Politically speaking, the word "fair" is en vogue.
It has become the yardstick against which everything is being measured. I now hear the phrase "it isn't fair" quite regularly, mainly from two groups of people.
Firstly from political opponents who use the phrase in the context of policy announcements. The second group is made up of my children and they use it in the context of bedtime and eating vegetables etc. When both groups say "it isn't fair" what they really mean is "I don't like it".
Fairness is such a subjective concept that it has no meaningful place in the assessment of policy. Policy making is about balancing things like risk and reward, benefit and cost, need and ability.
Fair is such a poor word to use in the area of policy and government that I propose a better one. How about "nice"?
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It is disappointing to hear that fairness means so little to you.
But surely 'fairness' can be more than a political slogan?
After all, fairness is such a deep seated and emotive principle. One of the first sentences children utter is "it's not fair".
Fairness is one of the strongest impulses that underpins our social fabric, forms the basis of our relationships, and as political thinkers from Locke to Lincoln have argued, gives our democracy legitimacy.
Gorge Osborne, 2008.
So now we know, all this talk before the election of fairness was just 'nice' words.
Fair is such a poor word to use in the area of policy and government that I propose a better one.
How about "Kosovo style social clensing"? (Boris, 2010)
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