{"id":14430,"date":"2015-07-11T20:54:10","date_gmt":"2015-07-11T19:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/?p=14430"},"modified":"2021-01-13T10:42:27","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T10:42:27","slug":"there-are-limits-to-our-empathy-and-george-osborne-knows-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2015\/07\/11\/there-are-limits-to-our-empathy-and-george-osborne-knows-it\/","title":{"rendered":"There are limits to our empathy \u2013 and George Osborne knows it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!-- GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2015\/jul\/10\/george-osborne-july-budget-2015\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardianBLACK.png?resize=140%2C45\" alt=\"Powered by Guardian.co.uk\" width=\"140\" height=\"45\" \/>This article titled &#8220;There are limits to our empathy \u2013 and George Osborne knows it&#8221; was written by Jonathan Freedland, for The Guardian on Friday 10th July 2015 18.08 UTC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps it\u2019s unwise to admit it, but one of the challenges during a budget speech is to stop your mind from wandering. Even an address of astonishing political audacity \u2013 as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2015\/jul\/10\/george-osborne-took-much-more-from-poor-budget-2015-ifs\">George Osborne\u2019s<\/a> was \u2013 has its longueurs, its moments when the stats are coming in such a blizzard, the borrowing projections merging with the annual growth percentages, that the brain, briefly blinded, looks elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, mine wandered to Philadelphia. Not the city itself, but rather <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2000\/aug\/02\/uselections2000.usa5\">the Republican national convention held there in 2000<\/a>. They gathered to anoint George W Bush as their nominee and laid on a spectacle that had one striking feature. Though only 4% of the delegates in the hall were black, one headline speaker after another was either African-American or from some other identifiable minority.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail\">  <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2015\/jul\/10\/george-osborne-took-much-more-from-poor-budget-2015-ifs\">George Osborne took &#8216;much more from the poor&#8217; in budget<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Primetime slots were given to Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, obviously, but the three co-chairs also happened to be a black Oklahoman, a Latino Texan and a white single mother. They found room for a gay congressman, while music came from Harold Melvin and Chaka Khan (African-American) with a cameo from Jon Secada (Cuban).<\/p>\n<p>The whole effect was so brazen, it was almost comic. (One reporter likened the extravaganza to the Black and White Minstrel Show.) But the political logic was clear. The Republicans didn\u2019t expect huge swaths of black American voters to end their historic allegiance to the Democrats and join them. They knew their prospects among Latino and gay Americans were limited. But those groups were not the target audience.<\/p>\n<p>What Bush wanted to do was reassure white, suburban, swing, or floating, voters \u2013 especially women \u2013 that the Republicans had lost their harsh edge. That they were no longer so mean-spirited that a vote for them made you a bad person. The diverse faces on show at Philadelphia were there to salve the consciences of white soccer moms hesitating before backing Bush.<\/p>\n<p>Which might explain why the memory of it returned on Wednesday. For a similar dynamic was at work. Who was Osborne appealing to with his announcement of a \u201cnational living wage\u201d? He knows that precious few of Britain\u2019s lowest-paid workers are set to rally to the Tory banner any time soon.<\/p>\n<p>No, the voters Osborne wanted to reach are those for whom the Conservative brand is still tainted, those who may be doing quite well themselves, but who still associate the Tories with selfishness and even a callous disregard for the poor. Osborne was making a long-term bid for those votes. He knows they already trust him to have a cool head. Now he wants them to believe he has a warm heart.<\/p>\n<p>This calculus is not new. It underpinned the modernisation project on which Osborne and David Cameron embarked a decade ago. When 2005-era Cameron spoke of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2011\/oct\/02\/cameron-tory-party-modern-compassionate\">\u201ccompassionate Conservatism\u201d<\/a> it was not the poor he was wooing. He wanted the votes of those who care about the poor, or more accurately those who don\u2019t like to think they\u2019re the sort of person who doesn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-pullquote\">\n<blockquote><p> Osborne has co-opted a halo brand that is not his \u2013 the living wage<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n<p>If that sounds cynical, that\u2019s only partly because \u2013 to quote the Resolution Foundation, the group name-checked by Osborne when he announced the policy \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.resolutionfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/RF-National-Living-Wage-briefing.pdf\">the \u201cnational living wage\u201d is a misnomer<\/a>. Now that tax credits are to be taken away, you couldn\u2019t actually live on it. It\u2019s simply a welcome boost to, and relabelling of, the regular minimum wage. With unassailable chutzpah, Osborne has co-opted a halo brand that is not his \u2013 the living wage \u2013 in the hope that some of its glow will shine on him.<\/p>\n<p>There is a deeper reason for scepticism. Osborne\u2019s generosity was very carefully rationed. His judgment on who should be helped was not based not so much on need as political value. At its most obvious, there was the now-familiar bias against the young, who don\u2019t vote, in favour of the old, who do. But this is about more than just voting blocs. Running through the chancellor\u2019s decisions was a judgment about who the public will deem deserving and who undeserving.