of republican jibes in the run-up to a Westminster election.
This is unfair. All the evidence suggests the Police Act contains more than enough fig leaves to satisfy SDLP-voting Catholics. In some respects the Act actually goes further than Seamus Mallon required. During the talks, for instance. he was prepared to accept "royal" remaining in the title.
On the contrary, the SDLP's problem is that it cannot be seen to endorse an Act that in key areas falls short of what was recommended by a commission headed by a former member of the Tory top brass.
The SDLP is not short of advice, though. On Tuesday, Chris Patten pronounced the Act to be in accordance with the spirit of his report and called on parties to make their nominations to the new Police Board. Since he was appointed to the European Commission by Tony Blair, in the teeth of Conservative opposition, London would expect nothing less.
Dr Maurice Hayes's call cannot be discounted so easily. He was, after all, the only Northern Catholic on the commission. Moreover, he is one of the Taoiseach's nominees to Seanad Eireann.
Would Dr Hayes be saying that nationalists should accept 90 per cent of something rather than 100 per cent of nothing without running it by the Irish Government first? The suspicion must be that Bertie Ahern's public comments at the weekend were not Dublin's last word.
But when confronted on television with the endorsements of Mr Patten, Dr Hayes and Monsignor Denis Faul - an icon for many moderates - the SDLP is obliged to point out that the commissioners are divided. According to Prof Shearing, "The Patten report has not been cherry-picked: it has been gutted."
Mr Lynch, too, has been critical. Referring to the apparent watering-down of the report's recommendations for the investigative powers of the Policing Board and the Ombudsman, he said: "There is no way you can make those changes and have an acceptable police."
But is the SDLP wise to listen to such counsels? Neither Prof Shearing nor Mr Lynch has to live in Northern Ireland with the outworkings of their recommendations. Peter Mandelson has accused Prof Shearing of not living in the real world.
Prof Shearing's main objection is that the Act is about the police rather than policing as a community responsibility. The Act, for instance, is silent about the Patten report's recommendation that 1,200 men and women from nationalist areas be recruited immediately into the part-time reserve.
Although anyone with a terrorist conviction would be ineligible to join, many of the paramilitary murders during the last 30 years have not resulted in convictions. Therefore individuals with clean records, but with deep paramilitary involvement, could be admitted.
The SDLP is in an unenviable position, then, not least because pride is at stake here. It is asking a lot of Seamus Mallon, who has championed the Patten report to perhaps the permanent detriment of his relationship with the First Minister, to accept anything less.
But accept he must. It was Seamus Mallon who described the agreement as "Sunningdale for slow learners." Sunningdale might never have got off the ground if Paddy Devlin had not forced the SDLP to meet unionism half way on policing. As Devlin recorded in his memoirs: "It did not make sense that we should be sharing administrative responsibility with him [Brian Faulkner] yet refusing to consent to the means of law and order."
History might yet record that David Trimble's agreement project was wrecked by the Patten report. Eric Anderson, the chief superintendent in charge of the Omagh inquiry, has accused Patten of "subverting the sterling service of the RUC". His remarks will echo around Orange halls where unionists meet next month to select their delegates to the Ulster Unionist Council which decides Trimble's fate.
If the pain unionists have experienced over the loss of the symbolism and name of the Royal Ulster Constabulary fails to produce the promised gain in terms of nationalist support for the police, many will wonder what "their" police force has been sacrificed for. No one doubts the sincerity of the SDLP position, but as Wilde said: "A little sincerity is a dangerous thing; and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal."
Steven King is an adviser to the Ulster Unionist Party. Mary Holland is on leave Steven.King@niassembly.gov.uk