From the US midterms to the hard right in Britain, empathy has become a dirty word in politics | John Harris

Around the world, virtues such as compassion and kindness are gathering dust, like old hymn books in a long-deserted churchTowards the end of the summer, the Tory-Reform defector Robert Jenrick authored an op-ed piece for the Daily Telegraph about the seemingly impossible economics of rising benefits bills because of mental ill-health. In his capacity as Reform’s Treasury spokesman, his task…