<\/p>\n<p>Privately, the prime minister says pensioners have to be protected because they cannot change their circumstances. Which implies that the 20-year-old who will continue to work on the existing, miserly minimum wage, and is soon to be denied housing benefit and the possibility of a maintenance grant for study, is master of all he surveys, and only in his current situation because he has chosen not to change it.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not important whether Cameron or Osborne truly believe this. What matters is their assumption that the voters believe it. They are gambling that Britons have empathy for pensioners and underpaid over-25s, but little for the young, for those on incapacity benefit, or on a low income with more than two children and for those who work in the public sector \u2013 all of whom were hit hard by the budget.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail\">  <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2015\/jul\/12\/young-people-are-not-fair-game-mr-osborne\">Young people are not fair game, Mr Osborne| Letters<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The cynical person here is Osborne himself. He is making a judgment about the limits of sympathy the majority of the electorate have for those falling behind. He has seen the shift in public mores, from the Cathy Come Home era of half a century ago to the Benefits Street culture of today, in which the poor are just as likely to induce anger as compassion.<\/p>\n<p>And what compassion there is, Osborne has learned not to take too seriously. He doubtless remembers those 80s opinion polls which for years showed Britons insisting they regarded mass unemployment \u2013 the issue then championed by Labour \u2013 as the prime challenge facing the country, only for those same voters to re-elect Margaret Thatcher again and again.<\/p>\n<p>Osborne has surely concluded that you need to do just enough to show you care \u2013 and then you can get away with plenty. Witness the inheritance tax giveaway that will take nearly \u00a31bn a year out of the public purse by 2020 and which hands the children of those with assets a big slab of untaxed, unearned income.<\/p>\n<p>In the supermarket trolley of Osborne\u2019s budget were stashed a variety of such luxury treats, but he concealed them by putting a conspicuously organic, free range item \u2013 his \u201cliving wage\u201d plan \u2013 on top.<\/p>\n<p>Labour should be watching and learning. It would be a mistake to conclude the British public is uncaring. But nor can Labour make its pitch to the electorate on empathy alone. Voting is not an act of charity, but of self-interest \u2013 even if that self-interest includes the kind of society you want to live in. Voters want to know they can trust you to run the economy \u2013 and if you can be kind to the less fortunate, the deserving ones at least, then that\u2019s a very pleasant bonus. But it\u2019s that way around \u2013 and George Osborne knows it.<\/p>\n<p>guardian.co.uk &#169; Guardian News &amp; Media Limited 2010<\/p>\n<p>Published via the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/open-platform\/news-feed-wordpress-plugin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Guardian plugin page\" rel=\"noopener\">Guardian News Feed<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/extend\/plugins\/the-guardian-news-feed\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Wordress plugin page\" rel=\"noopener\">plugin<\/a> for WordPress.<\/p>\n<p><!-- END GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The chancellor\u2019s budget was not about caring for the poor but wooing those who like to think they care<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,242,241,48,50,57,55,244,51,243,281,45,66,53,46],"class_list":["post-14430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings","tag-article","tag-budget","tag-budget-2015-july","tag-comment","tag-comment-debate","tag-economics","tag-george-osborne","tag-jonathan-freedland","tag-main-section","tag-minimum-wage","tag-opinion","tag-politics","tag-society","tag-the-guardian","tag-uk-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6NRDR-3KK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6698,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2015\/03\/18\/budget-2015-comeback-country-claims-must-not-mask-osbornes-failings\/","url_meta":{"origin":14430,"position":0},"title":"Budget 2015: Britain&#8217;s fragile recovery is based on an act of political conjuring","author":"diana Stone","date":"March 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Chancellor attempted to paint his nakedly political plans as statesmanlike \u2013 but UK\u2019s woeful productivity mars his boasts to have navigated the road to recovery","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Powered by Guardian.co.uk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardianBLACK.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1526,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2013\/04\/27\/the-conservatives-are-much-more-unpopular-than-they-realise\/","url_meta":{"origin":14430,"position":1},"title":"The Conservatives are much more unpopular than they realise","author":"diana Stone","date":"April 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The failure of David Cameron's brand detoxification has allowed Labour to stay ahead in the polls","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Powered by Guardian.co.uk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardianBLACK.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36423,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2016\/03\/21\/iain-duncan-smith-has-revealed-the-empty-truth-of-compassionate-conservatism\/","url_meta":{"origin":14430,"position":2},"title":"Iain Duncan Smith has revealed the empty truth of compassionate conservatism","author":"diana Stone","date":"March 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"IDS\u2019s resignation pulls back the curtain on the Wizard Oz-borne, showing an illusionist whose tricks are hollow","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Powered by Guardian.co.uk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardianBLACK.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2121,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2013\/12\/08\/osborne-wants-to-take-us-back-to-1948-time-to-look-forward-instead\/","url_meta":{"origin":14430,"position":3},"title":"Osborne wants to take us back to 1948. 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